The Paraparaumu Croquet Club has great pleasure in awarding Life Memberships to Members who have made a great contribution to the Club and to the sport of Croquet. Their hard work, enthusiasm and commitment are acknowledged by the Club.
Past Life Members:
1971 Mrs M Hook, 1976 May Barker, 1976 Flora Brazier, 1986 Dorothy Rothwell, 1986 Meg Biss, 1987 Alf Dawkins, 1987 Irene Nichol, 1989 Brenda Dawkins, 1997 Joan Butler, 2006 Mavis Newman, 2008 Ann Cherrington, 2020-23 Reg Hurley,
Current Life Members:
GWEN NINNESS:
Gwen has given sterling service to the sport at club level in two districts over a period of twenty years (presented life membership in 2002) That service included holding positions as a committee member, Vice Captain and Club Captain, President and coach of new players for several years. She has continued to help and encourage new players over the years, and has given many hours to umpiring matches at both club and Wellington Croquet Association events, She joined the Paraparaumu club in 1987 as a dual member, moving to Paraparaumu after seven years as a member of the Plimmerton Croquet club, where she also served on the committee as described above. She has continued to offer the benefit of her experience and knowledge to the club membership and is always willing to help out in any situation. Her involvement in fund-raising for the new club house covered many years, whether in baking cakes, raising plants for sale at garage sales or helping at garage sales. She was the guiding light in the production of our popular club recipe book which raised a significant amount of money for the new club house. Her love of gardening has meant she has spent many hours in the formation and maintenance of the gardens at the new complex. propagating many of the plants. Her photographic record of many club functions over the years has provided a valuable historical archive for the club.
JOY ALLAN:
Joy commenced playing croquet at the Khandallah Croquet Club and was their Secretary/Treasurer from 1996 - 2002 and was also involved in coaching new members. Joy joined the Paraparaumu Croquet Club with her husband Rob in 2002 and has held several club positions since that time, including as Club Treasurer from 2005 to the present, Club Captain 2004 & 2006, member of the funding sub-committee which raised $34,653 in grants to build the clubhouse extensions in 2007. Joy was also an AC umpire and GC referee, Coaching of new members and mentor to new club captains. She also compiled and updated most of the club's records and can be regarded as being the club's historian over the past decade. Joy has always been willing to commit her time and energy to the running of the club's activities, whether it be the weekly sessions or the wider national and international events hosted by the club over the past years.
Val McCallum:
29 April 2023:
Val joined the club in 2007 and was appointed Golf Croquet Club Captain in 2008, a position she held for 2 years. She represented the club in a great number of tournaments and was involved in organising many of them. She was a very active member of the committee up until 2022 and is still a very supportive social member. Val was involved with organising the kitchen at the club up until 2021 doing the shopping for supplies required for the clubrooms and the many competitions and tournaments the club was involved in, along with club days, also organising volunteers for these events. Up until very recently Val has been on duty regularly one day a week for club days. The gardens at the club have been a great love of Val’s and she has spent many hours over the years tending them. The small garden by the steps down to lawns 3 and 4 has always been maintained by Val and is a very colourful part of our club environs. Val is a valued and much appreciated club member and is a very deserving and worthy recipient of Life Membership.
Joy Saker:
29 April 2023:
Joy joined the club in 2007. She became Secretary in 2010, a position she held for 10 years. During her 10 years as Secretary of a forward thinking dedicated and enthusiastic committee, many changes were made to club structures and procedures as are seen today. Liaison with KCDC was important regarding lease negotiations, grounds liaison and the sewage system. Communicating with members regarding tournaments, club competitions and inter-club competitions was a big part of Joy’s position. During this time club uniforms, name badges etc were introduced. An application to NZCA resulted in new hoops and balls. Social occasions were promoted and important to Joy. In 2018 the club combined with Waikanae to hold the WCF Association Croquet World Championships which required a huge amount of work for the club officials. The Covid lockdown in 2019 was an extremely difficult time, but with excellent communication, and some restrictions, members were able to carry on playing within the rules put in place by the Government. Joy was the person who kept everyone in touch and up to date at the start of this pandemic. Joy is a much valued member of the club and is a worthy recipient of Life Membership. We thank her for her friendship and outstanding contribution as Secretary.