The annual Brian Waddington Memorial Bowls Tournament took place at the Port Alfred Bowls Club on Thursday, June 16. Waddington passed away from cancer on 1 August 2020 and was hailed as a tireless worker who raised funds for the Sunshine Coast Hospice.
The tournament is held in aid of the Grahamstown and Sunshine Coast Hospice, a local non-profit organisation that provides free home-based hospice and palliative care to patients with severe life-limiting diseases in Grahamstown, Port Alfred and surrounding towns. The hospice provides care for 257 patients that come primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Chair of the Sunshine Coast Hospice Support Committee, Terry Harris, opened the prize giving ceremony with a moving tribute, where he described Waddington as a proactive member of the Sunshine Coast Hospice Support Committee. “He was forever active in supporting Hospice and could often be seen manning a table in the Rosehill Mall selling raffle tickets, cupcakes or rattling a tin in a street collection. He did all this whilst bravely battling a long battle with cancer which he tackled with extreme courage and determination,” he said.
The much loved and respected Waddington was honoured while he was still alive by the NPO when he was awarded with the Sunshine Coast’s “Heart for Hospice” award in recognition of his commitment to the work and vision of the Sunshine Coast Hospice organisation, shortly before his passing away in 2020.
Harris acknowledged Waddington as a fitting tribute for the tournament to be named after him. “It was Brian who initiated the annual Hospice Bowls Day at the Port Alfred Bowls Club back in 2017 and it is the intention of the Sunshine Coast Hospice to continue hosting this annual event in the name of Brian as the Brian Waddington Bowls Day,” he added.
The principal sponsors of the tournament were Independent Advisors, Vernon Cloete Broker Services (Pty) Ltd, who have been supporting Brian’s famous Bowls Tournament since its inception at the Langham Bowls Club.