~ GRUBCLUB NEWS ~

The following report is thanks to Stephen Glyde. President of the Magpies.

What a day! Many seasoned judges rated the Annual Matthew Locke Charity event the best yet. All the games except one were closely fought affairs and kept the large crowd highly entertained.

With the Magpies Under 18’s debuting up to six players with little or no rugby league experience there was a thought that they would struggle to compete against more experienced teams. This was shown to be false with a two point loss to Macksville to begin the day.

The next game was a Women’s League Tag game between Bellingen and Uralla.  Women’s League Tag will be a regular part of the Group 2 competition this season and this game showed that the Magpies will be very competitive as they also lost a close game to the New Englanders.

Woolgoolga and Uralla then played out a very physical game of First Grade rugby league with the Sea Horses just holding on for a win.

Last year’s Group 2 Premiers the South Grafton Rebels showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with, after a heavy defeat of the Navy Tridents.

The Air Force Jets then proved a little too classy for the Macksville Sea Eagles in a physical encounter that went down to the wire.

After that the Army Band marched on, the Governor was welcomed, Mackay Tucknott said the Welcome to Country and then Erica and Freya Cross led the crowd in the National Anthem and it was time for the main game.

Once again the Magpies really put it to the Thunder but try as they might they could not get their noses in front with the conversion of a try going amiss right on full time the Magpies went down 30-28.

Thanks to all the participants who contributed to such a great day and let’s hope everything comes together once again next year.

During the last school holidays (April) I had the pleasure to catch up with the people from village of Bei Cala, Timor Leste. This time Wayne accompanied me and Dean West from Brisbane. We travelled to Dili via Darwin and were met by Jino at the airport.

On our first night we met the boys from the Defence Cooperation Program Timor-Leste (DCP-TL) in Dili.  We met Daniel, Craig, Roy and Brad who would be travelling up Monday and meeting us in Bei Cala to help with the work ahead.

We had set ourselves and ambitious program to fix up our original school building at Boramba. A couple of floors had been laid too thinly and consequently had broken up from wear and tear. We also hoped to weather proof the ends of the building as rain could come in.

After travelling on the Monday, I can report that road improvements are still in progress, we caught up with the boys and Karabina and Aniseto and extended family in Bei Cala.

Over the next three days were were able to re-cement one room completely by barrow and hand, fix two others, seal both ends of the building, fix furniture, hang new solid lockable doors and hang blackboards. It was an incredible pleasure to see the work undertaken by our crew, ably assisted by half dozen local boys. Thanks to all of boys for their assistance, it couldn’t have been done without them.

We also took over resources for our kindergartens and are planning on returning in the October holidays to continue the work.

Once again we are collecting books to send to Timor Leste. We are looking for early childhood, primary and high school books that can be used for reading practice. There is also a high school looking for commerce, maths and economic style texts. We will also accept early childhood toys for our kindergartens in Bei Cala and Boramba.

While the Bei Cala kindergarten has been up and running for a number of months, the Boramba school will be set up in a room of our existing school block.

If you have any books or early childhood toys, in good condition that you would like to donate please contact me at debbielocke@bigpond.com. They can be delivered to Dorrigo or Bellingen or dropped of at the Sgt. Matthew Locke MG Charity Event on the 25th February 2017 in Bellingen

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Once items are collected they will be delivered to Melbourne by Cramptons truck company and from there the Rotary Club of Melbourne sends a container every six weeks to Timor Leste.

Thank you in advance for your kind donations.

Have you considered making the journey to Timor Leste. In 2011 we built a 4 room school house that now needs some maintenence. Can you help?

In April 2017, I will be travellingdeparting Darwin on the 9th April and returning on the 17th April and I am looking for anyone who would like to join me and undertake this work.

After arriving in Dili, you will be met and escorted to the village of Bei Cala which is in the Ainaro district. It is approximately 30 minutes past Same.

Accommodation in Bei Cala is with locals who will welcome you into their homes.

If you are interested and would like to know more, please email me at debbielocke@bigpond.com