OBITUARY Mr. R. Bennett served country cricket well

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 9

OBITUARY Mr. R. Bennett served country cricket well

r'OUNTRY cricket in Canterbury lost one of its most enthusiastic but unassuming workers with the death recently of Mr R. R. (Ron) Bennett, at the age of 62. Although Mr Bennett devoted incalculable time and energy to cricket administration, such was his enthusiasm for the game that he continued to play regularly in the Ashley subassociation’s competitions right up to last season. Mr Bennett continued a father and son connection with the executive of the Ashley sub-association going back to 1908, when his father, the late. Mr H. A. Bennett, was first elected. Mr Bennett senior was later president from 1923 to 1939 and subsequently patron. Mr Ron Bennett served on the executive continuously from 1935, including 14 years as president until he retired from that office a year ago. Mr Bennett was one of the prime movers for the formation of the North Canterbury Cricket Minor Association and he was its president continuously from its inception in 1962. Not just a figurehead president, Mr Bennett took more than a full share of the administrative burdens. If. ever transport was needed for a representative team, his car was one of the first to be offered. He was frequently manager of representative teams and one of his greatest sporting thrills was being manager of the North Canterbury team which won the Hawke Cup from’' Manawatu in 1967. It was the first time the cup had come south of Nelson since 1913. Mr Bennett was interested in cricketers of all ages. He was prominent in forming an Ashley schoolboys’ competition and then in arranging representative fixtures. He encouraged coaching at all levels. Important factors in his success as an administrator were his sense of fair play, his ability to pour oil on troubled waters, and his ability to get others to work with and for him. After entering senior cricket when he left Rangiora High School, Mr Bennett Continued to play in various grades of the Ashley competitions throughout his life for a total of 48 seasons of club cricket. His attention to maintaining physical fitness enabled him to compete on the field with players a third his age. A former representative cricketer, he was also a North Canterbury A grade umpire. Mr Bennett’s sporting interests did not end with cricket, however. Somewhere between farming and cricket he fitted in bowls, indoor bowls, golf, and a wealth of community service in numerous organisations mainly in the OhokaEast Eyreton district, in that area, there is scarcely an organisation which ne did not serve as a committee member and, in many cases, chairman.

He was active in the Methodist Church as a member of the Kaiapoi circuit quarterly sessions, he was a trustee of the Ohoka Church and he was a church organist. At one stage Mr Bennett played the organ in both the Methodist and Anglican churches at East Eyreton and later was organist at Ohoka. Mr Bennett was chairman of the Ohoka Domain Board for 24 years, chairman of the Ohoka branch of the National Party since its inception, a former chairman of the East Eyreton School Committee, a member of the East Eyreton Cemetery Board, the East Eyreton Hall Committee, the East Eyreton Indoor Bowling Club committee, and the Kaiapoi Masonic Lodge.