Referred to as “part of the furniture”, Mrs Cherry has been a loyal club member since relocating to Deniliquin in 1984.
She has been a director since former chair Tony Smith approached her to join the board in 2005.
Mrs Cherry joins Mr Smith as one of three life members of the club, with the other being the late Kevan Brown.
Entering her 20th year as a director, the club says it is important to recognise Mrs Cherry’s service to the club across four decades, particularly as Mrs Cherry starts to consider her retirement from the board.
She has committed to staying on the board this year to mentor and facilitate any up-and-coming directors who may wish to take her place, alongside CEO Mel Clarke.
“It’s been 19 years. I think 20 years is good, but I’ll miss it.”
Mrs Cherry has always been heavily engaged with the goings-on at the club.
“She has always put her hand up to help and has been a very active member,” Mrs Clarke said.
“She has come down whenever we’ve needed help. She has also always done the weekly Thursday night raffle, even the Friday night raffle and she is often around and helps collect glasses.
“As seen with the recent ClubGRANTS, the board member position is a vital part of the community. Marie knows about everything that is going on, which is great.
“She’s been at the AGM every year and is our longest-standing member director.
“All the zone representatives have never known Marie to miss a zone meeting, and our zone, the Murray and Riverina Zone, goes as far as Broken Hill. She’s also only missed five or six meetings, which are held monthly, across 20 years.”
Despite the demands of a director, Mrs Cherry continues to approach the many facets of the role with enthusiasm.
“There is a lot of governance and legislation that directors need to be aware of, and Marie is.
“At 83, she is forever learning and still attends meetings and training sessions.”
The motion to award Mrs Cherry life membership was recommended by former club chair John Jansen last year.
Mrs Clarke said it was approved unanimously by the current board this year.
Mrs Cherry said she’s been involved in many different activities and projects in her time as a club member, and as a director.
“One of the biggest projects I’ve been a part of is the fishing sub-club,” she said.
“I was a part of the group the whole time and was its president at one stage.
“I was also involved in obtaining grant money to help provide much-needed updates to the kitchen.”
Mrs Cherry has also seen many changes within the club, and was proud to help guide it through some of its most challenging periods.
“I’ve seen at least five different CEOs in my time as director.
“We’ve had a few and quite a few directors also.
“We’ve had some struggling times, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, where we had to decide to stand down all the staff for a period.
“It created huge uncertainty for the staff.
“It is not simple being a director, and it is an ever-evolving industry.”
Mrs Cherry said it was a “big honour” to be awarded life membership, and wanted to specifically thank her husband Colin for his support over the years.
18°C