Brian Richards of Bega is a recipient of the Bega Valley Shire Community Service Medallion for 2015.
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When Mr Richards retired from the Bega Tennis Club in January he had completed 62 years of service to the Bega Tennis Club.
He joined the club in 1952 after arriving in Bega with his family as a 16 year old in 1950, and first showed up on the honor board when he became secretary in 1961 and, all up, he spent 13 years in that role.
In 1975, he had his first of three terms as president but it was as treasurer that he demonstrated his mettle – 35 years, and many of them doubling with his role of secretary.
He started playing as a B grader, advanced through the ranks of the fours competition to A grade and was on the committee a year later when the club had just been rebuilt and had five courts.
In 1973, the club relaunched the night tennis competition.
Mr Richards built the comp up to four strong divisions played over two nights and soon found himself as the sole coordinator.
From 1974 he ran it continuously until his retirement – 41 years.
Beyond running the night competition, Mr Richards was also coordinating the annual Easter tournament from 1966.
Mr Richards wanted to see continued growth in the Bega club and took the competition over from the association to ensure the revenue was used locally, as everyone involved was from the Bega Club.
Under his stewardship, the Easter competition had grown to a major yearly event for the club to a point where 250 to 300 players injected more than $200,000 into to the Bega economy based on a survey done by entrants at its peak.
Mr Richards was also addressing shortages in junior development programs in the 1960s and took on coaching on Saturday mornings that lasted almost 40 years.