“Australian lightweight champion from lil ol’ Swan Bay”

By Samantha Elley

Maddog boxing’s Sunny McLean has been going from strength to strength this past year, grabbing titles from each of the events he has been fighting in.

Sunny McLean and his coach, Scott Smith, who runs Maddox Boxing, were recently picked to represent Queensland as the fighter and coach team to compete in the national titles in Gosford.

Sunny won all his elimination bouts and beat the NSW champion in the gold medal fight, to become the newly crowned Australian champion in the lightweight division.

They were surprised with a visit from Jason and Andrew Moloney, world champion professional boxers.

“Every state in Australia was there with all the best fighters and the (Moloney brothers) came to support us, so we felt so special,” said Scott.

“They came to help me prepare Sunny for his last two fights in this event.”

Sunny was competing for Queensland as he already holds the title of QLD/NSW interstate champion.

“His first opponent, the referee stopped the fight in the 3rd round,” said Scott.

“His second opponent was the favourite from Tasmania and Sunny won that fight to go through for the gold medal against the NSW champion.

“Andy (co-trainer) and I worked out a plan to beat him and Sunny did exactly what he was asked and never last control of the situation.

“He is now the Australian lightweight champion from lil ol Swan Bay.”

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Glittering celebration for city icon

By Tim Howard

The Grafton glitterati will don their finest on Friday night to celebrate the 140th anniversary of one of the city’s major icons.

Grafton’s Christ Church Cathedral turns 140 this year and a gala dinner has been organised to celebrate.

The church community has the added pleasure of welcoming back two recently significant figures, former cathedral deans Dean Peter Catt and Bishop Richard Hurford.

Between them they will have a plentiful supply of anecdotes of their terms as Deans of the Cathedral.

But they won’t be the only entertainment on the night in the nave of the cathedral.

The Clarence Valley Conservatorium String Quartet will provide the musical entertainment for the evening.

And in between sets there will be fund raising games and activities to raise money for the maintenance of the church’s heritage buildings and ministerial activities.

The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral the Very Rev Naomi Cooke said she would like to see as many people as possible there to celebrate the cathedral’s significant milestone,

“The 140th Anniversary Gala Dinner is an opportunity for us to commemorate this milestone and celebrate the rich history and bright future of Grafton Cathedral,” she said.

Rev Cooke said the cathedral would be transformed into a beautiful venue for the formal three-course dinner.

The evening would commence with hors d’oeuvres and sparkling wine on the beautiful Cathedral grounds, followed by guests being seated for dinner in the grand setting of the Cathedral nave accompanied by the music of the string quartet.

The church has sought sponsorship of the event in three ways, seeking

Tickets can be booked here.

“We are proud to have reached this milestone, and it would not have been possible without the support of the local community,” Rev Cooke said.

The Clarence River Historical Society has prepared a leaflet to provide some background information for Friday.

It showed the cathedral was designed by John Horbury Hunt an architect controversial in his time, but who has some significant landmarks to his credit, including St Peter’s Cathedral in Armidale.

The completed cathedral building measures 50.5m in lengthy, 13.5m in width and rises to 18 metres at the top of the cross on its western end.

The builder was Paddy Robison who also made some of the stained glass windows in the building.

The cathedral was made from around half a million bricks and can hold 500 worshippers.

It consists of the sanctuary, choir, transept and nave and the foundations have the capacity to hold a chapter house and spire, which have not been built.

The foundations were laid in stone calculated to be strong enough to bear the weight of the proposed structures.

The historical society included a chronology of the cathedral construction

• 1874: Foundation stone laid June 24.
• 1880: Building of the cathedral commences.
• 1884: Cathedral opened and dedicated July 25.
• 1934: Foundation stone laid for second stage June 27.
• 1959: Cathedral is consecrated September 14.
• 1984: Centenary celebrations and restoration work complete.
• 2019: Further restoration work completed.
• 2024: Final stages of restorations completed this month.

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Vandals continue attacks at cricket HQ

By Tim Howard

The continued senseless destruction of large sections of the boundary fence at Grafton’s Ellem Oval has outraged the local sporting community.

The president of the Clarence River Cricket Association, Anthony Dickson, was astounded at the extent of the damage when he arrived at the ground on Saturday ahead of the first match of the season.

Dickson, also a player with the South Services first grade team, said the modern picket fence around ground was in a sorry state.

“It’s a beautiful oval this time of year, but there’s panels busted out every where,” Dickson said.

“I don’t know what we can do,” he said. “The council don’t seem to want to do anything. It’s starting to drive us insane.”

Dickson said the location of the heaviest damage to the fence, near the skate park, was a clear indication of  who were the culprits.

“It’s a beautiful oval, with a modern clubhouse and this is happening. It’s a bad look,” Dickson said.

The classic picket fence surrounding the cricket ground in the park, named after the Ellem family who were synonymous with Clarence cricket for most of the 20th Century, was part of a $2.5 million upgrade off the Fisher Park precinct completed in 2011.

The skate park near the oval has been a popular addition to community infrastructure but has also been a venue for some anti-social behaviour.

The skate park, built in the early part of the century and upgraded at cost of of $64,000 in 2010 has been a source of conflict between young people using the park and cricketers ever since the picket fence went up in 2011.

Skate park users have at times interrupted cricket matches, riding bikes onto the field on at least one occasion and at times taunting players on the field near the fence.

Dickson said it was not surprising the heaviest damage to the picket fence has occurred along the perimeter next to the skate park.

“We’ve been told the damage to the fence now would cost about $10,000 to repair,” he said.

The skate park has been popular with young people in Grafton ever since it opened and has also been used as a venue for the popular Out of the Box youth outreach service.

But it also been the scene of a number of assaults and other anti-social behaviour and also a spectacular vehicle fire in March 2022.

Dickson said damage to the fence had continued over a number of years but had not been repaired.

“We’ve got this beautiful cricket oval going around about three quarters of the ground, with this modern clubhouse,” he said.

“But that section near the skatepark has had all the palings busted off and even the rails have been pulled down.

“Now they’ve smashed up another section of the fence coming back towards the clubhouse. Something’s got to be done. It has to stop.”

Vandals have also moved inside the fence to damage the ground with wicket covers destroyed and people riding bikes on the wicket surface when it was wet.

Dickson said leading umpire up Tony Blanch, who is also the wicket curator at the ground, had met with the police after the latest vandal attack.

“I don’t know what we can do,” he said. “We’ve had these problems for a long time, but it always seem to end up with nothing happening.”