On Friday the 3rd of November 2023, Seddon Cricket Club hosted a Gala Dinner that featured the great Australian batter, David Boon. The purpose of this event was to connect local cricket enthusiasts and to have a good old-fashioned knees up.

Local Hamilton resident Joanna Maber was the Event Manager and did a superb job coordinating this event. Jo is a passionate and very driven woman who gives so much to our local community.

The Seddon Cricket Club has benefitted from her work ethic, attention to detail and vision.

292 guests filled The Atrium at Wintec. Before they danced the night away to local band Coupe de Ville, David Boon gave one of the great keynote speeches.

He covered a wide range of topics that included leadership, culture, life after cricket and of course, some funny cricket stories from his playing days.

David has not only achieved great success on the field representing Australia, but since his playing days he has equally been as successful becoming a very successful Match Referee for the ICC.

Boon is very sophisticated and intelligent but very humble. It was an honour to host him in Hamilton.

Seddon Cricket Club has a philosophy of using genuine cricket lovers to help support our events. As such, we would like to thank the following people:

Last season’s voice of cricket on the radio, Nigel Yalden for being our MC – Nigel is a genuine and highly skilled journalist who promotes sport the way it should be.

Thank you to hard-hitting batter Darrel Hadley and left-arm swing bowler Brian (Swerve) Watson and the team at Good George Brewing! Outstanding.

Thank you to left-arm quick bowler David Clouston at Two Rivers of Marlborough Winery in Blenheim for supplying the wine – he built his own cricket field in the middle of his vineyard!! Now there’s a serious cricket tragic.

Thank you to supreme cricket team manager, Stephen Shale for running the auction - what an amazing job you did!

We appreciate the good work of catering company Kerr & Ladbrook Catering. Your staff worked hard all night.

Thank you to our graphics and printing team, Rachael Nicholls at Glinta and Steve O Toole at Print House

Through the support of so many wonderful companies that donated auction items we were able to fundraise a healthy total that we can now put back into community cricket.

Thank you to FreshChoice Leamington, Matt Stark, GLOBOX, Power Farming New Zealand, Scott Couch, Winger Motors Hamilton, Riki Kinnaird The Duke of Marlborough, Andrew Castles at Waikato Thoroughbred Racing , Larissa Dunn at Travel Managers, Wellington Wanderers Cricket Club and Cape Kidnappers

To the guests who attended our inaugural Gala Dinner, we sincerely THANK YOU.

You were all amazing and thank you for getting into the spirit of the night. We will see you again.