Dave White - Outright Winner of the Lifetime Achievement category in both the Rotherham Sports Awards and the South Yorkshire Sports Awards for 2010
In 2010, the Management Committee of Ulley Sailing Club unanimously decided to nominate Dave White for a Lifetime Achievement at the Rotherham Sports Awards. These awards recognise that "for every big sporting name that Rotherham Metropolitan Borough has produced, there are hundreds of unsung heroes who, day in and day out, work at the grassroots level to build the foundations which are helping people of all ages and abilities to achieve their sporting ambitions."
Dave's nomination read as follows:
David White has been a member of Ulley Sailing Club for more than 20 years and during that time has never failed to contribute fully to the life of the club, both on and off the water.
Dave LOVES dinghy sailing – windy or calm, wet or dry, winter or summer! Now in his 70th year, he competes on the water almost every weekend, but he is not so much concerned about winning as about encouraging other people – especially young and new members - to join him as crew and to share his passion. His two lovingly renovated wooden boats are named after his grandchildren. He always looks forward to organising the logistics for and participating in the Club’s annual foray to the 24-hour race in Southport.
Dave LOVES Ulley Sailing Club! Off the water he has served the Club in many capacities, as Bosun, then as Commodore from 2002 to 2004 and again as Bosun from 2005 to date. A former pattern maker, part-time fireman and BT engineer, Dave regularly draws on his practical skills and knowledge to devise ingenious solutions to help improve the performance of our club boats and to make race management easier. Hardly a week passes when Dave is not at the Club, always busy with something despite the fact that he now suffers seriously from painful arthritis.
Over the last three years, since the floods of June 2007 disrupted the Club’s operations, Dave has been a major driving force in keeping the Club together. His enthusiasm and determination to keep the Club going has been an inspiration to all the Management Committee and to the membership in general. Over this last 12 months, using his professional skills and leading by his enthusiasm, he has, with other excellent volunteers, totally refurbished the club galley/kitchen and renovated the duty cabin in preparation for the day when the Club could return to normal operation.
Dave has been an active volunteer in many different capacities over the years. He was chair of Orgreave Parish Council at the time of the miners’ strike, is still an active Trades Union representative, and an active committee member of the Friends of Ulley Country Park. Dave will be 70 years of age in November of this year. It would be a fitting birthday present for him to be honoured at the Rotherham Sports Awards in the same month.
Dave was the outright winner of the award (click here for photo) and he was then put forward for the South Yorkshire Sports Awards, again in the Lifetime Achievement category. This award is for someone who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and has silently gone about their duties, achieving success, without seeking out their own plaudits over a number of years. Against stiff competition, Dave won that as well !
Each of the three finalists was interviewed for a short video that was used as part of the judging process, and the judges commented that Dave's evident sincerity was a major factor in him winning the award. Click here to see Dave's video.
Dave was unable to attend the South Yorkshire awards ceremony because he was in New Zealand for his daughter's wedding but the Commodore, Mark Burkitt, was pleased and proud to collect the award on Dave's behalf.