WHEN Miss Caitlyn flashed past the post an impressive winner of Monday’s Armidale Citizen of the Year Walcha Cup Prelude it set up her connections a trophy presentation from Phil Wheaton.
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Earlier in the day, Wheaton had been named Armidale Citizen of the Year in the Australia Day ceremony at Armidale Racecourse and the 62-year-old senior executive officer of the Armidale City Bowling Club stayed on to award Grafton trainer Paddy Cunningham the Walcha Cup Prelude trophy.
Armidale Jockey Club secretary Jim Dedes reckoned it a special moment.
“It’s well deserved,” Dedes said.
“Phil’s been massive in the Armidale community for a long while.
“It must run in the genes. His father, Howard, was president of the Armidale Ex-Services Club for years too.”
Howard Wheaton was a founding member of the Ex-Services club, Phil Wheaton said yesterday, after celebrating his humbling award.
“Obviously I’m proud as hell,” Wheaton said.
“It’s a massive honour.
“To be born and bred in Armidale and be named the citizen of the year gave me a huge thrill.
“But I did have a pretty good grounding.”
His father, Howard Wheaton, was an outstanding role model.
“He was a founding member of the Ex-Services Club and president non-stop for 25 years.
“But he was also heavily involved in cricket and football.
“He was a very big influence on me, whether it was in the musical society or digging holes.”
Wheaton has been heavily involved in the North Armidale Football Club for more than 40 years.
The club named its North Armidale oval Phil Wheaton Oval in 2007.
That was a big honour too.
He’s also been heavily involved in the Armidale City Bowling Club.
He was chief executive officer for 14 years but has since moved into a new position as senior executive officer as the club expands.
“We have expanded out of sport too,” he said.
“We do have a lot of community activities.
“I loved getting involved in the Armidale Tidy Towns.
“We’ve gone from having 25 community groups in the State submission to having 53 community groups involved in the national tidy towns.
“I’ve been at the bowling club 21 years and been exposed to a lot of community groups.
“The bowling club has encouraged me to become involved and allowed me to get out into the community and do that.
“We love Armidale and want to grow with it and do the things we love.”