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Almost a week of back-to-back farewell gatherings culminated in a packed community send-off for Leigh stalwarts Tony and Jenny Enderby on Sunday, November 27 at Leigh Central, before they moved to start a new life in Cambridge.
More than 70 people heard speaker after speaker pay testimony to the incredible number of groups and organisations the couple had volunteered for, helped or got going since they moved to the town in 1996.
These included Leigh Volunteer Fire Brigade, Goat Island marine reserve, Forest & Bird’s Coastal Restoration Group, the Leigh Penguin Project, Pest Free Leigh, Leigh Business Group and the Leigh Rag.
The Enderbys were praised not only for the endless work they had done themselves, but also for encouraging and helping so many other people to join in with community projects as well, as the coastal restoration group’s Neil Sutherland commented.
“It’s easy to talk about what people give to projects, but with Tony and Jenny it’s what they give to us as individuals,” he said. “They’ve given me and many people such huge opportunities. They’ve done a stunning job.”
Tony modestly replied that people just needed a gentle shove in the right direction “and Jenny’s really good at that”.
The party also heard that in addition to all their good works, Tony was known for his “stirring” and sense of humour, Jenny was a demon poker player and sales of red wine could well drop when they left.
After cutting a cake decorated with life-like little penguins and local marine life, Tony and Jenny thanked everyone and said though they would miss Leigh, they would be staying in touch with everyone and returning to visit regularly.
