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Shearing legend the late Neil Sidwell will be remembered at this year’s Warkworth A&P Show with a special trophy in his honour.
The Sidwell family has requested that the Neil Sidwell Memorial Perpetual Trophy be given to the junior/novice shearer who, in the opinion of the judges, shows the best attitude, aptitude and presentation. It will be awarded to the shearer on the day, but will remain in the Warkworth Shearing Shed throughout the year.
The trophy is being crafted by Barry Thompson and his team at the Menz Shed Warkworth.
Sidwell, who died in July last year, was a regular face in the shearing shed at the show.
Over more than 60 years of being involved with shearing as a competitor, judge and ambassador, he made many friends in NZ and overseas.
Fresh out of school in 1958, he started as a presser working for Brian Waterson in Port Waikato. By 1961, he was on the stands, earning the princely sum of $8 per 100 sheep.
His aim was to earn enough to be able to buy a farm and 140 dairy cows by the time he was 40. But shearing in NZ and Australia provided him with the means to make that goal come true a lot earlier – by the time he was 26, he owned a farm in Ruawai and was milking 300 cows.
In a Radio New Zealand interview he remembered working 12 hour days, seven days a week. Sometimes the gangs would be away for a week, and sometimes up to six weeks. He joked about the standard of the food, which fluctuated depending on the cook’s level of intoxication.
Sidwell is credited with reintroducing shearing to the Auckland Easter Show and served three years as president of the Auckland A&P Association (2014-2017). In 2008, he went to the UK as manager of the NZ Shearing Team.
NZ Rural Games Trust founder Steve Hollander paid tribute to Sidwell as a great ambassador for the sport of shearing and a worthy finalist in the Contribution To Rural Sports Award.
“Neil was always there to support young shearers and to be honest, helping anyone who needed a hand,” he said.
He sheared with many of the best in NZ and Australia, and was a backbone of shearing competitions from Auckland north, where the A&P Show competitions have survived and started to grow again, despite the sharp decline in the number of sheep, and consequently the number of shearers.
His love of shearing never dimmed and he continued to compete as a veteran in later years.
Shearers at the A&P Show in Warkworth will compete in five classes with nearly $2000 in prize money on the block. There could also be additional events depending on entries.
