Princess Alexandra resident receives a ‘Halberg Lifetime Achievement Award’

5 Feb 2009 -

Congratulations to one of our Serviced Apartment residents Ron Shakespeare who on the 3rd of February was presented with the “Halberg Lifetime Achievement Award”. It was wonderful to watch as Sir Murray Halberg walked into our atrium and presented the award to Ron. Ron is 91 years old and has dedicated much of his life to the sporting community and has devoted 24 years to the Olympic and Commonwealth Games movement. Ron was a swimming selector for 18 years from 1961 to 1978. He was also Vice president of the NZ Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association for seven years.

The dedication that Ron had to his sport is evident in his attendance record for the NZ Swimming Association. He attended the first ever meeting in 1935 and went on to attend the annual meetings almost every year there after (except during the war service period) until 1988.

Ron’s achievements are as follows:

1962 - Swimming Manager at Perth Commonwealth Games

1964 - Tokyo Olympic Chef de Mission

1966 - Kingston, Jamaica Commonwealth Games Manager

1967 - Life Member of Swimming New Zealand

1950 - Gained an honours award

1961 -1962 - President of NZ Amateur Swimming Association

1950 - Diving secretary 1950 Empire Games Auckland

Manager of NZ teams to Sydney and Perth

It was a real privilege for all the staff and residents to take part in the recognition of Ron’s achievements. Congratulations’ Ron and thank you for sharing your achievements with us.