THE life and times of one of Charters Towers favourite sons’ announcer Eric Ormonde was remembered fondly last Tuesday at the Charters Towers show with the official opening of the restored grandstand named in his honour.
The man who got the ball rolling with the project, and one who misses Eric greatly is Rob McLachlan who approached Eric wanting to be taught the art of announcing when he was a just a lad of 14 back in 1971.
Eric spent 50 years announcing various shows, rodeos, camp drafts and gymkhanas’ around the northern region and his distinctive voice was well known throughout the north befor4e he passed away in July last year.
“If Ray Warren is the voice of Rugby League than Eric was the voice of show announcing in northern Queensland” Rob said.
“Eric schooled me in how to announce race meetings, and later on he taught me how to do ring announcing as well” he said.
He now announces at several events in Townsville, Ingham and Charters Towers, and is also the voice of the championships for the pony club events.
Rob jokingly said that in hindsight Eric’s proposal to act as his mentor probably worked both ways.
“He’d be up in the announcer’s cage all day with his corded mic, so I think teaching me how to announce allowed him to get out and have a stretch, grab a drink and talk to his mates for a while” he said.
“It’s not like today, where we have the cordless mics that allow us to announce from anywhere we like, he was cooped up in that cage all day long”.
Rob said he put forth the proposal to have the grandstand named in Eric’s honour, because he didn’t think Eric ever got enough recognition for all the work he did within the Charters Towers community.
Rob was a bit hesitant in putting forth the idea to the council because he thought their might be some opposition, but to his surprise his plan was fully endorsed and was backed with letters of support by Bob Katter and Shane Knuth.
“Eric was held in the highest regard by everyone he worked with, he was a bit of a larrikin at times but was also not one to mince words, if he had a problem with someone or something he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.”
Rob said that it was very pleasing to finally have the official opening ceremony.
“A large portion of the Ormonde family came to the event which was great to see, and Eric’s daughter Leticia gave a great speech about the kind of man her father was”
Other besides Rob that gave speeches on the day were Bob Katter who recalled Eric’s time as a member of the city council, he said “Eric always fought hard for jobs and employment opportunities in Charters Towers, he really cared about the town and the people within in it.”
Shane Knuth told the crowd about some sound words of advice that Eric gave him soon after he was elected in 2004.
“He said, he said never feed people ice-cream, always give them solid meat” he said.
Charters Towers mayor Ben Callcott said that Eric was a salt-of-the-earth type and a real gentleman and that his voice was big, and clear as a church bell
By the end of the year a bronze plaque will be placed on the grandstand commemorating Eric’s various contributions and accomplishments and he’ll also have the Six Bar Jumping event named in his honour, which Rob said he would have loved because it was one of the highlights of the program for him each year.
The grandstand is one of the last standing original structures on the showgrounds and work had been ongoing for the past couple of years restoring it to its former glory.
