THERE is a saying that once you drink Griffith’s channel water you’re bound to come back, and there are many hopeful that departing couple Jock and Doreen McDonald will keep with tradition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Wednesday, the couple were packing up their lives into boxes as they prepared to move to Port Macquarie after 36 years in town, many of which were spent serving beers to thirsty locals in the heart of town - the Area Hotel.
Apparently it is a simple equation that makes a good publican, that the McDonalds met and then exceeded with their continued community support.
“A good publican, that’s when he takes all of your money and you’re happy to give it to them – Jock just had the knack of it, it was his personality,” Mark Jaffrey said.
As secretary of the Warratahs Mr Jaffrey had much to do with the couple over the years due to their involvement in keeping the club alive on a sponsorship and committee level.
“They were very well-known, making a lot of friends through our club on a committee level,” he said.
It was a courtesy they would go on to extend to a number of sporting organisations, by extension keeping the Griffith community alive and tight-knit, according to president of the club Ken Wells.
“They have been great supporters of Griffith for a long time,” Mr Wells said.
“They sponsored football, basketball, even hockey – two or three fishing clubs through the hotel, they were very community minded and they will be missed very much.”
As they carried box after box down their drive way to the waiting removalist truck, the couple said they had been touched by the recognition from the city they had called home.
“It is a little bit humbling,” Mr McDonald said.
“We were certainly never community leaders but through the pubs we got to know people,” the couple also owned the Wade Hotel in Leeton and the Yanco Hotel.
“We will miss Griffith, mostly the people and the friendliness as well as all of the friends we have made.
“Always being in hospitality and pubs you have to enjoy people’s company and community work and while we did favour sporting teams I’ll always remember the Anzac mornings when we hosted rum and coffees after the dawn service for the returned soldiers.
“We also used to be a meeting spot for for the old The Area News team – that was a regular occurrence that they would frequent the pub after they finished the week off.”
