Kim Hughes entertained members of our club when we joined Rotary Club of Osborne Park at their meeting on Tuesday 17th September.
Hughes was born on 26th January 1954 in Margaret River, the first child of Stan who was a teacher at the one-teacher school in Kudardup, and Ruth. The family travelled around Western Australia as Stan was moved from school to school until he was posted to the Allendale primary school in Geraldton, as headmaster.
Hughes played a variety of sports until he became interested in cricket at age 11 and was selected to play in U16 Country Week sides for several years. this brought him to the attention of cricket administrators. After Hughes finished primary school, the family moved to Perth and he continued his cricket career. He made his first-grade debut at age 15 and in 1970 was selected to play for WA in the U-19 cricket carnival.
After finishing high school, Hughes attended Graylands Teachers College to train as a primary school teacher. Graylands was established as a stop-gap measure but by the time Hughes arrived it had been operating for two decades and the facilities were run down and almost derelict. In 1974, his final year at Graylands, Hughes was elected President of the student council and in this role he led a campaign to improve the facilities for the faculty and students.
His first job as a teacher was at Linden Park Primary School in during his attempt to make the South Australian team in 1974.
After teaching, he found employment in the finance industry, working first for City Building Society as a promotions manager and later for Town & Country Building Society in a marketing role. Town & Country used Hughes to promote their business both in advertising and in through direct contact with investors. In return, Hughes was afforded time away from work to pursue cricket. The General Manager of Town & Country described the relationship: "[Hughes] was a great player, well presented, good looking. He was a family man. He fitted the Town & Country mould admirably.
At the age of only 24, Hughes was given the captaincy of the Australian Test team, becoming the first Western Australian Test Captain of Australia and the second youngest in Australian history. He went on to lead his country 28 times. Kim Hughes also captained WA 28 times and was at the helm during three Sheffield Shield victories.
Kim spoke of the great influences he had in his life who encouraged him to see the positives in his game. The mantra was 'don't dwell on what went wrong, find what you did well and focus on that' and he firmly believes this. "If you are going to make a duck, make sure it's the best duck."
He spoke about his addiction to alcohol and the impact it had on his life and his journey to sobriety and the importance of having the right influences to help you in your life. At least men feel they can get together now for a chat with a coffee, not an alcoholic drink.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In 2007 our club was alerted to a situation in the Maasai village of Kimuka in Kenya. We were made aware that even getting clean water was not possible, so our first task was to install a rainwater tank to the school.
