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Collingwood Football Club Secretary 1895-1923 Grave restoration 2012 Very special thanks to:
On may 9th 2012 a small gathering assembled at Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery to witness the unvieling of Ernest 'Bud' Copeland's grave restoration by Collingwood President Eddie McGuire and Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries President Travis Sellers. Over the last year Travis had put in many hours of diligent hard work to see this project was done properly and in a meaning way. The weather proved very kind to us as the sun shone throughout the preceedings. Eddie McGuire got things underway with the appropriate acknowledgements and then tossed the script aside to pay a heartfelt tribute to a fellow long serving Club administrator. Bud Copeland's great nieces, Kate McPherson and Janet Muspratt, had flown down from NSW for the occassion and were called forward to assist Eddie in unvieling the restored grave. Wreaths were laid on grave by Anne Landers, Lesley Benham and Eddie McGuire on behalf of the Collingwood Football Club, by Bud Copeland's Great Nieces, Kate McPherson and Janet Muspratt, Shane Barrie, on behalf of the VPHC. FOCRC president, Travis Sellers then spoke of the importance of the work FOCRC are doing and also relayed some wonderful anecdotes taking from the newspapers during Bud's 29 years service to the Club. One that was especially well recieved was of the '19th Magpie'; "Collingwood supporters had a period on Saturday when they thought their time for defeat had come at last. South Melbourne had a lead of 17 points at half-time, and looked like increasing it early in the third quarter. Suddenly a magpie flew on to the field, and after hopping about for a few seconds flew straight for the goal Col- lingwood had been attacking without much result, and this there were 19 "magpies" on the field. It seemed as if the bird was directing the men wearing its colours towards the goal. From that moment Col- lingwood never looked back. The incident was noticed by hundreds of spectators, among them Mrs. E. W. Copeland, who was sitting with her husband, who was for 20 years secretary of the Collingwood club. 'Look, look,' said Mrs. Copeland. 'What an extraordinary thing,' as she nudged her husband. 'That's nothing,' was his reply, 'that's one of the tricks we use when things are going wrong" From The Argus, 5 August 1929 p16 The Victoria Park Heritage Committee then paid tribute to the contributions of the Collingwood Football Club, the Collingwood Football Club Foundation and FOCRC. Kate McPherson spoke of her great uncle in terms of what he meant to the family and told stories of how he would send gifts of sporting equipment up north to his NSW family and described Bud as the 'sporty' one of the family. The day closed with group photos and a magnificent lunch provided by FOCRC in their pavillion at the cemetery. Just looking at the photo Travis took back in 2011 and looking at the final restored grave shows that this was truly a worthwhile venture.
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Thanks to the incredible persistence and hard work of Travis Sellers and his team from The Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries (FOCRC) the grave site of Ernest William 'Bud' Copeland will soon be restored to a respectable state. Currently the grave is in bad disrepair. When the Collingwood Football Club were approached by FOCRC to fund the restoration they were more than willing to help and the Collingwood Football Club Foundation, based now at Victoria Park, have been fantastic in providing funding for the project.
A new plaque has been commissioned and a committee was quickly formed to word the dedication to Bud Copeland. It is anticipated that the fully restored grave will be unveiled before round one of the coming season and details will be made available as soon as we have a firm date. Under the guidance of Collingwood Football Club Director of Stadia, David Emerson, the Bud Copeland Grave Restoration Committee members are: Peter Furniss - Chairperson Richard Stremski Glenn McFarlane Travis Sellers Shane Barrie |
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E. W. 'Bud' Copeland
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