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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Vale David Hall the warm symbol of camaraderie

Some might question the sanity of anyone willing to swim outdoors on a cold winter’s day, but for the Bondi Icebergs, winter swimming is a time-honored tradition. ... Bondi Icebergs club president David Hall embraced the tradition like no other ...  especially on Australia Day Media Dragon: Iceberg

David was an institution as he served in many voluntary roles at the Bondi Iceberg... David's jokes and ability to remember every swimmer's name was legendary. Lofty Petrie, Mike Malley, Alan Gow (Gow Dynasty fifth generation at Iceberg)  and other MEdia Dragons will never forget  David's thoughtful icebreaking ways of dealing with people and situations ... Rest in peace and thank you for all the warm memories of  the freezing Sunday mornings and for helping moi And others to win the race of all races #13 ( lofty heat thirteen ) ( No one understood how to improve ones handicap as David! a man with a massive heart, did ...)

BONDI Icebergs Club (Icebergs @ Bondipresident David Hall has been remembered as a “loveable larrikin” by family and friends.

Bondi Icebergs Club president David Hall who has died after a short battle with cancer, aged 53.


 Mr Hall’s nephew, Jamie Berry, said more than 100 people visited his uncle while he was at St Vincent Hospital 



‘A man with a massive heart’
‘A man with a massive heart’Icebergs head David Hall mourned
HUNDREDS of mourners cried and laughed as they paid tribute to Bondi Icebergs Club president David Hall at Bondi Pavilion.
Picture: Craig Wilson Hundreds gather to farewell Bondi Icebergs president David Hall (right).The courtyard was packed with more than 400 people on Friday, following the 53year-old’s death at St Vincent’s Hospital after a short battle with cancer.
Mr Hall’s partner Louise Everingham, whom he met as a teenager, fought back tears as she spoke about the love of her life.
“Normally, this would be David’s place, standing up here with a mic in his hand, a smile on his dial and ready to go with a joke at hand,” she said.
Ms Everingham shared her favourite memories of Mr Hall with the large crowd that included several Bondi identities, councillors and Waverley Mayor Sally Betts.
“He was a man with a massive heart, a personality to match and had absolutely no idea what he meant to so many people,” she said.
Mr Hall grew up in Condobolin and moved to Sydney in the 1980s to play football. He joined the Bondi Icebergs Club in 1989 and held various positions.
“He found it an absolute honour to become the president of Bondi Icebergs,” Ms Everingham said. “He made it a personal aim of his to memorise every staff member’s name so that the next time he could say hello and then the person’s name.”
Mr Hall was known to many as a “loveable larrikin” but, beneath the jokes, Ms Everingham said he was a kind and caring man.
“Not many would know, but he actually loved poetry, particularly Banjo Paterson,” she said. “He could recite a lot of the poems as well as he could tell a joke and when he was in the mood, he would recite poetry to me even though he knew it would bore me to tears.
“But to be honest, it didn’t and I just loved listening to the sound of his voice.”
Ms Everingham also told many funny stories about Mr Hall to the crowd, who laughed through their tears.
“To all of you here today, could you please hold on to the special memories you all have of David,” she said.
“He wouldn’t expect it but I couldn’t bear it if he was forgotten.”








    Bondi Icebergs Club president David Hall who has died after a short battle with cancer, aged 53.

    Bondi Icebergs president remembered as a loveable larrikin

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    David was a down to earth giver :


    Six years before the cold idea of Iceberg at Bondi was born, the Lebanese-American artist, poet, and philosopher Kahlil Gibran(1883–1931) published his masterpiece, The Prophet, which endures as a timeless classic meditation on living. While Kahlil's thoughts on love capture his brilliance, his book offered more wisdom.

    In our annual letter we highlight that the most valuable thing you give Farnam Street, is your time. This moves beyond something physical and into something that is part of you. Gibran captures this well when he writes:

    You give but little when you give of your possessions.
    It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

    As if speaking in our time — to our fear or boredom, our inability to want something without instant gratification, and our ability to never be satisfied with what we have, Gibran writes

    And what is fear of need but need itself.
    Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

    On whether we should wait to be asked before we give, the answer is clear. We should give first. More than that, however, we need to be deserving. Something Charlie Munger hit on when he said “The best way to get success is to deserve success.”

    It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
    And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
    […]
    You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”
    The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
    They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
    […]
    See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
    For in truth it is life that gives unto life—while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

    The Prophet is a must read in its entirety. Complement with