The Jim Beale Memorial Award for 2008 was awarded to hard working and very dedicated husband and wife team Chris and Gillian Hogendyk.
The Hogendyks received the accolade at the Macquarie Valley Cotton Awards night at Narromine on Thursday ,with the couple described as “very dedicated and passionate regarding the cotton industry and environment”.
Mrs Hogendyk been associated with the National Parks and Wildlife service for some 15 years and is also a member of WIRES, where she looks after injured birds specialising in the rehabilitation of Owls and Wedge Tail Eagles. Her love of nature led her to publish a book on the Macquarie Marshes.
Mr Hogendyk has long been a fighter for the water issues of the irrigators, meets regularly with politicians and has been on MRFF for more than 10 years with three years as chairman.
He was part of the first Murray Darling leadership course was one of the chief organisers in the purchase of the marshes block ‘Burrima’.