Phil Coggins has been The Boorowa Times go-to man for the last few years, and we love him to bits.
The soon to be 62 year old much-loved local and familiar face has been providing all sorts of news for us, and having lived in Boorowa since he was 14 years old, there’s few that know the place as well as Phil and the people who live there.
Phil is now looking at retiring from his day job at Burrowa House, after more than eight years at the helm and more than 21 years working in Canberra before that.
Phil has a love for aged care, but says the frameworks and red tape can be cumbersome.
He joked, “I’m retiring soon. I just got to the point where I thought it’s just about time to pull the pin and do a few other things before I end up back here as a resident.”
However, never one to back down from a challenge, Phil will be lining up for his 30th consecutive City to Surf.
“I thought I can’t not do it and 30 will be a good benchmark. It’s in about four weeks,” he says.
“It’s 30 years straight. Well, when COVID was here, we had a virtual City to Surf, which basically you had to map out a course and run 14 kilometres. And then when you finished the run, you sent it to an app and they recorded it as a virtual City to Surf. That was for two years, so I did both of those as well.”
Phil has been involved in numerous community groups over the years and has served as our eyes and ears on the ground.
If you have a story tip or lead, let him know, so he can pass it on to us or add it to his list.
Pending his availability (because we are sure he will pack retirement with as many things as possible), Phil will officially be coming on as a South West Slopes Times Journalist, and we are looking forward to seeing more high-quality writing from this town hero.
“I’m heading towards 62, on the wrong side of 61, well and truly. They are getting tougher every year too (City to Surfs). I’m trying to do a bit of training. Normally, when I first started doing them, I could get away with training for a month. I’ve probably been training four months now and I still don’t reckon I’m ready, but anyway, that’s how it is,” he says.
“I will walk the odd bit. Heartbreak Hill is starting to take a bit of a toll these days. I still get there, but nowhere near what I used to be able to do and I’m still out there, that’s the main thing.”
While Phil is our usual rugby league, darts, cricket and other sports writer, he says he is looking forward to plugging more sports in the paper.
His passion for sport has always been a pivotal part of his life, and Phil has been a mainstay of the Cricket Club, spanning five decades of involvement.
“Last year I said I’d fill in at the cricket if they were short. And they were short every game, so I ended up playing every game. I’m still there going around this year,” he says.
“It basically gets down to if Boorowa needs a hand, I’m there, or I try to where I can.
“I will probably go around again this year.”
Moving to Boorowa at age 14, Phil says the move was due to his Dad’s work on one of the properties – then owned by Wally Merriman.
“I did my latter schooling here and then I worked down at the Council for 11 years in an admin capacity and then I went to Canberra. I was at Intellectual Property Australia for 22 years. When they offered me a redundancy I came back here and was [only] here for about a month and got offered this job. That was eight years ago,” he says.
Phil says the biggest achievement he has overseen at Burrowa House was the extension.
“This place has got a really good reputation around the region. We take in people from Harden, Young, Yass – that’s if we’ve got the beds, of course – but at the end of the day you have got to keep beds full otherwise you lose an income,” he says.
“It’s been a good eight years, I enjoy the job, but I just got to the point where I need a break, and my partner wants to do a few things.”
As for retirement plans, he says he isn’t quite sure.
“There’s no caravan on the horizon. Donna’s definitely not a camper, she’s more of a glamper. I probably would, but we’ll just go to a few spots we want to see overseas and maybe do a little bit of travel in Australia, but not the caravan thing.
“Once you put something out on Facebook it becomes common knowledge about me retiring from Burrowa House.
“We put out an Expression of Interest out and so far have had a few inquiries. We will put an advertisement out for a full application later this week.
“I’ve given my date as August 31st, but I will stay a bit longer if they need it.”
Phil continues to be great for Burrowa House and for Boorowa in general.
We are excited to see him spearhead many more great articles and encourage our readers to get behind Phil (and the paper!).
Print media is a prized possession and as much as we can’t guess the future, we know that our time could be limited before we go digital only.
The way our readers consume their news continues to change (and the way we provide it to you will follow accordingly), but when it comes to Phil, he doesn’t. Reliable, generous, community-minded and one of Boorowa’s best, keep an eye out for his next story!
Thanks Phil.
Footnote: If you see him out training for his 30th City to Surf, offer some encouragement.
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