To mark the occasion the trust is staging a gala anniversary event at the Bomaderry Bowling Club on Saturday night.

The trust was established following the untimely death of Bernie Regan in 1984.

Tickets for the gala evening are on sale now at Wright’s Chainsaws in Kinghorne Street, Nowra.

St George Illawarra captain Ben Hornby and his centre team-mate Matt Cooper will be among the guests.

They will be interviewed by MC Phil Lynch on the evening as will a host of former Shoalhaven sports stars who have been supported by the trust over the years.

Chairman of the Bernie Regan Memorial Sporting Trust, Paul Goddard said the anniversary dinner will is shaping up to be one of the gala nights on the sports’ social calendar.

“It will be the chance not only to celebrate 25 years of the Trust, but also raise some funds so we can continue our work of supporting local young sportstars in their endeavours.

“We will be running raffles and auctions on the night.”

The actual date, November 7, will be 25 years to the day that the original meeting was staged to form the trust.

“Over the past 25 years we have presented grants to 250 athletes over 34 different sports worth about $250,000,” he said.

The activities continue on Sunday with a family fun day at the Bernie Regan Sporting Complex at North Nowra, including game of cricket organised by the Gentlemen of Nowra, a touch football match organised by the Nowra-Shoalhaven Touch Association and the inaugural Bernie Regan Sprint to see who is the quickest athlete in the Shoalhaven.

The unveiling of a new plaque will also be made at the complex, which will outline some of Bernie’s achievements.

The 100 metre running challenge, being staged by the Trust committee and organised by Nowra Athletic Club legends Rod and Jan Gibb has already attracted interest including sponsors Nowra Toyota and Sportspower Nowra who will be providing prizes on the day for the winners.

The event is open to all comers, male or female, and it is hoped to stage heats, semis and a final all on the one day, with the semis and finals to be handicapped.

Athletes intending to contest the inaugural Bernie Regan Sprint do need to nominate by Friday, competitors must be high school age or above, there will be no entry fee and starting blocks will not be used.

Nominations can be made to either the Nowra Athletics Club on 44460226 or email willandra

@commander360.com or the Bernie Regan Sporting Trust at brtrust@hotmail.com

It is envisaged heats will be staged at about 10.30am followed by the finals at around 1pm.