Much-loved Bridgetown local and Order of Australia recipient dies aged 86Amber Lilley and Daniel HockingManjimup-Bridgetown TimesWed, 18 June 2025 3:00AM
A much-loved Bridgetown resident has died, aged 86, two years after being recognised as an outstanding community member with a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Noel Holdsworth died on May 26 this year, the loved husband of Beverley, father of Steven, Susan, Benny and Peter, and Pop and Poppy to grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
His love for the Bridgetown Football Club was legendary and earned him life membership of the Bulldogs, and he was also an avid member of the Bridgetown Rotary Club for more than 40 years.
In January 2023, Mr Holdsworth was honoured with the OAM, telling the Times it was great to know others thought he had earned the title.
He said his lifelong membership of the Bulldogs, including being a field umpire and patron to the club, helped him get involved in the community.
“I’ve been involved with football for the past 50 years being involved in the Bridgetown Football Club, been a goal umpire for 45 years, but I’m not doing that at the moment,” Mr Holdsworth said in 2023.
“Sport’s good, like football and those type of things. I would like to see the young people get involved in that type of thing, because whether it’s football, basketball or cricket, it gets them involved in the community and they meet friends there that they’ll know for their lifetime.”
He was also awarded Bridgetown citizen of the year in 2018, an award he said was a “surprise” to him.
Mr Holdsworth was the director of the Greenacres Mill, having worked in the timber industry for 60 years, and was the owner of the Bridgetown Newsagency from 1986 to 2014.
“I’ve been working in the timber industry for 60 years and I bought the Greenacres Mill about 25 years ago and I had managed it for a couple of years before that,” he said in 2023.
“I worked at the Hester Mill for about 10 or 12 years, after I left there, I came to Greenacres, cutting timber, and that was about 50 years ago, and it got sold and I own it.
“Bought the newsagency, stayed there for 28 years and ran that as well, so I had a busy life.”
He gave advice on being in the community and crediting the people who have supported his contributions to the community.
“I can’t complain about life because I met a lot of great people all the time and whether you do what you’re best at, with young people today, you’ve got to aim for something they’ve got to believe in and they have to carry on with it,” he said.
“I think the most important thing is your family behind you, because all these times you have to remember that you’ve always got your family behind you.
“Mine have been great, being behind me all the way and without them I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything.”
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