In 1954, Gordon Clinton was 17 when he chose to join the Ashburton Centennial Sports Hall committee. Now 92, he is the sole survivor from the founding committee and remembers his many years with the group fondly. "I was playing a lot of table tennis at the time, so when one of the committee members asked me if I would like to join, I agreed." Being part of a committee was unfamiliar terrain for the young Tuckers Hardware building supplies assistant, but he soon got the hang of it. Gordon’s first meeting was big. On the agenda was the decision to buy the vacant Ashburton Motors building on Tancred St. "When it came to vote on buying the building, I just sat there,” he said. "Then I looked around I saw everyone else had their hands up, so I put mine up too.” With some help from the Bank of New Zealand in the form of a favourable interest rate, they bought the building. "Then the hard work begun,” he said.…