|
Year
|
Month
|
Day
|
Speaker
|
|
Topic
|
|
2022
|
Oct |
13th
|
Members & Chris Finch
|
|
The main part of the meeting was a look back at the 2022 season, with
plenty of audience participation. Subjects that were raised included The Hundred,
whether Test Match cricket was mainly relevant to those 60+, was Zac Crawley lucky
to be still playing for England and a look at the County Championship. Chris was
at the final Kent match where Darren Stevens' shirt was retired after 18 years of
service by the player. There were discussion about why Hampshire produced a 'green-top'
wicket against Kent, who had a bare eleven players, few of whom matched Hampshire's.
A disasterous 57 all out in Hampshire's 1st innings lost them the game and ultimately
143000 pounds. A suitable question for the Hampshire groundsman later in the season,
no doubt.
To finish the afternoon, we enjoyed a 20th Birthday cake to mark the first meeting
of the Society in September 2002. |
|
|
|
20th
|
Jeff Mostyn
|
|
Jeff Mostyn kindly made his third appearance at the Society and he
displayed his usual passion and performance in a talk and Q&A session which lasted
almost as long as a Premier League match. He went through the agony of relegation
from the Premier League, the succession of managers post Eddie Howe, the stark financial
realities of life in the Premier League along with the delight in being back in, probably,
the greatest league in the world. As ever he spoke with pride and at times,
extreme emotion, particularly when talking about his relationship with Eddie Howe
and the parting of the ways. Jason Tindall, Jonathan Woodgate and Scott Parker’s
contributions were all acknowledged and he was forthright about some former players,
as well as a few that might have joined this last summer but didn’t. As Jeff emphasised,
a player’s footballing ability may come first, but his personality is also crucial.
He updated us on the takeover situation, as far as he could, and revealed that he
anticipated Bill Foley becoming Chairman once the takeover is approved. On the infrastructure
side the Canford training ground facilities will be going ahead as quickly as possible
to raise the standard from a level 3 academy to a level 1. This hopefully will stem
the outflow of talented players before they turn 16. On the question of the stadium,
he acknowledged that the present ground is simply too small and a stadium with a
maximum capacity of 20000 is probably what they would aim for. A wonderful afternoon
went all too soon, I’m sure we will welcome Jeff back at some future date, whatever
his official status at the club. Many thanks Jeff. |
|
|
|
27th
|
Members
|
|
Members gathered to hear about the favourite cricketer(s) of
a variety of speakers from the floor. Ian Bagshaw got off to a good start with an
in depth look at Mike Barnard, in particular his career after Hampshire, when he
was the sports officer of a naval college, responsible for arranging fixtures, selecting
teams, arranging transport and often officiating in some capacity. Next up was a
tale from wartime cricket here in Bournemouth, when Bournemouth Amateurs were short
of a couple of players and managed to persuade a couple of Australian servicemen
to make up their eleven. After one of them had flayed the local bowlers around the
park, it transpired that he was Keith Miller, playing in England for the first time.
Paul Pearson took us back to more recent times, talking about Shane Warne and showing
us some of his collection of autographed photos, first day covers and books. Our
chairman, Derek, had a list of favourite players, but he decided on Derek Randall,
the cricketer who could never stay still. I recall his nickname was ‘Arkle’ after
the great racehorse and we listened as Derek recounted when Geoff Boycott ran Randall
out in a home Test match. Geoff wished the ground could have opened up and swallowed
him up - the next few decades would have been a lot quieter! Chris Finch spoke about
Frank Woolley on the theme of the grace and elegance of left handed batsman, who
strangely played for Kent. Along with some pictures was a book about Frank, signed
by him and previously owned by Chris Martin-Jenkins. My subject was Barry Richards.
As I explained, my first adult bat was a Barry Richards autographed Gunn & Moore
and we were truly fortunate to have Barry at Hampshire for many years when South
Africa was excluded from international cricket. To round us off, John Wellman, took
us back to the mid 1960’s and explained that in local cricket the Echo would list
the players selected for sides at the weekend, though unfortunately these names had
to be with the Echo by Thursday. The fledgling Poole OGs 2nd XI was often short but
the situation was rectified by a fictitious player who had a triple barrelled surname.
His name was better than his cricket ability, but he always was magnanimous in standing
down for some else come the day of the match. A fine tale to round off the afternoon. |
|
|
Nov |
3rd
|
James Fuller
|
|
At short notice James Fuller kindly replaced James Tomlinson
as our guest speaker. James was born in South Africa, but his family moved to New
Zealand when he was only two. A keen cricketer, his English father was the route
to a British passport, which led him to this country to play county cricket. He initially
joined Gloucestershire before moving on to Middlesex where the lure of playing at
Lords was the great attraction, to say nothing of the lunches. He told us of the
unwanted record of conceding 38 runs off a single over in a T20 quarter final, but
also of the upsides of cricket in winning the Royal London Cup in 2015 and playing
a part in Middlesex winning the County Championship in 2016. He was invited
to join the England Lions tour to the UAE, though the following season was wrecked
by an elbow injury which needed surgery. For Hampshire he has played a role as a
back-up bowler, after the likes of Abbott and Abbas have performed and as a very
dangerous late-order batsman, usually coming in around number 9 in the order.
He has also proved very effective in limited over and T20 games and was voted the
players Player of the Year in 2022. Mike Vimpany and Chris Finch kindly fed James
the questions in a very interesting afternoon, concluded with Q & A from the
audience. Many thanks to all involved. |
|
|
|
10th
|
Robin Brodhurst
|
|
Robin Brodhurst, grandson of Harry Altham, came to tell us all about
his grandfather. Robin started with a short version of the family history, including Harry’s father,
before dealing in depth with Harry’s on-field cricket career which was mainly with Hampshire.
He played for 4 years in the Repton School XI, probably the best public school side
of the era, he was nearly 20 when he left the school. His 1st class career
was of course interrupted by the 1st World War and by the fact that he was a Winchester
College housemaster. In total he played just 55 1st class matches with a top score
of 141. This came in a game at Canterbury, against Kent, to save the match and was
his best effort in a career that stretched from 1908 - 23.
He became a cricketing personality around the world through his roles as a cricket
administrator, coach, chairman of MCC Youth Cricket Association, treasurer of MCC
for many years when this was the most influential post in the club, chairman
of selectors in 1954, President of MCC in 1959 and a member of the Hampshire committee
and President until his death in 1965.
Robin covered all of these facets of his grandfather’s career in great detail, but
still left plenty of time for an extensive question and answer session to close proceedings.
Many thanks Robin for a fine afternoon. |
|
|
|
17th
|
Richard Madley
|
|
Richard Madley was our guest speaker. Well known as presenter and
expert on programmes such as Bargain Hunt and Antiques Roadshow, perhaps less well
known as the auctioneer for the IPL from 2008 to 2018. Richard was born in Wales
and after schooling at Sherborne he returned to Cardiff to university. However the
sporting life was more attractive than the academic one and he left early. His father
was an auctioneer and Richard wanted to follow him into the business. Efforts to
get a job at Christie's or Sotheby’s were thwarted, but he struck lucky with
Phillips in London. In his first job with them he expected to be sweeping the
floors in the warehouse, but that proved to be just a test to see how badly he wanted
the job. He was appointed as an auctioneer’s clerk, helping with auctions, recording
the details of bidders etc. Gradually he made himself an expert on cricket memorabilia
which led to him helping Brian Johnston’s widow when she decided to sell Brian’s
collection. He also assisted with cataloguing items at Lords for the MCC.
He was invited to appear on the BBC in programmes such as Antiques Roadshow. After
10 years in London he moved to New York and in time was invited to appear on the
American version of the programme. After a slow start it became the most popular
programme on PBS in the States. Years later back in England he also became involved
in Bargain Hunt, the most watched daytime programme on the BBC. His broad experience
of cricket memorabilia along with schoolboy connections led him to be invited
to be the auctioneer for the first IPL draft. 84 players were sold for a total of
$46 million, sadly he wasn’t on commission! He gave us an insight into the staggering
amount of money involved in the IPL: initially the 8 franchises sold for between
$40 million and £120 million, mainly to Bollywood stars. The tv rights were
worth $700 million and the last time they were sold had reached $3 billion.
MS Dohni was sold for $1.2 million for 6 weeks work and on a three year contract,
so the sum was repeated in years 2 & 3. Richard is himself a keen cricketer and
is President of his village side in Wiltshire, but he was fearful for the continuation
of the club, even though it has 4 adult sides and many junior teams, as few are willing
to take on positions of responsibility within the club. A fascinating afternoon
passed all too soon as a consummate professional speaker entertained us most
royally. Many thanks Richard. |
|
|
|
24th
|
Pat Pocock
|
|
In a question and answer style afternoon, ably led by
Chris Finch, we learnt many things about the life and career of Pat Pocock. Although
he was born in Wales, he moved to Surrey while still an infant and in time played
for Surrey schools. This led to an invitation from the county to attend nets and
the first contract on £4/10/0d a week. He quickly acquired the nickname ‘Percy’
and gladly settled for that as the alternatives could have been a lot worse! Pat
followed Jim Laker at the Oval, but as a 16 year old he didn’t feel the pressure
too much. Pat lamented the lack of former spinners to pass on their knowledge to
the new generation. He enjoyed playing with Micky Stewart, as captain and Robin Jackman,
who was quite a social animal. In later years back home in South Africa Robin had
a bar in his home entitled the ‘Nip-Back-Inn’, an idea which Surrey copied after
Robin’s death. John Edrich had a unique approach to batting, he never worried about
playing and missing, as soon as he missed he mentally dismissed that ball. Pat
revealed that he changed his action for one day matches, so that he didn’t mess up
his action for red ball cricket. Pat’s most memorable performance was to take 7 wickets
in two overs against Sussex, transforming his figures from 0-63 to 7-67. He went
on tour to the West Indies and was called into the Test side after Fred Titmus lost
four toes in a accident with a speedboat. In a humorous afternoon he related
how Alan Knott walked down the wicket to Jeff Jones as he faced 6 balls to win a
Test series in the West Indies and sung “they’ll be a welcome in the hillside”
in Jeff’s ear! After that series Pat was dropped and didn’t play another Test match
until 1976. There were many other alternatives, Underwood, Illingworth, Geoff Miller,
John Embury, Tony Greig, Phil Edmunds and Vic Marks to name just a few. The selectors
were always looking for a spinner who could bat as well. Pat’s personality and humour
shone through as he related some anecdotes and impersonations, while expressing his
opinion that Mike Atherton and David Lloyd were his favourite commentators of the
recent era. After his cricketing career Pat was involved in organising golfing events.
Many thanks Pat for an interesting afternoon’s entertainment. |
|
|
Dec |
1st
|
Rod Bransgrove
|
|
Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire CC chairman paid a second visit
to the Society, on an afternoon when the format of the meeting was very much a series
of questions and answers. Rod has been Chairman for 22 years and we started with
a question about the expansion of the facilities. There are 180 acres and there is
the possibility of external investment to build a 2nd hotel. The present 4*
Hilton has insufficient capacity to fully exploit the conference centre, so a 2*
hotel with about 180 rooms could be added. At the same time the hotel car parking
would be redesigned to allow match day parking with a smoother access than at
present. On the cricket front Rod was asked whether there was any likelihood
of a strengthening of the county championship side for the coming season. Rod explained
that they were not looking to import extra batting resources as that would hinder
the development of promising young players from their academy, such as Tom Prest.
The hope is that the senior professionals could contribute more at the top of the
order, leaving space for the youngsters to fill a role lower down the order. Rod explained
the difficulties for young players being thrown in at the top of the order, with
good bowlers operating with a new ball. Hampshire have got to the point where they
are disappointed if they only win one trophy. Rod was asked about the ECB review,
Andrew Strauss came out with 18 proposals, 16 of which were non-contensious, one
which needed the approval of the counties and then the structure of the county season.
Rod’s opinion was that we play too much cricket both at county level and international
level. He would like to see a proper programme of red-ball cricket spread across
the season. As far as the Hundred was concerned, he acknowledged that it had
done a marvellous job of bringing new spectators into the game, especially for women’s
cricket. Rod would be happy to accept a reduction in the amount of red ball cricket
played, if the reduction in international cricket allowed the England players to
return to their counties to play. He felt that the amount of money available from
central counties skewed the picture for players returning to their counties. The
question of the privatisation of the Hundred arose, the counties haven’t had
details of the proposal yet. He feels the the current valuation is below what it
could be in a few years time, the time should be spent dealing with how losing a
3 week chuck of the season can be overcome. The rise of franchised cricket around
the world is also a threat to the current structure. There are very few Test match
series around the world which appeal sufficiently to sell out the grounds. Members
are important to the club, but not the most important financially. The live streaming
of games could be chargeable in the future if there is sufficient interest.
Rod is hopeful of staging an Ashes game in 2027 and if successful, he feels that
he has probably done all he set out to do. In the county championship Rod would like
to see a change in the points system, so that draws, which he feels are simply incomplete
matches have a more equitable distribution of points and with a potential reduction
in the number of matches he would like to see a reserve day added to make up for
lost time. Rod finished with some anecdotes about Shane Warne which reflected the
maverick in him, but also the massive influence he had on the club, he also
related how Shane had caused a major problem for Rod with his wife. A great afternoon
for all of us. Many thanks Rod. |
|
|
|
8th
|
James Tomlinson
|
|
James Tomlinson paid us a second visit, some five and a half years
after his first. In a highly entertaining event Mike Vimpany plied James with
questions, to which he replied. It was quite an opportunity to see into the mind
and thinking of a (former) professional player and now coach. Mike initially
steered James through his playing career with Hampshire before coming more up-to-date
with his coaching of the Pathway players. Among the revelations were that James didn’t
bowl a no-ball in a decade after Shane Warne had a go at him when he took a wicket
with a no-ball. In his best season he took 67 championship wickets. He
made his county debut in 2002 at a very new Rose Bowl where the wicket was having
trouble bedding-in. India were playing a warm up match against Hampshire and refused
to bat in their second innings unless James didn’t bowl as the pitch was so dangerous.
Tony Middleton suggest that James would never play first class cricket, but should
play for South Wilts. Tony’s assertion came back to haunt him and it taught him not
to write people off. James spent a couple of years at Cardiff University
and finished up playing in the University side against other universities and some
of the county sides. Between 2003 -7 James played 20 times for Hampshire under the
captaincy of Shane Warne and the bowling coach was Bruce Reid. He learnt an amazing
amount during this period, but also suffered a lot of injuries. In 2008 his 67 wickets were
the best in the country, including 8-46 at Taunton. Jimmy Adams was captain,
he won the toss and rather apologetically chose to field. In the second innings he
took 2-152! At least it was a 10for. Although he was normally batting at 11, James
enjoyed being a nightwatchman, as it gave him the opportunity to warm up properly
for bowling, whereas at 11 he had very little time to get all his kit off and warm
up. James took 200 wickets in the 1st division at 34 and 200 wickets in the
2nd division at 24 and he felt that summed up the difference in standard between
the two divisions. James’s big regret was that he never played at Lords, though he
got close once. Due to a cock-up James was in the dressing room changing for the
game when Jimmy Adams revealed that he wasn't in the side, no one had told him!
On the coaching side James explained the dilemma between trying to win
the County Championship and developing the home-grown players. All told it was great
to hear from James, many thanks to him and Mike Vimpany. |
|
|
|
15th
|
Members
|
|
On a freezing winter’s day, 26 hardy souls assembled for the annual
Christmas buffet lunch and films. A sad moment preceded the feast, as we rose for
a minute's silence in memory of former Chairman and Vice-President David Clutterbuck
who passed away on Friday 9th December.
A bountiful spread from Mollie and the members was gratefully devoured by all,
we showed our appreciation to Mollie and Sue with donations to both of them. After
the meal we sat back to digest it, while watching three memorable England cricketers
in Ian Botham, David Gower and Graham Gooch. Teas and coffees with the remains of
the buffet closed the proceedings for this year. |
|
2023
|
Jan |
5th
|
Andrew Bradstock
|
|
Andrew Bradstock kindly travelled over from the Isle of Wight to tell
us of the Reverend David Sheppard as related in Andrew’s book “Batting For The Poor”.
David was educated at Sherborne School and did his National Service before going
to Trinity College, Cambridge to study to become a lawyer. While at Cambridge he
played for the 1st Xi in 1st Class matches which including touring opposition
teams. While still at Cambridge he was selected to play for England against the West
Indies having scored heavily against them in the touring match. In 1952 he topped
the English batting averages and scored 1000 runs in a season on 6 occasions. He
captained Sussex in 1953, leading them to 2nd in the County Championship. This was
his only full season for Sussex. The lure of the church meant that he chose to give
up studying law and became a part of the clergy. Despite this he continued to
play some 1st class cricket and was recalled to the England side on occasions,
scoring 113 against the Australians in Laker’s Test in 1956 and captaining them on
two occasions. He was a staunch opponent of apartheid and was vocal in his opposition against
the tour to South Africa following the Basil D’Oliveira affair. This cost him several friendships,
including Peter May, who refused to speak to him ever again. Off the field, David
became Bishop of Woolwich and later Bishop of Liverpool, where he had many disagreements
with the likes of Margaret Thatcher. He did, however, strike a good rapport with
the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool and was credited with helping to bring about
a great improvement in Protestant/Catholic relationships in the city. He retired
in 1997 and was made a peer in 1998, taking the title of Baron Sheppard of Liverpool.
Andrew managed to convey the spirit of a man who had reached high levels of achievement
in two entirely different facets of life. A most interesting afternoon, many thanks
Andrew. |
|
|
12th
|
Members
|
|
The annual lunch at the Hermitage Hotel was a very convivial affair,
attended by 55 members and guests. Peter Braim stepped in to replace David Hain as
the lunch organiser and ensured a very smooth transition. Many thanks Peter for all
the hard work and also to our Chairman, Derek, for MC-ing the event and raising £110
for charity with his version of Higher & Lower, as seen on tv many moons ago
with Bruce Forsyth. Don’t worry Derek, you looked much better than him! The
donation is going to be made to the Dorset Cancer centre. We also had a raffle
included in the price of the lunch, may I thank all those members who kindly donated
raffle prizes, We had so many prizes that some have been retained for later in the
year for the occasion of the quiz afternoon, otherwise the proceedings might have
gone on until teatime. I hope all our attendees enjoyed themselves, even if the weather
didn’t match last year’s. |
|
|
|
19th
|
Alan Fordham
|
|
Alan Fordham finally made it to us at the third time of asking despite
Network Rail’s and the weather’s attempts to postpone him. Alan started by talking
modestly about his county cricket career, playing 10 years for Northants as a
batsman. He explained how his outlook on cricket gradually changed from being a confident
player who was always likely to hit the ball to the boundary to someone who thought
that every ball was going to get him out. Despite the growing pessimism, he managed
to achieve a career average in the 1st class game of 40.06, with a not out innings
against declaration bowling in his final game. He had the unusual luxury of deciding
when he would leave the game, an opportunity not afforded to many professional sportsmen.
He had the offer of a job with the ECB and joined in 1997 to become Head of Operations
Management. He runs mainly the professional game in this country, arranging fixtures,
umpires, checking that players are qualified for a particular competition etc,
though he has limited engagement with the England side. Not unnaturally, the thorny
topic of the fixture list came up, with Alan describing the constraints that
shape the list. The Hundred has to be played in the school summer holidays to attract
family audiences that were unlikely to attend county games and he quoted figures
to show how successful the Hundred had been in two seasons in bringing in new spectators.
Inevitably Alan was quizzed as to why there needed to be two forms of T20 in England.
He explained that a revamped T20 competition was not likely to be different
enough to bring in new spectators, but the T20 was still a significant revenue
generator for the countries compared to, say, the county championship.
It was obvious from Alan’s stout defence of the Hundred, that he believed in its
power to bring in new blood to cricket. Alan showed that his fielding was still up
to scratch as he answered many questions from the floor and although he probably
failed to convert most of his audience to being flag-bearers for the Hundred,
his support of the format was unquestionable. Many thanks Alan for a fine afternoon’s
entertainment. |
|
|
|
26th
|
David Woodhouse
|
|
David Woodhouse came to tell us all about the MCC tour to the West
Indies in 1953/4, which was probably second only to the bodyline tour in terms
of controversy. He started by describing the background to the tour: The West
Indies had visited England in 1950 and had won the series, this was the first opportunity
to get back at them. England had beaten Australia in 1953 and this series was billed
as the unofficial World Championship. England had never had a professional as captain
in modern times, but the options were limited for the team of 5 selectors, who
included three Middlesex men. It was hoped that David Sheppard would captain the
side, but he had become interested in the Church and declined the opportunity to
tour, leaving the selectors to very reluctantly choose Len Hutton. Their concerns
included whether he could exercise his authority over other younger professionals,
such as Fred Trueman and Tony Lock, then there were all the off-field duties that
went with the captaincy, such as speech-making. Add into the mix, the racial and
colonial tensions which were stirring and this was a potentially explosive mix.
Len Hutton was intent on a win at all cost approach and forbade his players from
talking to the opposition off the field, even when they were staying in the
same hotel. The West Indies players considered this to be a mortal insult. On the
field there were bouncer wars, bowlers called for throwing and threats to umpires
and even the West Indies captain. Two umpires were even replaced, one by the local
groundsman! Incidentally the games were played over 6 days with 5 hours playing time,
plus a rest day. After flying out to the Caribbean, England proceeded to lose
the 1st and 2nd Tests, including a dire passage of play on the 3rd day of the
2nd Test when 128 runs were scored in 114 overs, before an innings of 169 by Len
Hutton swung the 3rd Test in England’s favour, winning by 9 wickets. The 4th
Test was a draw after the 1st innings of each side took 4 days. In the 5th and final
Test, Hutton again came good with the bat and scored 205 in the 1st innings to set
up a 9 wicket victory, ensuring that the series was drawn. Garry Sobers took
4/75 on debut. Even after the tour there were repercussions, Trevor Bailey was sacked
as Vice Captain and Fred Trueman had his good behaviour bonus docked. It was
also agreed that the idea of a player-manager was not one to be repeated. All
told this was a fascinating afternoon from an author who had a meticulous knowledge
of his subject, I believe he took 7 years to write the book, in total, well
worth the wait. Many thanks David. |
|
|
Feb |
2nd
|
Derek Hopkins
|
|
Derek Hopkins entertained us in a right royal manner as he invited
the audience to help him select a Hampshire XI composed solely from players who were
not qualified for England, to play a 4-5 day game of red ball cricket. Of course
there are a few players who are absolute shoe-ins, but completing the XI for the
remaining places proved to be a tricky proposition for the assembled audience. Rarely
has there been more audience participation, which along with Derek’s good humour
and some vocal banter from the floor provided great entertainment. There was
no doubt about the opening partnership, Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge,
pretty much unquestionably the finest opening partnership for any county in modern
times (1960’s onwards). At the other end of the team sheet, the names of Malcolm
Marshall and Andy Roberts were swiftly pencilled in. Again what an opening bowling
attack! The choice of a spin bowler was equally simple, the incomparable Shane Warne,
while the choice of wicketkeeper was pretty limited, Nic Pothas taking the gloves.
Then the hard work begun, who should be in the middle order? A lengthy selection
process, debating the merits of several players, including their fielding ability,
moodiness and whether they batted left handed or right finally led to Roy Marshall
at number 3, followed by Matthew Hayden and Neil McKenzie. The all-rounder position
caused much debate with the vote finally cast in favour of Sean Ervine. That left
one position to fill, should it be another spinner, a pace bowler or another all-rounder?
In the end it was agreed that another pace bowler was needed and Kyle Abbott
was summoned. The choice of captain took but a few seconds - Shane Warne. We weren’t
quite finished yet - we needed to select a few substitutes: for the batting Simon
Katich was chosen, for pace bowling Mohammad Abbas, David O’Sullivan was the choice
of spinner and Shane Watson as all-rounder. Gareth Berg had vociferous support
from some sections of the audience and it was amazing how many players had performed
for or against Lymington! We even had an umpire for the game in John Holder! One
of the best ‘in-house’ afternoons that we have ever had, many thanks Derek and
all those who contributed from the floor. |
|
|
|
9th
|
Richard Knott
|
|
Richard Knott, former deputy head at Canford School and currently
the school archivist came to tell us of the sporting achievements of some of his
ancestors. His love of cricket was nurtured at Tonbridge School, where
they have produced 7 England players over the years, the latest being Zac Crawley.
He moved to Canford School as deputy head. On to family matters, first Richard sadly
admitted that he had no connection with Alan Knott, the former England wicket-keeper,
even though he had gone back 10 generations in his family tree. He wanted to concentrate
on three gentlemen from this part of his tree: Peter Knott is Richard’s father,
while Fred Hammett Knott is his grandfather and Fred George Knott his great grandfather.
Thelwell Mather Pike was his great-grandfather on his maternal side. In the 1880’s,
Worcestershire CC were still a minor county, Thelwell went up to Cambridge where
he played for his college cricket team but he also played for Cambridge at football,
also the Corinthians and in 1886 for England. Richard was able to show us his England
cap. He also played for Brentford in a FA Cup semi-final.
Frederick George played for his college at Cambridge, in 1882 he played for the Surrey
club against the side which would become Glamorgan.
Frederick Hammett was playing for his school 2nd XI at the age of 13, amongst 17
year-olds. In 1910 he was the leading schoolboy and was picked for the Public Schools
side to play against the MCC, where he scored 155, this led to him being picked
for Kent. In his third match he scored a century against Worcestershire, later that
year the Kent side won the county championship and were presented with candlestick
holders:
Sadly the 1st World War intervened and a wartime injury to his arm prevented him
from playing cricket or rugby at a high level again.
We heard further of other relatives who played county cricket CH ‘John' Knott
and a great-aunt, Mildred Knott, who played hockey for England and also played women’s
cricket in 1931. All told the Knott family had a formidable talent at sport and we
thank Richard for his fascinating insight into the family. |
|
|
|
16th
|
Members
|
|
Our original programme of two Hampshire players had fallen by the
wayside, so a film was planned. Unfortunately, unknown to me, the projector at Hurn
Bridge had died on Monday, so a slight panic ensued when I arrived with no way of
displaying it. A quick trip down the A338 secured a projector, but then there was
the small matter of connecting it to the leads coming out of the ceiling. Heroics
saved the day, as the projector balanced precariously on two tables, a few books
and a number of beer mats to aim the picture at the screen. We then settled down
to watch some West Indian greats including Viv Richards, Michael Holding and Gary
Sobers. As well as action shots from past glories there were interviews with many
of their contemporaries - Andy Roberts being barely recognisable! A potential
disappointment turned out well in the end. |
|
|
|
23rd
|
Members
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25 members and one former member joined us for an excellent buffet
lunch followed by the AGM, many thanks to all those who brought food. Our Chairman
reported on another successful season, to date, with some excellent guest speakers.
Chris Finch, as retiring Speaker Secretary was thanked for his work over many years
in organising the programme. Membership had held up pretty well despite the increase
in fees with 63 current members compared to 65 last year. We have a solid core of
members, but haven’t achieved the larger audiences which some of our speakers
had brought in the past. The effects of Covid and some poor winter weather had meant
that average attendance to date is around 35. The main officers have remained in
post, with the exception of Chris Finch, though he will remain on the committee.
Mike Vimpany, Charles Tuck have joined Huw Nathan and Martyn Levitt to bring us next
year’s speakers. Ron Dickinson reported that we were showing a healthy surplus at present
despite the room fee of £30 that started this season. There are still 5 meetings
to go, but it is anticipated that the speakers’ expenses will remain well within
the budget. |
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March |
2nd
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Simon Lee
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Simon Lee very kindly took the time to visit us from the Ageas Bowl
for a very well-attended meeting with 50 members and guests. Simon told us of
the difficulties in becoming involved with county cricket. His own journey had started
with a work-placement at the Somerset ground in Taunton, while he was at horticultural
college. This, in time, led to him being employed firstly as an assistant groundsman
and then he worked his way up to head groundsman in a career which lasted 20 years
at Taunton. He applied for a vacancy at Lords, for which he was unsuccessful,
but when the Hampshire groundsman got that job, he was then approached by Hampshire
to see whether he was interested in moving south. He started at the Ageas Bowl on
1st January 2020 and quickly learnt of some of the problems that he was to face.
The ground had been constructed by cutting into a hillside and flattening an area
for the main ground and also the 2nd XI ground alongside. The grounds were like inverted
saucers to help water drain off, but where the hillside met the playing surface there
was nowhere for the water to go. Add in the fact that there was a lot of clay in
the soil and the weather that winter was very wet and Simon had an almost completely
flooded 2nd XI ground. Fortunately Covid struck! With the prospect of no play for
several months Simon convinced his employers that the entire outfield surface
needed to be removed and then resown once drainage had been installed. Amazingly
the work, undertaken by a firm based at Chelsea FC was successful and within
5 days of the new grass seeds being implanted there was a definite green outfield
to be seen. Simon also explained in detail about the hybrid pitches which are now
being installed and used for one day games. These involve plastic fibres being implanted
into the topsoil and left with a small amount protruding above the surface. This
enables the natural grass to bind to the fibres below the surface of the pitch and
produce mush harder-wearing pitches. Normally a four day pitch could only be used
a couple of times in a season, unless the weather was fortuitous, whereas these hybrid
pitches could be used for 8 days in 14 and still be available later in a season.
Back when Simon joined in 2020, he was anticipating that there would be no
Test cricket at the ground before 2025 as future matches had been planned that far
in advance. However Covid threw those plans in the air as the Ageas Bowl was ideally
suited to hosting matches when spectators were unable to enter the ground. There
was an on-site hotel for the teams and a 2nd XI ground adjoining for outdoor practice.
In the space of a few weeks there was the Test Championship decider, moved from
Lords, Test matches, ODI’s, T20 and an Australian warm-up game which meant plenty
of work for Simon’s numerically limited team. Following Simon’s talk there was a
lengthy Q&A session covering a number of topics, such as whether Simon was involved
with the golf course (he isn’t), how often the team seeks to influence the type
of pitch prepared and the fact that he cannot drive machinery on the square
to spread fertilisers or weed-killers as he has to have government licence
to do so - but he can do it by hand! Altogether it was a highly interesting afternoon,
many thanks Simon. |
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9th
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Derek Hopkins
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29 members assembled to have their brains taxed by one of Derek Hopkins’quizzes.
Teams of (mainly) 5 were invited to identify celebrity cricketers, the top batsmen,
bowlers and catchers in both the sides from the New Zealand - England Test serie.
Sports jargon and rugby were amongst the rounds with the option to play a Joker and
double your score on some rounds. The final winners were Wharton’s Wallies, despite
the side playing under a handicap or two! Many thanks to Derek for all his time and
expertise in organising the quiz.
The afternoon was completed with a cream tea to give us a flavour of the season to
come. |
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16th
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Huw Turbervill
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Huw Turbervill was initially a journalist with the East Anglian Times,
before joining The Telegraph. His work took him around the world with the England
cricket team. In 2015 he joined The Cricketer, of which he is now the Editor. Huw
started with his early days in journalism and a number of amusing anecdotes. He recalled
how he won the man of the match award at Broad Halfpenny Down for a match held
on New Year’s Day to celebrate the 200th anniversary. The award was a bottle of sparkling
Hambledon wine, which he discovered later had been drunk by his daughter and her
friends when they returned home late one night - he was not amused, even if we were!
He recalled some problems speaking at his old school when there were some problems
with the sound system, unfortunately we had a few with this talk. He told how he
informed his colleagues that Nasser Hussain would step down as Test captain
before it was officially announced by the ECB. He once spoke to Ray Illingworth about
a successful Test series and Ray spoke almost continuously for two hours. On
a later occasion when England had lost a series he was totally reluctant to speak.
He was once asked to ghost-write Geoff Boycott’s newspaper column and didn’t
realise that, unusually, Geoff dictated his thoughts to his ghost writer at the same
time as his wife was typing them. He expected the ghost-writer to copy everything
verbatim, type it up and then read it back to him while he compared what was being
said with the typewritten copy his wife had made. Not the usual type of column!
Once Huw had completed his talk we then had a far-reaching Q&A session, covering
many aspects of cricket as well as the production of the Cricketer. I am sure that
the audience of 50 members and guests left well satisfied. Many thanks Huw and to
Mike Vimpany for hosting the meeting. |
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23rd
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Stephen Chalke & Fred Rumsey
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Stephen Chalke returned to the Society for his 11th visit, accompanied
by Fred Rumsey, former Somerset and England left-arm fast bowler. Stephen prompted gently
as Fred reeled off his recollections of a life well lived. He is certainly a character, even
at 87. He recalled being evacuated from the East End in the early days of the war,
before his mother took him and his sister back to London amidst the Blitz. As he
grew up he was quite a good footballer, the kids used to play in the park on
a Sunday, picking up teams and using coats for goal posts. One day a mum brought
her young lad along and asked if he could play, even though he was only about 7 years
old while Fred and his chums were 10 or 11. They reluctantly agreed and of course
the youngster was the last one picked, however that only lasted for a week or so
as the youngster’s talents were quickly recognised - he was Bobby Moore! In fact
he and Fred went to the same school. When Fred left he was told he had a promising
future in football and Bobby was told he had a promising future in cricket!
Fred was keen to get into county cricket and left a job paying £3000 a year
for one paying £300. He didn’t get much chance to shine at Worcestershire,
but had more success at Somerset. He also learnt how to swing a ball, something
he had previously been unable to do. With money tight, Fred slept in his van at the
county ground, sometimes with a lady friend. Once when it got too hot in the van,
they took themselves off under the covers. After falling asleep they were woken the
next morning by a far from impressed groundsman. Fred was picked for England for
the Test where Bobby Simpson scored 310, so he did fairly well to take 2-99, the
only bowler to concede less then 100 runs. Fred Truman was brought back for the next
Test and Fred had to wait until the New Zealand series before he opened the bowling
again, this time in partnership with Truman. Towards the end of his playing days,
Fred thought that professional cricketers were poorly paid and treated, so he formulated
the idea to form a Professional Cricketers’ Association, or trade union. He met much
opposition to start with, but overcame various hurdles to be instrumental in getting
players an extra £400 a year when the John Player Sunday League started. Over
the years Fred has worked tirelessly for the Association and it is a tribute to him
that professional cricketers are relatively well paid these days. He also was heavily
involved with the Lords Taverners charity which brought him in to contact
with many stars from the world of entertainment. He counted Eric Morecambe and Leslie
Crowther amongst his friends. He still found time to organise cricket tours to the
Caribbean and write a book. All told it was an afternoon of great entertainment,
with many thanks to Stephen & Fred. |
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30th
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Richard Mockridge
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The season finished with a fine finale as we celebrated the 20th Anniversary
of the Society.
In the meeting we heard from Richard how the Society had grown out of an idea he
had. The Hampshire Society was too far away and Richard found that running the cricket
centre was a very demanding job and so he set out to recruit some helpers via a gathering
of cricket enthusiasts. For the first few years all the speakers were unpaid and
many were internal, including Richard who used to do one talk a month, which he would
then sometimes take ‘on the road’ to organisations such as Rotary or TWG to
raise some extra cash. The very first paid speaker was David Rayvern Allen. Over
the years the number of quality speakers we have attracted has been immense - no
less than 11 Test cricketers have appeared, including one England captain (MJK Smith),
plus two England ODI players, Ian Gould & Trevor Jesty. We have had over
40 county cricketers (Including relevant Test players) and a number of 1st class
umpires. From other sports we have had a number of professional footballers, a rugby
international and a mountaineer! Away from Hurn we have visited several county grounds,
as well as trips to Hambledon, Wimbledon and Twickenham, to name but a few. Thanks
here should be recorded to David Hain for his organisational skills for both the
trips and many years of annual lunches. Along the way the original 7 members (6 remain)
have increased to around 75 pre-covid, before settling into the mid-sixties currently.
We have outgrown the cricket centre and are on our 2nd room in the sports club. Looking
forward, let’s hope that we can continue to attract good speakers and persuade
our members to encourage their friends to attend At this point I would like to pay
tribute to all three gentlemen who have filled the unenviable task of Speakers’ Secretary
over the years, firstly Richard, then John White and until this week, Chris Finch.
Many thanks to all of you for arranging countless afternoons of great entertainment.
In recognition of his services to the Society, Derek Hopkins presented Richard with
the Clubman of the Year award, a specially created photo-book with many of the speakers
and memorable occasions within its pages.
We then completed the afternoon with an excellent tea. Once again, a great team effort. |
