Whitchurch-on-Thames Cricket Club

The letter below was sent to all members of the club to start the 1989 season.  It makes for interesting reading, if only because the club seems like it was a rather different kind of outfit then than it is now.  We were apparently much larger in terms of members, but many of these were probably past their prime; and there was much more structure, with committees for "Ground", "Housing" and "Social". I'm surprised to find that I'm not the first Heard to play for the club, but not surprised to see that a winner of the club's "50 Club" was one M. Butt.   I found the above letter behind a picture of a Mr Ian Yarrow, who seems to have been big in his day.  It also included this letter, which was obviously written in the wake of his demise.

A great evening was had last night at the club's annual dinner, held this year in the cosy restaurant at the Ferryboat. We had the place to ourselves, which was just as well given the noise we made. This year's event was organised once again by Grogie , with Brian Reddecliffe stepping in as Master of Ceremonies - to both gentlemen, many thanks. The centrepiece of the evening were the Awards Ceremonies speeches given by our estimable Saturday and Sunday captains, Alan "Killer" Kilford and Lyn Williams. If I can remember this all correctly (I doubt that I do), prizes were awarded to Paul Vaughan (best Saturday batsman), Nick Turner for his exceptional performance at Greys Green (see previous posts with links to Henley Gazette), your humble correspondent as Bowler of the Year 2013 (thanks, guys!), Satya for best Tea of the Year, and most of the colts (!!) as joint Duckmen of the year - step forward Scooby, Matty and Toby - though we should add that...

Many thanks to all the members of the club who paid their subscriptions this year.  There's a list of who we all are now available by clicking on the Members link in the menu.  Still not too late if you're one of those who still haven't got around to it yet! Andy H

So, we finally reach the season's end, much later than almost everyone else, and all the better for it.  The outcome? Result Matches Won    16 Winning Draw      1 Losing Draw      1 Lost    17 Cancelled by Us      2 Cancelled by Them      2 Cancelled by God      3 Still slightly in deficit, but so much better than last year, when we managed only 7 wins versus 18 losses and 15 cancellations of one sort or another (mostly washed out). Thanks very much to Alan Kilford for arranging the fixtures this year and to the skippers - Lyn, Alan (again!), Jim and Cormac for getting the sides together and organising us on the pitch (harder than it sounds).  Also, of course, to Butty and Jon for preparing some excellent wickets, even towards the end of the season there was no shortage of bounce and carry, despite a little rain. Andy

This article first appeared in The Bulletin of Whitchurch on Thames , September 2013.  See www.whitchurchonthames.com. We are a junior cricket club that have started in 2012, our aim was to get local children playing grass roots cricket in their area and to make sure we promote the longevity of two adult clubs that have been around for almost 150 years each. We wanted to run our junior section in a different way to other clubs and keep the numbers of players in our age groups down so we drive quality over quantity, to make sure everyone has the chance to play cricket whatever their age or ability and most importantly to have FUN! How are we doing so far and does the strategy work? Well this year we have entered 4 teams in the Berkshire Youth Cricket League at Under 9, Under 11, under 13 and under 15 age groups and 1 team entered into the Oxfordshire Under 13’s league. All teams in the Berkshire Leagues have finished as division champions (Unde...

Nick Turner noticed that our recent victory over Greys Green was covered by that estimable organ, the Henley Standard .

Pangbourne & Whitchurch U15 Colts XI beat Wokingham to win the Berks. Div 2 Cup yesterday. Toby Staker, Woody Chapman, Tom Chapman , and Matt Kilford (capt) , who all play regularly for Whitchurch on a Saturday and a Sunday, were all part of the winning side. Not to mention they were coached by Alan Kilford . Well done, guys!