Longparish Cricket Club (LCC) held their annual Dinner and presentation evening at the Cricketers' on Friday 1st October so I shall take this opportunity to let you know about the evening and how the Club is progressing.
It was an excellent evening and an opportunity to review what the club has achieved, to thank those who have worked so hard for the club and to award the players for outstanding achievement throughout the season. As was evident by the turn out for the evening, LCC has once more achieved great things in a very busy season. The challenge of running a second team for the first time in 10 years was met by players and supports alike and in less than a year the number of playing members has increased by over 150%.
The growth of the Colts has been most gratifying too after so many efforts by so many over the past few years. And what a pleasure it has been to see so many children in whites using the ground this season. They played four fixtures at the ‘Parish ground and had an outstanding performance at the Hampshire County ground, The Rosebowl on 6 th June. We could not have achieved so much with the Colts had it not been for the excellent support from our sponsors, Barker Son and Isherwood Solicitors. I was happy to announce during the presentation evening that BSI have confirmed that they will be continuing their association with Longparish in 2005.
It is now unreasonable to discuss the activities of the Club in terms of seasons as we never actually stop playing cricket throughout the year. We had no sooner returned from a very successful tour of Devon in mid September than the Winchester Indoor League games began. Both our teams had secured promotion last March with the newly formed 2 nd Team running out as champions. 2004/2005 will see three Longparish teams playing in the league on Sunday night. It is worth noting that Longparish now has more people playing cricket indoors on a Sunday night than we had playing on Saturdays two years ago.
The 1 st and 2 nd elevens always managed to field strong teams during the summer with the 2nds concentrating on development by allowing colts to develop while experiencing senior cricket. Some of the colts even secured places in the 1 sts , which is testament to the depth of talent we have in the village coming along for the future. We also finished a very creditable 3 rd in the Mid Week Evening league Division 2.
It is the committee that makes anything happen and I was privileged to be able to thank everyone of them publicly at the presentation for what they are doing for the Club and for Longparish. Particular thanks went to Kate Hibbert, without whom, as the Hon Sec, little if anything would happen.
The following awards were presented by Allen Snow who has given outstanding service to the club for over 60 years.
Young Player Adam Siedman
Mid Week Player Mike Wakefield
Fielding Paul White
Bowling Ross Stewart
Batting George Kouseff
Sprague Cup – awarded for services to the LCC by the previous two recipients this year went to our Treasurer and 2 nd IX Captain, Steve Benco.
The Players Player – selected on the night by the players themselves also went to the very popular Steve Benco.
Champagne Moment - Awarded for the most memorable moment of the season: With 1 st IX chasing 194 against Rowledge II and 7 wickets down for 98 when Warren Bonathan joined Justin Jackman, then on 51. They put on 46 in 7 overs when Warren was out for 5 and Justin on 81. Needing 50 to win, Chris Clarke joined Justin and said, “We can get these” . This they did, scoring 51 in 5.3 overs. Chris 11 not out, Justin 121 not out, Justin finishing the match in a grand manner with a 6 and a four. Well done Warren for supporting Justin so well, for Chris for believing, and for Justin for doing what he does so very well. A credit to the spirit of cricket at Longparish.
We shall continue to develop LCC for the good and benefit of the members and the villagers and look forward to seeing new members and supporters home and away in the future. We welcome new members of the 100 Club at any time, which is a great opportunity to support the Club while having a good chance of winning a cash prize. Please call James Young on: 07904120237.
You will also support the Club when you buy heating fuel from Wessex Petroleum, who invest a proportion of village sales in to the village via the Cricket Club. All you have to do is quote reference number: D11 with your order and Longparish Cricket Club will receive a benefit to support our continued growth.
Thank you all for your continued support and if you have any questions about the above, or LCC or simply want to talk cricket, don't hesitate to contact me, Martyn Clarke, 07766766545 Chairman LCC.
TUTORED BY NICK SWEET OF BOULOGNE ,
on 13TH NOVEMBER 2004 at FORTON HOUSE
in aid of the Longparish Community Project
We are looking for someone to deliver the Parish Magazines in Forton. This involves delivering magazines to all the houses in Forton once a month. If you think you could help please will you contact Jane Sterndale-Bennett on 012764 720222"
We had an interesting and informative meeting in the Village Hall in October when Mrs. Helen Carter gave an illustrated talk about ‘Fair Trade'.
The next meeting will be at Woodstock on Thursday, 18th November at 7.30 pm when Mr. Clive Brunswick will be talking about ‘The Laundry Connection'.