The Twelfth Man 2011

26 To get him started on the book Andrew had to get to contact details of the players which he got from Bryan Stott. “I then set about fixing up meetings with the players, all which were keen to get involved and even provided photographs for the book, who all still in this country apart from wicket-keeper Jimmy Binks who lives in California. I rang him and got his answer machine, I was leaving a message when Jimmy picked up the receiver and he would love to do it. So we then contacted each other by email. When the book was finished he asked me if I could send him a couple of copies for his daughters who were too young to remember him playing for Yorkshire and wanted to know what he had done.” Andrew had to get the book completed by March 2010, up to December he still had four interviews to do and Andrew thought it was going to easy to get the rest of the interviews done but on Christmas Eve the snow came and stayed until the end of January. I would fix up interviews and then had to cancel but I knew I had to get them done and so I set out in bad conditions. I met Brian Bolus in Nottingham, then John Hampshire, of to Norfolk to meet up with Ken Taylor in freezing weather.” November – Philip Paine Tonight’s guest covered the unusual subject of famous cricketers’ graves, blue plaques memorials etc. Philip originated from Kent, and went to the same school as Derek Underwood and Graham Johnson (Kent cricketers) and also Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones fame. Philip’s main presentation was in the form of a slide show, during which questions and answers took place. The graves of many famous cricketers were featured, including Gubby Allen, Jack Hobbs, Fred Spofforth, W.G. Grace and many others. Blue plaques included Arthur Connon Doyle, who had played a good standard of cricket and played for the MCC and claimed to have bowled out W.G.Grace on one occasion. Doyle’s plaque is near Crystal Palace FC ground and there is also a statue of him at Crowbridge. Other blue plaques included Frank Wooley’s birthplace (now a Burger King outlet); Sir Jack Hobbs, near Sussex CCC ground at Brighton, and several for W.G.Grace at Beckenham and Sydenham London. Philip also touched on streets and roads and pubs also named after cricketers. Question and Answers: • Q: Philip was asked about the books he had written. A: He has written a total of 15 books, and spoke at length about them, including Southern cricketers graves, Somme graves etc. • Q: Philip was asked about his vies on cremations. A: Not surprisingly, Philip was horrified by the thought, and believes all cricketers should be honoured with an appropriate gravestone. • Q: Philip was asked what he thought about the Freddie Trueman statue in N.Yorks (to much laughter). A: He gave good reports but had heard that the expense was high and the funding for it took some raising. Discussion took place on moves to have a statue in South Yorkshire, Freddie’s birthplace at Stainton near Maltby and also on the subject of Roy Kilner’s burial place in Wombwell cemetery. This concluded a fascinating evening despite the sober subject. November – Kevin Howells Our guest this evening was cricket commentator Kevin Howells who was presented with the Jack Fingleton Commentator of the Year award. Kevin gave us his background, which eventually led him to Test Match Special commentating. He told us about his upbringing in Shropshire and his fascination from an early stage with radio broadcasting. Local radio Shropshire started up about the time he left school and after some odd jobbing, he eventually got the chance to do some broadcasting. From there he transferred to Radio Leeds for a time and then back to Shropshire and the chance to do some cricket commentating and this fitted in perfectly with his fascination for cricket and broadcasting. Question and Answers: • Q: Kevin was asked why general cricket coverage was getting scarcer in the media. A: Progress means that more and more people are following the game online and demand for the old style coverage is lessening year by year and this means staffing levels are reducing accordingly. Other sports are also managing much more exposure and someway we need to upgrade domestic cricket and bring back demand. Perhaps an ashes victory in Australia would help.!! Brian Sanderson presents Philip Paine with a Wombwell glass after his talk on 11 November Kevin Howells receives the Society’s Jack Fingleton Commentator of the Year award 2010 from Wombwell secretary Mick Pope