The Twelfth Man 2015

27 the Combined Services. But as we always say here at the Wombwell, it does not end there. Bryan has been pivotal to the Yorkshire Charitable Youth Trust and the foundation of the Yorkshire Academy, whose production line is taking not only Yorkshire, but also England by storm. If he is not to be the next Yorkshire President, then surely he should be the one after that. Bryan then told us that it was 12 years since he last visited us and that he had been connected with Yorkshire CCC for 68 years. The audience then had a full update from him about the possibility of Bradford Park Avenue being completely renovated with cash now available from the ECB, with Bradford classed as a deprived area – watch this space. Bryan then entertained us with many stories about his experiences at Park Avenue, a place he had a very special fondness for. The prospects for Yorkshire this season were fully discussed, along with central contracts. We also heard about the wonderful activities of the Yorkshire Past Player Association, something else close to Bryan’s heart and many stories from his playing days. A very lively Q&A session followed with the Andrew Gale situation at the end of last season fully discussed along with present day topics of sledging, Twenty/20 cricket etc, to conclude a first-class evening. February 5th – Worcestershire’s Tim Jones Our Chairman welcomed tonight’s guest, Tim Jones, a Wolverhampton man, whose interest in Worcestershire County Cricket Club was ignited thanks to Glenn Turner completing his 1,000 runs before the end of May in 1973. Glenn’s was the first signed photograph Tim collected, and was among the memorabilia Tim displayed. Tim has chaired Worcestershire’s heritage group for the last six years, working with a group of five to preserve and ensure that memorabilia is displayed at New Road. He was elected to the Clubs’ Board of Directors, and so now has the opportunity to represent members’ views. Tim can be heard during home Championship games helping the BBC Hereford and Worcester commentary team with a heritage slot during the tea interval. His current project is writing a biography on Don Kenyon, called Don Kenyon – His Own Man , which is due for publication in September. Tim has spent 40 years acquiring Worcestershire memorabilia and tracking down every cricketer to have played since the Second World War and some before then. After an introduction our guest author and historian was soon into his stride with a very entertaining history of Worcestershire CCC, aided by graphics galore. The home ground and its predecessor, Broughton Park, was owned by the influential Isaac family who were steeped in cricket. New Road became the official ground in 1896 as a Minor Counties ground and the history of its regular flooding and subsequent recoveries proved fascinating and unbelievable (e.g. the groundsman was rumoured to have caught a 20lb salmon in the practice net one flood!!!). The first major change to the ground was not until 1964/65, when the then pavilion was changed around. The new pavilion, named after Graeme Hick didn’t arrive until 2008/09 and the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, was involved in the official opening of both the pavilion and the Tom Graveney Bar. After the opening, Tom told the gathered crowd about his most famous dismissal as a batsman (in a friendly), when he was caught out by the Duke of Norfolk to a ball from the Duke of Edinburgh (a handy off-spin bowler). Tim then went on to tell us about the famous Foster Brothers who in 1899 both scored 100 in each innings of a match. Only the Australian Chappell brothers have repeated the feat. R.E.Foster was also the last man to captain England at both cricket and football along with a host of other records. Their sister also became the first scratch lady golfer in England. The information and history went on and on with an equally interesting Q&A session to conclude a very interesting and informative evening. Bryan Stott with Colin Barker on 22 January.