The Twelfth Man 2015

4 Chairman’s Report Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the most important meeting of the Wombwell year. No, I do not mean the 2015 Annual General Meeting, the sovereign body of the Society – and I wish more of you would come along to have your say and cast your votes as we enter the Society’s 64th season. No, I mean the meeting taking place now… as you balance The Twelfth Man on your knees… or on the bedspread… or you clear an A4 space on the kitchen table. You are here because you want to relive the Wombwell year of 2014/15… or you want to live it for the first time because you no longer fancy night-driving in bad weather or the ups and downs of life have taken you so far away – across the globe even! This magazine is why we still have nigh on 300 paying members while some cricket societies no longer muster half of that. Founder Secretary Jack Sokell, bless his heart, always worried that the magazine would become unviable if it did not attract the requisite advertising revenue. My predecessor as Chairman, Frank Taylor, always took the opposite view. Whether this magazine balances its own books or not it is for many of you THE SOCIETY. That is its viability. Your Committee learned at its June meeting of the withdrawal of the Editor, which means that not for the first time the donkey work of typesetting and knocking the publication into shape has been done by Secretary Mick Pope and his indefatigable wife, Tracy. Our thanks to them, but we must be able to elect a new Editor at AGM so that Mick has enough time to teach him/her the ropes for 2016. Colin Barker has put his hand up to help with proof-reading and keep the Editor out of trouble. A major part of our raison d’être for 60 years has been the coaching scheme for young players, and as we applaud the services for Yorkshire and England of Wombwell graduate Joe Root – following a distinguished line from Arnie and Ryan Sidebottom through to Martyn Moxon and Darren Gough – we are reminded that England still expects. And this is why our name is still voiced with reverence across the cricket world. Coaching Co-ordinator Brian Workman is moving further out, and while we still hope to see him at most Wombwell functions he will not be able to make the Sunday-morning pilgrimages to Bawtry Road. Brian and his own predecessor, John Ambler, will be able to give a successor all the help he needs – but we MUST have that successor in place for AGM onwards. The Society’s thanks – and those of the young players who are being groomed for greater things – are also due to coaches Andy Bennett, Darren Crossland, Brian Marsh and Andy Simcox. Your Committtee does not idle away the happy months of live cricket: we talk of the future and where the Society might want to go. Commercial TV sport has brought a whole new world from 1951, when all most of us had were crackling radio sets. No TV or telephone. Some societies are moving to lunchtime meetings, and your Committee has discussed this. It would rescue older members from night-driving through blizzards, but would it brand us as an Over-60s Club unwelcoming to those young enough to be in work or at school? If you have a view, tell it at the AGM. I was sorry that for reasons of family sickness I missed some of the Thursday meetings, but Ron Firth was always a more than able deputy, and at least I was back for the Christmas Lunch when we hosted our own President, Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird, who had become Yorkshire President and has since been elected for a second year. We are particularly grateful to Yorkshire Academy Coach Richard Damms, a Barnsley lad – which does help! – who not only convenes the Young Yorkshire Evenings on our behalf but who comes again with a Yorkshire starlet for our end- of-term coaching awards and presentation evening. I have seen groups flounder for want of officers to do the jobs. At the Wombwell we do not know how lucky we are: Secretary Mick and Treasurer Brian are completely on top of their jobs, and with Ron can fill in gaps anywhere around the room. Tom Hudson keeps the meeting reports flowing in for the magazine, with Neil Whitaker always on standby, and Ali Saad will pick up where Beryl Ambler left off and keep a tidy membership desk. Crucial to our forward-planning. Norman Hazell continues to be a strong contributor to this magazine, very much a self-motivator, and in Committee he is always creative, thinking how the Society can move forward and giving pointers to the speakers we might attract. And there, in the middle of it all, the wise head of Jack Tunnicliffe to keep us all in order. Yet we do need a Speaker Secretary and assistants for the Secretary and Treasurer who might be blooded for the future. We also need YOU. Our membership roll looks healthy, but too often my heart sinks into my boots when I arrive at the Clubroom with the speaker in tow to be met by a poor turnout. I look forward to seeing you at the end of September. James M.Greenfield