The Twelfth Man 2020

The Society Back When F ifty years ago the 1970 Twelfth Man magazine (No.17) was published in September and as a non-member it would have cost you 3/6. Membership would have set you back one guinea – good value when you glance at the speaker/event schedule. Keith Round became the new Society Chairman and two new Wombwell Pa- trons were welcomed in – John Arlott and Brian Rix. The close of the 1969- 70 winter speaker programme saw evenings with Derbyshire (Edwin Smith and Ian Buxton) and Lancashire (Harry Pilling and Barry Wood among the ‘Red Rose’ guests). Cricket photographer Patrick Eagar, Brian Close and Dickie Bird were the early Spring visitors. The Society membership list spanned the globe with members as far afield as USA, Holland, India, Australia and even Brazil! In July 1970 the British conduc- tor and cellist Sir John Barbirolli passed away – he had been a Society Patron since the early 1960s. At the 1970 Society AGM Somerset’s Roy Virgin was named Cricketer of the Year and the Worcestershire/New Zealand batsman Glenn Turner received the Young Cricketer award. Sheffield-born Alan Gibson was Wombwell’s Cricket Writer of 1970. Some of the 1970-71 guest speakers were captured by Bob Williams in the 1971 Twelfth Man and included the writ- er Ralph Barker, Ronald Mason (who provided a magical evening on the life of Jack Hobbs), the Annual Dinner in Oc- tober brought Brian Sellers and Rachel Heyhoe, Alan Oakman was part of the Warwickshire evening, Lancashire sent over Barry Wood, Jack Simmons, David Lloyd, groundsman Bert Flack and Frank Hayes and the last speaker of 1970 was the BBC’s Christopher Martin-Jenkins. Among the early 1971 visitors were Barry Meyer and Stephen Green from the Lord’s museum. Surrey’s panel in March included Graham Roope mak- ing his Wombwell debut and later that month the former Middlesex cricketer Jack Robertson did likewise. In June Glenn Turner came to receive his CB Fry Memorial Award and brought with him his Worcestershire captain Norman Gifford. The Society’s coaching classes had 50 YEARS AGO: THE WINTER SEASON 1970-71 MICK POPE LOOKS BACK AT THE SOCIETY IN 1970 AND 1995 25 YEARS AGO: ANOTHER MEMORABLE PROGRAMME ACROSS 1995 O ne of England’s most grace- ful batsmen, David Gower, was the subject of the trib- ute section in the 1995 Twelfth Man magazine. Having retired from the game in 1993, to forge a new career in writing and broadcasting, David was the Society’s Denzil Batchelor Award winner for ‘Services to English Crick- et’. Sadly even the persuasive WCLS secretary, Jack Sokell, could not tempt the stylish Gower to Wombwell and his only visit remains back in 1979. Perhaps he might yet join us again? Early 1995 visitors included David The Twelfth Man in 1995 26 27