Comments from the Chairman

ByAdam Hope Bonfire, Chairmans Column, Juniors, News

SPONSORED BY H. RIGG PROPERTIES

Thanks

It has been a very busy few weeks since the last report and much has been going on at the club.

Driveway and car park

Thanks to the usual team and Gary O’Neill the rest of the driveway and car park have been resurfaced with river gravel. (Pictures above).

Lancashire League Annual Dinner

For the first time in many a year the name of Lowerhouse did not feature amongst the awards but the club was well represented with 16 attending – I think the largest table there. We were pleased that club president Harry Brooks could join us along with 7 players, wives and workers. More on the players later. This was a great effort and thanks to those who attended and kept the club flag flying high

Roller and Donations

 

Thanks to the Vinny’s research and the generosity of Eric Haworth, the club proudly possesses a replacement roller, resplendent in traditional green and with a hydraulic system. The roller was delivered the other Saturday whilst a small team put the covers away for the winter and was very well received, indeed by those present. For the technically minded the new roller operates with an ignition key and does not require weekly repairs or being pushed at the first sign of moisture on the pitch. We have re – affixed Phil Astin’s number plate and Phil would have been as pleased as I am at this latest addition.

This is a very generous act by Eric and not the first of Eric’s that we have benefitted from. A big thanks from us all Eric.

Thanks also to Neil Whalley for his annual donation to the juniors. Much appreciated Neil and sorry for catching you out all those years ago off the bowling of Trevor Jones.

County Girls

Many will have seen the newspaper articles on how well Annabelle Uttley is doing with the county and as previous covered in this section. Annabelle has now added Read Ladies player of the Year to her roll of honour. Well done Annie.

The Bonfire

I think everyone knows by now how well the Bonfire went. The organisation of this event is no minor feat and it is one that we are learning from each year. We have had some feedback on some aspects of the evening and thank people for their positivity in either praising us or mentioning where we might improve.

I would like to thank the organising group and the local companies who provided the mountain of wood and sincere apologies to those wood bearers that we had to turn away. Many people worked hard on the night and thanks to them all. We estimate from ticket sales that the crowd was in excess of 4,000 which is 1,000 up on our previous best. Thanks to all those who attended and behaved so well.

I mentioned the players earlier, and will again later, but once again they came to the fore in the stacking of the bonfire. The bonfire took 3 days to stack and as well as the usual team we were aided by a considerable number of players. This is exactly what any cricket club wants to see – 100% support and endeavour off the field so thanks to those players.

Thanks too to Trevor Shanley of ALERT for the sponsorship of the fireworks which were a joy to behold. Nice to see LHCC old boy Colin Quinn at the ground. Dad, Tim was responsible for the fantastic firework display along with colleagues.

For the statisticians, the piece of wood that Matt Stansfield stacked ignited at 8.10pm.

LHCC Old Boys

John Whelan has been in touch from the deep south of England. John sends his regards and keeps abreast of club matters via the website . John’s late brother Martin was also a player and a compatriot of mine back in the day . Late Dad Tom was a committeeman for many years in the 70s and took the A team ( under 18s ). In those days this was the only junior team that cricket clubs had. The 70’s were dark times for the cricket club but despite this the under 18s were quite successful.

Bob Spencer and I have often tried to remember the 1970 team who lost to Rishton in the final at Lowerhouse. Can anyone help with the accuracy of the below?.

  1. Captain and overage player Brian Higgin
  2. Phil Astin
  3. Clive Chell
  4. Trevor Gorton
  5. Steve Gregson
  6. Geoff Hargreaves
  7. Stan Heaton ( age 11)
  8. Neil Hodgson
  9. Leighton James
  10. Dave Sheridan
  11. Bob Spencer
  12. John Sudall

New Players

The Lancashire League Executive ratified the transfer of Curtis Meehan from Padiham last week. Curtis is only 18 and we are delighted to have signed him. Behind this delight is the awareness that this was a tremendous wrench for Curtis to leave his beloved Padiham and of course a blow for Padiham.

Lowerhouse CC never take a proactive approach to securing a player from another club but of course we will respond to requests from outside players to join us. We look very carefully at any move to us in terms of the longevity of the move, the reasons behind the move, the effect on the club, the player’s prospects and the effect that the incoming player may have on the opportunities for our current players.

The bottom line is of course that whilst we dislike adversely affecting another club – if a player wants to come and we can both benefit from that move, then we cannot say no. Over the years we have turned down requests to join us from some significant names in the league and other leagues as we felt that it wasn’t right for either the player or the club. These remain confidential of course.

Last season we accepted Owen Deakin – Pickard (Padiham) and Jordan Page (Ramsbottom). Owen and Jordan made themselves available for every game, filled in with the first team when asked too, practiced and trained religiously, and were top characters both on and off the field for the 2XI. They also supported social events, post-match drinks, cricket discussions, and last week attended the league dinner and worked hard on the bonfire. Whilst they aren’t alone in any of this, and whilst we can’t expect every player to be able to do some of these things, we can say with total certainty that there wholehearted attitude on and off the field is exactly what we need. So well done to these lads and others who set this example.

We may well bring other players into the club this close season as we feel that there will be gaps in the senior squads through the inevitable pre-season retirements and in – season withdrawals. We do not expect this to adversely affect the prospects of current players.

All the best, until next time,

Stan
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