From left: Sarah Attrill, Dave Allen, Andrew Renshaw, Stephen Saunders, Douglas Miller
Our Chaplain, The Reverend David Brown, said grace.
The President, Douglas Miller, welcomed all members and their guests.
Apologies for Absence:
Jo & Derek Coulson, Verity Crump, Glynis Osborne, Grayston Burgess, Ann Knott, Derek Andrews, Pat Atkinson, Brian Phillips, Michael Woof, Christopher Moger, Brian Ford, Bill Kempton, David Robinson, Jane & Peter Parsons, Ralph Simmonds, Innes Marlow, Susanne Marlow, Robin Brodhurst, Stephen Green, Gillie & Nicholas Twine, Roy Clarke, Bobby & Peter Tomkins.
Prize Draw: Members were reminded to put their place names in the containers provided for the prize draw for collection by our Steward, Dick Orders.
Next Speaker: TBC
The President has not yet had confirmation from either Sir John Major or Charlotte Edwards to speak to us at our Spring meeting in 2014. However, should both speakers decline, he is hopeful that Mike Griffith will take up this place should future engagements allow.
Other administration reminders:
Ties: Please see Stephen – at a cost of £15.
Payment for lunch: Cash & Cards only - cost £27.50.
Cancellations policy reminder: members cancelling within 24hrs of the event will be charged at the full cost by the B&B management.
Computer access: members will find minutes and other information on our website. Members’ publications can also be advertised on this site, plus any other interesting new which may be of interest to other club members. Please contact Lou by phone or email with the details.
Prize Draw in support of Hambledon Youth Cricket:
The customary draw - won by Stephen Crew - raised £260. After deductions of the prize draw, speaker’s expenses, administration costs, and the sale of 3 club ties, £195 was raised for Hambledon Youth.
The Toasts: Unfortunately, Roy Clarke was unable to attend and deliver the account of the traditions of the toasts. Dave Allen explained this tradition on Roy’s behalf:
From Roy Clark - 2013:
The Six Toasts were laid down by order of the club on 1 May 1781. In the 18th Century, the drinking of toasts at formal dinners constituted the structure of the After Dinner Agenda:
Toast One: “The Queen’s Mother”
This was a standard 18th century toast, and always the first one. It has nothing to do with Her Majesty or her family it is a colloquial expression for tobacco. It has its origins in 16th century French and appears to be a mistranslation into English. It should have translated as “the Queen’s Herb” after Catherine de Medici the French Queen Regent while Elizabeth I was on the English throne. Catherine enjoyed smoking, and her courtiers named this tobacco ‘the Queen’s Herb’. The club supplied the tobacco and pipes were smoked after the first Toast.
Toast Two: “The King” (the Loyal Toast)
Toast Three: “The Hambledon Club
Toast Four: “Cricket”
Toasts three and four derive from the Hambledon Club Song, which had been sung as a central part of the after dinner agenda after it was written in 1773 by the Reverend Reynell Cotton, the first President of the Hambledon Club. In 1790, the club ordered 100 copies to be printed including one to be “glazed, framed and hung in the Club Room”. In 1832, John Nyren published the 14 verses in The Cricketers of My Time – he may well have used one of the original 100 copies.
Toast Five: “The Immortal Memory of Madge”
Roy reports that his favourite comment about this comes from a Register of 18th century Clubs which mentions the Hambledon Club. The entry reads: “The Gentlemen members of the Club drank a standing list of six toasts, one of which most regrettably was of undisguised impropriety”.
Toast Six: “The President” (Initially the Reverend Reynell Cotton).
The President then asked members to be upstanding for the traditional Toasts:
The Queen’s Mother, The King, Hambledon Club, Cricket, The immortal memory of Madge. Dave Allen asked members to toast the President.
DA introduced the recent publication of ‘150 Not Out. Hampshire County Cricket 1863-2013’, that he co-wrote with Stephen Saunders, which celebrates the fact that on 11 September this year, the club had reached the 150th anniversary of the formal constitution of Hampshire Cricket Club. DA handed over to Stephen who gave a brief outline and flavoursome account of some of the people that founded the Club.
Afterward, DA gave mention to Roger Packham’s new book now available, ‘Sussex Victorious, 50th Anniversary of the Gillette Cup - 1963’, edited by RP and Nicholas Sharp.
The Quiz: The results of a ‘Just for Fun’ quiz were announced by DA before introducing Andrew Renshaw to speak about his book, ‘Wisden On the Great War: Lives of Cricket’s Fallen’, to be published in May 2014. Andrew gave a taste of the extraordinary stories surrounding not only of those lives that were cut short, but how it celebrates and commemorates all that they did.
After Andrew’s address to members, DA handed the proceedings to The President who mentioned that copies of his own publication, ‘MJK Smith’, were available to purchase.
The President then introduced Sarah Attrill who spoke about her selection for the forthcoming Dubia tour (2014) with the Girls U19 Hampshire Cricket Team, and thanked everybody for the general contribution. A cheque of £200 in this respect was presented by DM.
Thanks: DM then thanked all the speakers that helped to make this event a splendid occasion, along with thanks to the Bat & Ball management for a delightful lunch.
Any Other Business: None
A CD recording of the day is available upon request for postal members. Further information of DA’s picture quiz is also available from Andrew Renshaw (in this connection, see under for two clergymen with adjacent obituaries, Wisden 1990).
PAYTON, VEN. WILFRED ERNEST GRANVILLE, who died on September 4, 1989 aged 75, was one of the dwindling band of cricketing clergymen. His father, W. R. D., and uncle, A. I. Payton, were both Nottinghamshire professionals, but the younger Payton played as an amateur. He had already had a game for Nottinghamshire, in 1935, when following a top score of 74 in the Seniors' match he played for Cambridge in 1937. However, it was as much his keenness in the field as his dogged batting which won him his Blue as Paul Gibb's fellow-opener: his contribution at Lord's was 10 and 3. After the war he played thirteen first-class games for the Combined Services, and in 1948 at Pontypridd he was bowled when 2 runs short of a maiden (and only) century to set the stage for a convincing win over Glamorgan in their Championship year. The following season he had two matches for Derbyshire. In his 27 first-class games he made 995 runs for an average of 20.72. Payton became Chaplain-in-Chief to the RAF and retired in 1969 to become Vicar and Rural Dean of Abingdon. He had been an honorary chaplain to The Queen since 1965.
PICKLES, CANON HUGH JOHN, who died on September 24, 1989. aged 70, was a charming eccentric whose lifestyle suggested a character from England, Their England, rather than a modern clerk in Holy Orders. He declared that cricket became his second religion when he discovered the game on a day visit to The Oval, at the age of twelve, to see the 1930 Australians. The England captain that day, R. E. S. Wyatt, sent a message of goodwill to a dinner held 50 years later to mark the occasion. A product of St Edward's School, Oxford, and University College, Hugh Pickles played most of his own enthusiastic cricket for clergy teams. He was captain/secretary of the Oxford Diocesan Clergy CC from 1964 to 1989, had captained Wantage after the war, and though very weak he had the immense pleasure of receiving the Church Times Cup on behalf of the Oxford Clergy when that team won the 1989 Diocesan final three weeks before his death. The previous season, his high-tossed, slow off-breaks had brought him a hat-trick, as much a delight to his friends as to himself. Parish priest at Blewbury for 26 years, he was indulged and loved by his parishioners, who became accustomed to his absence on cricketing matters: he was once given special leave by his Bishop to accompany Worcestershire to the West Indies in Holy Week as the county's honorary chaplain. Indeed, stories of cricketing enthusiasm diverting him from his other activities accompanied him all his life.
Newsletter 30: 5 October 2013
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