Having a Ball
Our grand Centenary Dinner and Dance is well and truly over. If we would maybe have been happy to sell a few more tickets, we had a very respectable turnout and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Bill “Faff” McFarlane of Rossie Priory Cricket Club kept up his high standards as MC while President Alan Duncan had plenty to say about his fellow players, but the star was undoubtedly our principal speaker, Bill “Bearded Wonder” Frindall, of BBC’s Test Match Special team. His tales of life in the commentary box and players and commentators past and present were a joy for all, perhaps especially for those of us who used to listen spellbound to the lugubrious tones of John Arlott.
Photos: Bill “Faff” McFarlane (left) and Alan Duncan (right)
Photos: Bill “Bearded Wonder” Frindall delivering his hilarious after dinner speech
Photo: The audience were captivated by Bill’s stories and anecdotes
Three of our guests could hardly believe that twenty five years had passed since the big 75th anniversary shindig. We’re sure they could tell us a story or two about that evening!
Photo: (left to right) David Grant, Harry Barclay and Dave Christie
Least we forget, this was a dinner dance with excellent food, a real culinary delight, plentiful liquid refreshment and followed by dancing of many styles and genres. Everyone looked to be having a grand time.
Photos: The happy revelers (click on a photo to see a hi-res version)
Photo: Our illustrious guest is entertained by the Club President and his wife
Perhaps we have many natural born dancers, maybe the refreshment was particularly good or could it be there is a secret plethora of Strictly Coming Dancing fans in Freuchie! Regardless, the band, “Rough Diamond”, ensured plenty of aerobic exercise to justify the quenching of that dreaded dance thirst!
Photo: Rough Diamond banging out the tunes
Photos: The revelers jig the night away
Photos: Some of the visiting dignitary from Rossie Priory and Falkland
Bill had kindly presented us with a signed limited edition of his circular chart of Brian Lara’s famous 400 not out against England – an unlikely-to be repeated event, captured here in elegantly succinct form. This was auctioned by Bill himself, raising £100 for club funds.
Photo: Bill auctions off his kind gift
Pleasing, too, to report that the event was well supported by our players, with visiting luminaries of Scottish Cricket to add even more to the occasion. The Lomond Hills Hotel made sure we were well fed and watered, the band “Rough Diamond” for the tunes and the exercise, while John Thomson of Roundtrip Solutions Ltd. provided some photographic records.
Our sincere thanks to Bill, to Faff, to Ronnie and the hotel staff, to John T, to the band and to all the people who made this a memorable evening.
Technorati Tags: Bill Frindall, Fife, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Lomond Hills Hotel, Roundtriip Solutions
Ireland Revisited
Some pictorial records have been unearthed from our pre-season tour to Ireland ….
We thought it was just a cricket tour, too …. Did you realise that this was a wedding party? Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage … And is the guy with the dark shirt a priest?
And are the witnesses not impressed?
Get your captions in!
Nervous Nineties?
The Century almost in our grasp (Centenary Year, that is). So what’s to be nervous about?
At this stage, really only our long-promised Centenary Whisky, and we’re only one firm shot away from that, so to speak. (It’s tempting to talk about a few weeks of playing and missing, but you can overwork an analogy, can’t you). The Scottish Liqueur Centre has got our whisky (cask strength 12 year old single malt from the Tomatin Distillery), our much-pestered graphics designer has done the label and the design is away to Winter the Printer. So will we have Freuchie Cricket Club‘s ‘Fraoch’ Centenary Whisky in time for Christmas presents to your favourite people? Surely. A souvenir to treasure, or a dram to enjoy? Get them two bottles, so they can have their whisky and drink it. A snip at £25, available from the Club or from the Lomond Hills Hotel in Freuchie.
The promised pens (£4) and ties (£10) are already on sale and going well. Get them at the club, at the Lomond Hills Hotel or at the Post Office.
Meantime, the AGM has come and gone, with never a punch thrown. (Not that the referees spotted, anyway). Main points are that we have Alan Duncan back as President, while Alan Wallace takes over as Club Captain. Lawrence’s business is making more and more demands on him, so Dave Christie takes over as Cricket Convener. Thanks for what you’ve done in the last couple of years, Lawrence. Robbie Birrell has taken over as Junior Convener, while the fee structure for junior members has been simplified – £5 for those of primary school age, £10 for those under eighteen, but the £1 match levy dropped. Membership fee for senior players has gone up to £50 – a bit of a hike from where it’s been, but still reckoned to be one of the lowest around.
Technorati Tags: cricket, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Scottish Liqueur Centre, Tomatin Distillery, Winters Pioneer
Snippets of News
This column has been deplorably neglected of late, so here’s some bits and pieces.
We’ve finally settled plans for The Centenary Whisky, which will be a cask-strength (46%) 12 year old single malt from Tomatin with our own label. The design of the label is just being finalised, the order is already placed and we should be getting delivery mid to late November.
We’ll have Centenary Ties as well; the design was agreed at the last meeting of your hard-working committee, and I’m proud to say I’ve got mine already. (Just to pay for it!)
We’ve also ordered some rather smart pens which will carry the legend Freuchie Cricket Club, Centenary Year, 2008, with forest green bodies and black ink. They’ll be with us in the next couple of weeks as well.
Christmas presents? Nae problem.
We are delighted to announce that Mrs Elspeth Skinner of Lathrisk House has undertaken to be one of our patrons. Details have still to be worked out, but her support will be invaluable and we’re hoping that we may be able to apply for a Sportsmatch award for one of our major projects. However, they’ve dished out all their cash for this year, so we’ll have to wait to see what can be done.
Plans for Mrs Skinner to meet with Dave Christie this morning didn’t work out, though, because he was away skiving. What? A dry morning and Dave not up the park? What’s his excuse? Answer: Dave has again been awarded the accolade of Scotland’s Grounsdman of the Year, and was off to Ingliston to view the flash ground-keeping machinery and be presented with his award. We are talking about the need to replace our aging outfield mower, and this was a chance to see what’s available. I was glad I was sitting down when Dave told me about costs, but Dave being Dave, he might have a work-around… More news soon.
Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Tomatin Distillery, Sportsmatch, Ingliston
April Newsletter
On the playing front, last year was just tremendous. We won the Scottish Media Indoor Six-a-Side tournament at the start of the year, the Firsts won Scottish National League Division II with a game to spare and the Seconds gained promotion from East League Division II.
Our own Scott Gourlay was named Scottish Club Player of the Year.
We had some amazing batting performances – notably 326 against Falkland to better what looked like an invincible performance from Falkland’s Aussies.
So what about this year? Opening bowler Robbie Mutch is back with us after a good season at home in South Africa, while our other overseas player will be Jason Seng, a twenty-year-old batsman from Brisbane. Two new senior players have joined us – Sanjay Rakshit, a top order batsman and wicketkeeper who’s been with Dunfermline this last few years, and Scott Galloway, another young gun who was with Perthshire last year. He’s been honing his skills in Australia over the winter; welcome back to a (chilly?) Scottish spring, Scott!
The troops are off on a pre-season tour in the North of England this weekend, with a home friendly against Rossie Priory on 21st April and the first league matches on 28th April – Firsts away to Penicuik and the Seconds at home to Murrayfield-DAFS. The first Village Cup game will be away to Kintore on 27th May; the 2007 Fixture Card will be available in the next few days.
It’s pretty amazing to think that we will be competing at a higher level than any other team in Fife, while our Seconds will be facing sides that our Firsts fought against not all that long ago. Can we keep it up? We’ll certainly be giving it our best shot. SNCL Division I, ESCA Division I, Scottish Cup, President’s Trophy, Village Cup – lots to see. Come along and give us your support.
All this, and never a word about our Juniors. Our hard-working Junior Committee has been arranging, coaching and wrestling with the things procedural that are so much a part of modern life. Arranging? No less than fifty-four fixtures for the year. Dave Christie’s tearing his hair out. Where can he find wickets for the best part of thirty Junior games? Dave’s concerns are real enough, but we all know that this is where the future of our Club lies – we must do all we can to get the kids out on the park. Just take a walk up to the park on a Friday evening and take a look at the numbers at practice. Is there anything you can do to help us?
Away from the park, there’s lots going on. Our Sponsors are supporting us as always, and we’ll be proudly carrying the ‘Kettle Produce’ logo on our shirts this year. Sponsors Day will be on 9th June, when we’re at home to Forfarshire.
Helped by John Thomson of Roundtrip Solutions at Freuchie Mill, we’re working on a website so that we can communicate with the world at large (not to mention the world at Freuchie) and do a bit more to give recognition to our sponsors. It’s not yet fully-fledged, but John’s doing his best to educate your secretary in the art of blogs. Talk about old dogs and new tricks! Go to www.freuchiecricketclub.com/blog
The Club will be supporting Freuchie’s Gala Day on 22nd June.
We are always looking for new members – players especially – but all ages are welcome. Player subscription is £30 (said to be bargain of the year), Social Members £17, Senior Citizens and Juniors £5. Talk about bargains – quite apart from enjoying the facilities of our fine clubhouse and supporting a great team, Senior Members get a ‘pairty’ in January – a dram when you come in, lunch and an afternoon’s entertainment – all included in the membership fee? Can’t be bad! Visit the Clubhouse, call John Anderson on 01337 857 292, or e-mail secretary@freuchiecricketclub.com
Remember too that the Clubhouse is available for members’ functions, so in addition to our wintertime Prize Bingo Teas (and Patsy threatening to organise steak pie darts and dominos events), this is a great venue for your own parties and celebrations – join us!
Technorati Tags: cricket, Fife, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, newsletter