OCA NEWSLETTER NO 278 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 The Quarterly Journal of The Old Chelmsfordians Association Memorial Sports Field, Lawford Lane, Roxwell Road, Chelmsford, Essex. CM1 2NS Phone: 01245 420442 : Website: www.oldchelmsfordians.com Secretary and Newsletter Editor: George Heseltine : 01245 265962 : [email protected] We will again be holding a Christmas Draw this year to raise funds for ongoing improvements around the Ground and Clubhouse and enclosed you will find 10 tickets at £1.00 each. Following the ongoing success of giving cheques as ‘Travel Vouchers’ we have again decided to offer 4 prizes totalling £1000 as a thank you for your ongoing support of the Association. Roger Gaffney will again be organising the draw and has asked that every counterfoil be completed as the books are split with the individual counterfoils being entered into the draw. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Old Chelmsfordians Association’ please. If anyone would like extra tickets or wish to donate towards the prizes they should contact Roger on 01245 269388. Please make every effort to support the draw as this really does make a difference to what we can continue to do at Lawford Lane. The Draw will take place in the Clubhouse on Sunday, December 9th at 1.00pm and we would be delighted to see you there. For those who receive the newsletter electronically you will not miss out as the tickets will be sent to you by post but, should you be aware that your postal address has changed in the last year, please advise us! [email protected] LEONARD MENHINICK As we go to press we have learned with sadness of the death of Leonard on October 24th and have received this tribute from Martin Rogers (1954-1960) who lives in Queensland, Australia and the second one from Ken Wilder (1939-1944) of Bowral, NSW, Australia. which he had sent to Minny’s wife Vera. “So many people have so much for which to thank Len, and I’m one of them. He encouraged my youthful interest in sport, urged my parents to send me to King Edward VI, ferried me to cricket matches, bought my first drink of cider, supported my early journalistic endeavours, was influential in getting me a commission reporting on Chelmsford City matches for the Essex Chronicle and Newsman-Herald, and took a long-- running interest in my various career moves. I also had plenty of dealings with him in both the professional and local sporting arena, served on management committees with him, and never forgot his refereeing which relied upon the application of football’s unwritten rule ... ‘the rule of common sense’. When we last met, two or three years ago when I was over from Australia, he was a welcoming host and still the knowledgeable, aware and delightful character of old. Truly a great man whose influence touched so many people and a personality very widely respected and loved”. Martin Rogers “I never knew Leonard by that name. From the time we first met at Chelmsford Grammar School in 1939 when we began our war years there, he was always ‘Minnie’. Our friendship which began then flourished until now, in spite of long intervals following my departure with my late wife Jean for Australia in 1961 when I had been sent there by William Collins to run their Australian subsidiary company. 1 Dear old Minnie, always faithful to Chelmsford and the Old School while my life was centred on the London and Australian literary world. My wife Jean and I had strong links to Chelmsford. Many of our family were there and Jean and I were born there. We lived there through the terrible war years when the Luftwaffe bombed us relentlessly. Minnie and I were great friends. Each of us were rebels and loved to poke at the status quo. We shared a similar sense of humour. There was something hard to explain which served as a link which never broke. Not long after my wife and I settled in Australia we often managed to get to Chelmsford and got in touch with Minnie. Our lives had taken very different pathways but the essential us had not changed. I was astonished when after some years of loss of contact, suddenly Minnie was Chairman of the Board of Governors of our old school and I was a governor of a leading girls boarding school, Frensham, in Australia. We had become rather respectable in our middle years! As my career flourished Jean and I were in London and Glasgow at least once each year on business and never missed a chance to visit Minnie and Vera. We visited Paris together and I recall how amazed Minnie was that I was fluent in French but as I explained that this was little to do with our school days, perhaps some bits of grammar, but because during the Fifties I had worked on and off in Paris where few French people in those days spoke English. In recent years it was sad to see that Minnie’s health was in decline. He still loved to take me to a pub on Galleywood Common to drink warm beer while I naughtily explained that in Australia we had cold beer and warm pies while in Chelmsford it was the other way around. I think that Minnie felt that by adopting the Australian way of life and values I had let the side down until I explained that for me to do otherwise would mean I was a failed Australian. Actually, I am a bit of both, half Brit, half Oz. Just to be clear, neither of us were gay of course but I am not ashamed to say that I loved Minnie and his departure means that I have lost an important part of my own life. Bless you Minnie. You made the world in your way a better place. You will live in my memory so long as I remain in this world”. Ken Wilder A DAY IN THE SUN We briefly reported on Presidents Day in our last issue and Mark Bowerman has now given us these details of the day. On a bright summer’s day in July, the President’s Eleven won the toss and, in a break from tradition, put the KEGS team into bat. It was a decision that didn’t bring any immediate benefits, with the opening attack of Alice Green and Hollie Lodge unable to take advantage of the new ball. With the score racing past the 70-mark and the temperature rising past the 80-mark, a change in the bowling brought a reward in the fourteenth over, with John Hodges taking the wicket of KEGS opener Sandhu for 55. There were no further wickets before lunch, and it was certainly ‘advantage KEGS’ as the players left the field for some well-earned refreshment. After lunch, the President’s team stuck manfully to their task. The bowling attack was rotated with the hope of finding a breakthrough, and although Hodges and Grainger kept the scoring rate down at one end, the runs flowed freely at the other. Green and Lodge came back on and took a wicket apiece but, with opener Odedra still batting steadily, Matt Bowerman arrived at the crease and cut loose, scoring 61 not out from 41 balls. (I’d like to point out though that he only got one run from the five balls I bowled at him, although I think that was more to do with the fear of getting out to his dad far outweighing the prospect of easy runs). Odedra was eventually dismissed for 74 but no further wickets were taken before the KEGS declaration, which came with their score on 278 for four. The President’s team negotiated a tricky few overs before tea without losing a wicket and then set about the run chase once suitably revitalised. However, with opener Sam Robertson anchoring one end, a succession of partners came and went far too regularly than was ideal, succumbing to the pressure of trying to meet an ever- 2 increasing run rate. Sam’s eventual dismissal for 70 effectively brought an end to the hopes of a win for the President’s team, and the game then became more about KEGS trying to get the wickets necessary to deliver them a famous victory. However, the President’s team held firm, and at stumps their score was 177-7. With the match drawn, KEGS retained the shield. As always this was a fantastic day to be part of for both spectators and players - thanks are warmly extended to everyone involved in the preparation for the day and for the day itself. In particular I would like to give special thanks to David Kitchiner for providing much-needed supplies of Captain Bob (3.8% A.B.V, Champion Bitter of East Anglia 2015). After experiencing more than thirty years of orange or blackcurrant squash for a mid-innings drink, the sight of a jug of premium bitter also being brought on to the field for those in need of it was most welcome. Finally, congratulations to the schoolboys, who more than played their part in an excellent day’s cricket and, rest assured, we are already looking forward to next July and attempting to take the shield back from them! KEGS XI: 278-4 from 50 overs : President’s XI: 177-7 from 38 overs : Match drawn – KEGS retain the shield. KEGS XI innings Batting: Sanjeevan Sandhu 55, Odedra 74, Jeyarooban 35, Mudalige 29, Matt Bowerman 61*, Mahir 17* Hicks, Arnav, Gupta, Fuller and Asabiaro did not bat.