AGM Agrees New Rates and Applauds 2024/5 Programme
The Annual General Meeting of the Nottingham Cricket Lovers Society, held in the Derek Randall Suite at Trent Bridge on 20 March saw the confirmation of the Committee for the coming year and discussions on subscription rates and meeting schedules.
All members of the existing Committee stood for re-election and were elected unopposed (see ‘Officers’ tab for full list).
Rising costs of meetings, particularly speakers’ fees, meant that the Committee recommended to the meeting an increase for 2025/26 to £20 per individual, £30 for a couple’s membership and a charge of £10 for ‘walk up’ attendance at NCLS meetings. This was agreed unanimously.
The Society’s finances were sound, the Treasurer reported, but the increases were essential to sustain that position.
There was less agreement on increasing the number of afternoons meetings – the one tried thus far having proved very popular – with the majority of those present happy to accept both in the coming calendar.
A discussion on dates, pending a possible clash were Nottingham Forest to secure European football next season, and on alternative venues – given that parts of the ground will be used differently during the Pavilion redevelopment – followed with the Committee promising to report back to the membership.
There was general agreement that the recent season of talks had been very successful and thanks were given to the Speaker Secretaries, Chris Walker and Martyn Shaw.
Seven meetings were held with 12 speakers, mostly with Notts CCC connections or current players (and one 60-year-old film), supported by talks on Heritage topics and by non-playing staff.
Thanks were given to the Club for the consistent support of the facilities, media and playing teams.
Copies of the 2025 Nottingham Cricket Annual were on sale and the new edition was well recieved.
March 2025
CRICKET ANNUAL ON SALE AT AGM
The 2025 Nottingham Cricket Annual will be on sale, price £10 (cash only, please) at the AGM this Thursday.
At 256 packed pages – and packed is surely the right word for the sheer density of information and articles – the Annual, review all Nottinghamshire cricket in 2024, including red and white ball games, The Blaze, The Hundred and recreational cricket.
Articles on Jimmy Anderson’s remarkable record at Trent Bridge, on the links with this year’s visitors Zimbabwe and a fascinating account from David Beaumont of what it felt like to be an eight-year-old at the Ashes Test of 1953 are just some of the absorbing features that accompany the statistics and match reviews.
AGM – and DERBYSHIRE’S SKIPPER
Experienced Derbyshire batter Wayne Madsen is the next guest of the Nottingham Cricket Lovers’ Society on Thursday 20 March in the Derek Randall Suite at Trent Bridge (7pm).
Born in Durban, Wayne represented South Africa at hockey before moving to England to develop his career in cricket. He joined Derbyshire in 2009 and has now played 474 matches across all formats, amassing over 22,000 runs and becoming the second-highest career run-scorer in the County’s history. Last week, he was appointed club captain for the second time.
At international level Wayne represents Italy and took part in the qualifying tournament for the T20 World Cup in 2024.
The session with Wayne Madsen will be preceded by the Society’s Annual General Meeting.
Attendance at the meeting is covered in the annual subscription for the Cricket Lovers’ Society. Non-members are very welcome to attend this individual meeting at a cost of £5 on the door.
This is the final meeting of the 2024/25 programme. Nottingham Cricket Lovers’ Society will re-commence its meetings in October 2025.
More information is available at nottinghamcricketlovers.co.uk
Pre-season networking
As the current NCLS programme draws to a close – the AGM is on 20 March – our speaker secretaries were able to do some valuable networking ahead of planning the 2025/26 schedule at the Open Training Day at Trent Bridge on 6 March.
Chris Walker and Martyn Shaw chatted to players from the men’s squad and from The Blaze as well as coaches and other support staff and made, they tell us, some useful contacts.
First announcements of the next NCLS season will be made later in the Summer – watch this space.
NEXT MEETING – Thursday 6 February
Kathryn Bryce, of The Blaze (top scorer 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup). Captain of Scotland Women’s Cricket team and a star performer; she will be looking forward to the first season of The Blaze at Trent Bridge as part of the Nottinghamshire CCC set-up and reflecting on her career to date.
Steven Mullaney, Nottinghamshire CCC (Benefit Year). ‘Mull’ has been county captain, key all rounder, trophy winner and, most recently, successful Second XI coach. As his Benefit Year comes to a close, he will look back on his time as a player at Trent Bridge and forward to his new coaching role.
A reminder that for this meeting we revert to the usual start time of 7pm and the venue is scheduledto be the Boundary’s Edge (Radcliffe Road stand).
A PLAYER FOR THE AGES – Lyndon’s Rise to First XI
The speaker at our December meeting was Lyndon James, seam bowling all-rounder for Notts in all formats. He spoke about his passage through the County Age Groups, his ambitions about captaincy and his plesure at the award in 2024 of his County Cap.
Full story https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/trentbridge/history/articles/player-for-the-ages.html
RICE SERVED UP TO CRICKET LOVERS
Members of Nottingham Cricket Lovers Society (NCLS) were served up an extra large helping of Rice at their November meeting – courtesy of biographer Tim Crow.
Tim Crow is currently working on the life story of Nottingham and South Africa legend Clive Rice and, having done lots of research in the Library and Archives at Trent Bridge, took time to tell his audience just some of the stories about ‘Ricey’.
He stressed the importance to Rice of the inter-play between his life in his Transvaal home and his adopted home in Nottingham.
“In Nottingham, Rice was a shrewd and successful captain and a cricketer for the big occasions”, he said, “but in South Africa he was a true superstar – a warrior on and off the cricket pitch.”
Crow finished his talk with a TV clip highlighting the skills of Rice and Hadlee and left the meeting promising to return to Trent Bridge when his book is published, probably sometime in 2025.
Full article: https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/trentbridge/history/articles/rice-served-up-to-cricket-lovers
Before Tim’s talk, NCLS member Ed Nicholson, a Tour Manager of Cricket Tours around the World, told some of the many stories from his trips with England fans – including the recent tour to Pakistan, from which he had only just returned.
SILENT AUCTION –
Cricket Collectables at November Meeting
The next NCLS meeting, at Trent Bridge on 7 November, will give members the chance to bid for some rare and interesting cricket collectables in a ‘silent auction’ in aid of our close friends, Notts County Heritage Fund.
There will be 20 lots, including several items signed by Notts cricketers.
The star attraction is likely to be a copy of Peter Wynne-Thomas’s The History of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club with 225 authenticated signatures of former Notts players!
All items will be on display for viewing before the start of the meeting – at the usual time of 7pm – and we hope to email all members with a list before the night.
That means that if you cannot make the meeting, it will still be possible to bid via email or post.
A silent auction works by having the lots on display; written descriptions and a bid sheet are placed beside each item. The highest bid at the end of the auction receives the item.
As if that were not encouragement enough to turn up on 7 November, our speakers will include NCLS member and Trent Bridge tour guide Ed Nicholson, retelling some of his ‘Adventures of an International Cricket Tour Manager’ (Ed will have recently returned from leading groups to the England Test Series in Pakistan).
He will be followed by author Tim Crow, biographer of Notts and South Africa legend Clive Rice talking both about Clive’s life and career and the research that Tim has carried out in preparing his book.
24 October 2024
SPEAKERS SET….
Our Speaker Secretaries Chris and Martyn have excelled themselves with a packed and intriguing programme for 2024/25.
All meetings for 2024-2025 to be held in the Derek Randall Suite, the Long Room or Boundary’s Edge at 7.00 pm except for the meeting on 9 January which is an afternoon meeting, as agreed at the last AGM.
The proposed development of the Pavilion may necessitate some changes to meeting venues but the programme will stand.
Full Programme on ‘Speaker Programme’ page https://nottinghamcricketlovers.co.uk/speakers-programme/
Harold Larwood made his First-Class debut for Notts 100 years ago today (20 August). Read John Hess’s appreciation of ‘Lol’ and his county career https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/trentbridge/history/articles/harold-larwood-reaches-his-100.html
2024 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Society’s AGM for 2024 was held in the Long Room at Trent Bridge on 21 March.
Minutes of the 2023 AGM were approved and elections held for Committee Officers.
Alan Odell was elected Secretary in succession to David Dickinson and Peter Smith was added to the general committee with his particular interest being the new NCLS website.
Subscriptions were kept at 2023 levels.
Full details of Officers etc at the relevant pages of this website.
DAVID DICKINSON
David stood down as NCLS Secretary at the 2024 AGM – following a move to Norfolk, he had found it increasingly difficult to attend Committee and Society meetings and had decided to give up the role.
He was thanked by President Bill Russell and Chairman David Beaumont for his service to the Society and presented with an engraved tankard as a mark of appreciation.
