Posted 18th May 2019
Sussex Cricket Museum Newsletter Spring 2019
A Message from our Chairman, Jon Filby
From the Chair
We were delighted that Tony Buss and Barbara Webb agreed to open our 2019 exhibition during the first match of the season at Hove. Tony has lent us a wonderful collection of artefacts from his Sussex career including his medals from our great Gillette Cup wins at Lord’s and a lovely collection of balls recording his best bowling feats in the 1960s and 70s. Barbara has kindly lent us some wonderful items and photographs recording the life and career of her wonderful and much loved husband Rupert and these too will be on display in the museum throughout the summer.
2019 Museum exhibition re-opening. L-r: Tony Buss, Barbara Webb, Rob Boddie and Jon Filby
As ever our wonderful team of volunteers have been hugely busy creating the exhibition and working on preserving our collection and so it’s important that I take this opportunity to thank Rob Boddie our Curator and the whole team which includes Nigel Tarr, Norman Epps, Mark Foster, our Secretary Mary Gallivan, Peter Crowhurst, Paul Hutson, David Jeater, the Treasurer Cliff Robinson, Nicholas Sharp, our women’s cricket expert Don Miles and the indefatigable Phil Barnes. Not to mention our two newest recruits Tim Burges and Sheila Phillips. Working with them on Wednesdays throughout the winter is a constant source of joy and anybody who would like to join us would be more than welcome. There is so much to do!
In this newsletter we give details of an evening with Christopher Sandford and we will shortly be contacting you about an exclusive Eve of Ashes Dinner with Jason Gillespie on July 31 and a special Women’s Cricket Dinner with Clare Connor, Mark Robinson and their guests on Saturday August 31. Please contact me for further details and/or look out for announcements on the website.
With huge thanks for all your kind and generous support. Jon.
After the Museum re-opening Trustees, Volunteers and supporters all took the opportunity to view the exciting new exhibits and displays on show for the 2019 season.
Museum Volunteer and Trustee Update
Trustee, cricket historian and author of so many of our publications Nicholas Sharp has been elected Vice-President of Sussex Cricket at the AGM in April. Meanwhile, volunteer David Jeater has been elected Hon. Life member of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Nicholas Sharp a founder trustee of the museum was appointed a Vice-President of Sussex CCC at the county’s recent AGM. The first match that Nicholas watched at Hove was with his mother. It was against the touring Indians in 1946 – that perhaps gives an indication of his age! At that stage he was enrolled as a junior member. He played most of his cricket for Hove Montefiore but managed a few games for MCC, one imagines when they were short. Nicholas has been an MCC member since 1958. On his retirement he put forward proposals for the Sussex CCC collection to be put into a trust. With the refurbishment of the ground that came about, he with other trustees and volunteers can be proud of what has been achieved. He has also been involved in the many and regular publications by the museum which helps with their finances.
Copies are also available in the Museum
David Jeater one of our volunteers has been made an honorary life member of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, mainly for his gallant efforts in editing their Lives in Cricket series of biographies. Also for contributing thirty or so items to their quarterly journal, on such diverse subjects as the geology of county grounds, cricket season weather, the geography of cricketers’ birthplaces, first-class umpiring records, etc. A few copies of David’s latest book ‘Sussex as a Minor County’ are still available
Richard Barrow
To mark the occasion of Richard Barrow stepping down from the Sussex Cricket Board of Directors a special dinner was held on Friday 3 May in the Long Room. Nearly 40 people attended and Richard with his wife Jackie shared some of his special memories during his 25 years on the Board.
Richard was of course instrumental in the setting up the museum in our new premises.
The museum produced a commemorative booklet to mark the occasion. There are a small number available at a special price of £5.00
Up to this season Sussex II had played 695 matches in the Second Eleven Championship since its start in 1959. Last year the Museum provided the full score details of nearly 100 matches missing from the well-known Cricket Archive website. (It’s an offshoot of Wisden.) These details are now fully searchable.
We have an appeal from one of volunteers, David Jeater.
There are, however, still eight Sussex Second Eleven Championship matches where the detailed scores, from scoresheets or scorecards, seem to be missing from the Museum’s collections. These matches are:
Sussex II v Middlesex II, 29 and 30 May 1967, Hove
Sussex II v Gloucestershire and Somerset II, 28 and 29 June 1967, Worthing
Middlesex II v Sussex II, Ealing, 10 and 11 July 1967
Gloucestershire and Somerset II v Sussex II, 23 and 24 August 1967, Bristol
Sussex II v Middlesex II, 3 and 4 June 1968, Hove
Sussex II v Hampshire II, 17, 18 and 19 July 1968, Hove
Hampshire II v Sussex II, 31 July, 1 and 2 August 1968, Southampton
Sussex II v Nottinghamshire II, 6, 7 and 8 July 1977, Hove.
At present, despite searches high and low, we have only potted scores from these games. If any reader of this newsletter has any scorecards, newspaper cuttings – or even a scorebook or two – we would love to hear from you either at the Museum itself, ask for David, or by email direct to davidjeater@yahoo.co.uk.
Volunteers. In our last newsletter we introduced Tim Burges, now it is the turn of…
Sheila Phillips: Volunteer
| I first watched cricket at Hove August Bank Holiday against Middlesex in 1950. I was sitting on the grass at the north end, because there were no boundary markers then, watching Denis Compton, and what an attraction he was! Then there was Tony Greig… I used to come to matches as much as possible, in between bringing up my two daughters, Susan and Jacqueline until my husband Alan retired in 1988 when we became full members. Since then we have very much enjoyed coming to cricket and for a time we were ‘stuffers’ (helping with the club mailshots). I am a retired medical secretary and was a volunteer silver cleaner at The Royal Pavilion and when that came to an end a year or so ago I offered my services to the Cricket Museum. Since then I have enjoyed every minute of my time here and find everyone at the museum so friendly and helpful. |
Membership Update
I was delighted that 2 guests at the ‘Behind the Scenes’ event decided to become friends of the museum. If you have any friends or family who come to the ground with you why not encourage them to become a friend or patron? The numbers of friends and patrons remain the same as last year; despite new people joining, inevitably people move on to pastures new. As I settle down in my role I am getting to know some of you and I must say what a lovely lot of friends and patrons we have, delightful to know and much more knowledgeable than me about Sussex cricket.
I must give my usual warning about data protection. If you have not paid this year I will send you one further letter in the summer, then if we have not heard from you one month after that letter your details will be deleted from our database, and any paper records destroyed as required by legislation.
Looking forward to seeing you during the summer.
Mary Gallivan: Membership Secretary
The new electronic address is: www.sussexcricketmuseum.org
’THE LAST INNINGS – THE SUMMER OF 1939’
AN EVENING WITH CHRISTOPHER SANDFORD
CRICKET BOOK AUTHOR
WHEN? Saturday 15th June 7pm for 7.30pm
WHERE? The Dining Room in the Pavilion at the 1st Central County Ground, Hove.
HOW MUCH? Free for museum friends and patrons. £5 for guests.
MORE INFO: Christopher Sandford was a regular contributor to the Cricketer International in the in the eighties, he has written biographies of English cricket legends Godfrey Evans and Tom Graveney. His articles have appeared in the Times, Daily Telegraph and the Spectator among others. His latest book will be published soon. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to hear his views about it and have the opportunity to ask questions. There will be a cash bar on the day.
HOW TO BOOK: Contact Mary Gallivan, Museum Secretary at the above postal or e-mail address as soon as possible so we can ensure we cater for the correct numbers.
Produced by the volunteers of the Sussex Cricket Museum and Educational Trust