Cap'n Matt

   This year the fixtures were all to be played away from home. The reason? After much delay, four brand-new grass strips were  laid up on the Recreation Ground at West End, the result of many years grafting on the fundraising front. Read more about it here.

   The playing season had a strange start - we turned up at Charing Cross with eleven men only to be met by two of their players - yes two - with three more on their way! We averaged out two teams for a knock around which both teams enjoyed, but as such it won't seriously count toward the averages. Click each entry on the list (right) for a summary and best performances.

   We had hoped for it to be a better year weather-wise than 2001. Although we were disappointed overall, most games went through without a hitch. The Tour (the video cover is pictured below) was great, as usual, and we won against Mount Hawke this year while basking in some nice, warm weather. Two Vice-Presidents accompanied us this year and by the end of the trip had already thrust a deposit for the 2003 tour down our throats! A full report on the 2002 tour is found here and some piccies can be found here.

   The two fundraising events during the early part of the season were very well supported. The raffle and treasure hunt were a large success, and thanks went to Howard and Adrian Lamberth for planning the route. This, along with the raffle (where prizes were generously given by Comet and Dominic) raised a grand total of £470. A big vote of thanks went to Basil - landlord at the Hare & Hounds - for letting us use his pub for a place to sell the tickets. For that, it as the least we could do to direct a £100 donation to his chosen charity, the premature baby unit at Frimley Park. Hopefully this will become an annual event and feel that competing teams may read the rules in far more detail next time!!!!! Also, many thanks go to Vickery's Estate Agents in Gosden Road West End for their generous sponsorship which started this season.

   The race night has always been a fun evening and this year was no exception. Hosted by Adrian "Bertie" Lambeth, who excelled as his first time as comperé for the evening. Over 70 people turned up to support the night and from the noise levels at the end of the evening, we felt almost everyone must have had a very enjoyable evening. Personal thanks went to Tracey, Kareen, Sally, Muriel & Richard for their assistance with the food, along with the team members who looked after the cash, calculations & payouts. We raised £1,300 and were able to hand a cheque to John Quinn for £500 as a donation to the Woking Hospice. The evening would be extremely difficult to organise without race sponsors and we would like to thank the following for this:

   The players "End-Of-Season" dinner, appropriately at the Cricketers in Horsell (pictured right) was enjoyed by all present. A few members were sadly not able to make it due to a variety of reasons - new member Lou West couldn't come because of illness and Tim had to be excused halfway through the meal, both of which were unfortunate. The trophies were dished out accordingly; Cap'n Matt won the batting in his last season as Captain by a clear margin. It must be noted though that Tim, had he played a few more games to qualify, could have ambushed him. Although competition for the bowling was a little closer, Howard "Beefy" Turner still led the pack on that one. As the Improvers award proved difficult to attribute to any individuals' performance, so the Captain and Vice-Captain decided to leave that one for next year. The legendary "You're Shit - AARRGGHHH!" for the worst over went to Kevin Cheeseman for his over on tour - a mere 22. You can watch a little video of the offending six deliveries here. "Players' Player" went to one of the "veterans" of the club Adie Barrett, based on his all-round performance. Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

   Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief at the season's end, we also spare a thought for the end of an era. Alan Hull's hard work brought along the artificial strip some twenty years ago, which helped see WECC through what turned out to be some lean years for other clubs. Alan's example helped inspire the club to reach for a seemingly impossible goal of new grass strips which were laid at the start of this season and heralds a brand-new era for West End Cricket Club.

   Also, while this season was in progress the Archaeology angle was being well served by the Vice Captain Howard Turner. He spent a fair bit of the previous couple of years trawling various archives and resources for historical information about West End Cricket Club. Despite the fact that as a relatively minor village in the Surrey-wide scheme of things West End garners less coverage than Chobham (let alone Woking or Guildford) he'd managed to uncover documents from long-gone incarnations of the club as well as occasional newspaper reports and articles. Piece by piece, the club hopes to collate a general overview of the history of WECC.For that matter, if you have any info that you think would be useful or memories - anything at all - please email us at westendcc@yahoo.com and you may even get a mention!

With thanks to Jason Stephens and Howard Turner.

westendcc@yahoo.com

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