Christmas comes early for Thame Town Cricket Club groundsman

CHARLIE Anderson, one of two groundsmen at Thame Town Cricket Cub (TTCC), took his new John Deere mower out for a spin for the first time recently.

Whilst club Cricket matches have been suspended until August at the earliest, the grass continues to grow and TTCC’s ground team have been hard at work keeping the square and ground in the pristine condition that we have all become accustomed to. 

Charlie, who turned 60 earlier this year was beside himself when the club’s management team announced that a new John Deere 7200A mower, which was sponsored by local business FAROL Ltd, would be entrusted to him to ‘cut the meadow’. 

Since the lockdown, Church Meadow has been frequented by many people taking a stroll, enjoying a picnic and exercising whilst enjoying the backdrop of St Mary’s Church and the club’s new pavilion. All of whom are likely to appreciate the hard work that goes into keeping the ground so well groomed. 

Whilst following strict government and ECB  (English Cricket Board) guidance, so far this season, the clubhouse has remained closed but the hard-standing and grass nets have been opened for playing members to use these facilities by themselves. The club is now looking to provide coach-led net sessions for members of the junior section, starting with under 15s from Tuesday, June, 30 . Plans and options are being discussed to see whether the club can also provide coach-led sessions to the other age groups from U13 down to All Stars age 5+. 

Matt Swain TTCC Chair said: “within the safe limits governed by the ECB and the volunteer resource we have available, the club is determined to get as much Cricket on as possible this season. Groups of five juniors can be coached by one coach at any given time but when you have up to 60 kids in an age group this requires a lot of coaches and careful planning. As always if you would like to help, we would love to hear from you.

“Thame Town CC would like to thank FAROL Ltd for their ongoing support and we look forward to welcoming them, together with all of our other sponsors, members and guests back to the clubhouse just as soon as we are able to…..watch this space!”

For more information about Thame Town Cricket Club, visit thamecricket.org.uk, facebook.com/thamecricketclub & twitter.com/thamecricket