ENGLAND and Gloucestershire great Jack Russell will be helping Stroud kick start their 175th anniversary celebrations on Sunday.
The club’s most famous old boy is returning home for a special party which will include matches on adjoining pitches against the Gloucestershire Gipsies and a Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation Disability side.
The day will also mark the official launch of The Farmhill Years, a fascinating new history of the club written by member Richard Cox that includes a foreword from Jack who, 50 years after becoming a member of Stroud’s very first youth team, remains touchingly grateful for the chance to take the first steps on a cricketing journey that led to the highest echelons of the sport.
David Moore was the man who drove the formation of that junior side and, half a century later, it seems very fitting that he will be enjoying the 175th celebrations as both Stroud’s oldest current player and its longest serving president.
The 76-year-old had, in fact, joined the club 60 summers ago and has the distinction of being its leading scorer with a small matter of 17,370 runs under his belt from a remarkable 952 matches.
David is also 15th on the all-time bowling list with 496 wickets and would love nothing more than to take four more and reach the 500 landmark before the summer is over.
First, though, there are some finishing touches to be put on Sunday which will include a ceremonial raising of new club flags at either end of the pavilion, the presentation of awards plus the sale of tickets for a major fund-raising raffle.
There will also be a silent auction with items under the hammer including tickets for the England-India Test at Lord’s.
Dozens of photographs tracing Stroud’s rich history are being dusted off to complete a new display inside the clubhouse.
And it is hoped that a long list of former players will be in attendance as officials have worked tirelessly over the winter to track down members of yester year from Aberdeen to the United Arab Emirates.
Many, no doubt, will be making their first visit to Ryeford which has been Stroud’s impressive home since the move from Farmhill – referenced in the title of the new history – in 2010.
It’s a club in rude health, witnessed by the fact that it currently runs four open age Saturday sides, a ladies hard ball team along with All Stars for youngsters aged from five-to-eight, under 9s, 11s, 13s and 15s.
These junior sides remain vital to Stroud’s future with more than a hundred girls and boys playing cricket here each year while around a quarter of players in the Saturday league sides have graduated from the ranks.
Chair James Collins said: “There’s nothing better than being here on a Monday and seeing so many of our youth members running around on the two pitches.
“And on a Saturday, there’s a unique atmosphere when there are two senior games taking place, side by side … when one match finishes, people move across to the other to watch and encourage whoever is playing.”
The anniversary celebrations will get underway at around midday with the matches starting at 1pm.
Copies of The Farmhill Years, signed by both Richard Cox and Jack, will be on sale on Sunday, price £15, while it is also available through Amazon.
