Hornsey Cricket Club

Clubhouse, Tivoli Road, March 25th, 2011.

The cricket season is well and truly upon us and Hornsey celebrated with the annual club dinner at the Tivoli Road ground last Friday night.

Existing members of the club and a few new faces met for a fabulous three course Indian meal, provided by Isa and Bazil Bhanabhai, and speeches from Former England player and Middlesex Director of Cricket Angus Fraser, club President Chris Waite and an auction run by Ed Waite.

After the meal Chris Waite started proceedings with a brief recap of last season and then went on to introduce our guest speaker for the evening.

Many of you will be pleased to hear there was no Henry Olonga style bashing from Chris in his introduction of Mr Fraser and he was very complimentary about our guest.

The club was very honoured and lucky to get Fraser, who has played at the Tivoli Road ground on a number of occasions for

Stanmore and Middlesex Seconds, to speak at late notice and he provided great insight into the life of a former international cricketer.

From stories about his time in the England team to stories about his life after cricket and in the media, the fast bowler kept everyone entertained.

To finish club historian Jonathan Bruce put together a short question and answer session with Fraser and the questions came from some of the colts attending the dinner.

The evening’s entertainment was closed by an auction, organised and run by Ed Waite. In a fantastic effort by everyone present £550 was raised for the club.

Below is a list of all the lots and winners on the night:

One hours coaching with Sanjay Patel at Highgate School went for £62 to Jeremy Chataway.

A gourmet dinner for two cooked by club capatain Chetan Patel was bought for £42 by Eric Rivers.
   
One hours coaching from Paul Weekes at Highgate School raised £66 and was bout by Keith Michael.
 
Hire Martin Tucker for one hour as an odd job man was bout by Joe Bruce (aka Johnny Bruce) for £8.
       
An hours Royal Marine fitness session with Ed Waite was bought by Davina Rivers for £42.

Annie Waite has agreed to take the Bruce family to the airport for their holidat, so Johnny Bruce has donated £50 to the club.

An hour on the Merlin bowling machine with Paul Plumbly at Finchley was won by Johnny Bruce for £30.

A music lesson on any instrument of choice that Joel Gregory can play was bought by Johnny Marr for £20.
 
A singing lesson given by Oliver Yew was bought by Chetan Patel for £50.
 
A drum lesson from Hornsey’s very own rock star Graham Allen was bought for £60 by Johnny Bruce.

A Ice Skating masterclass from Phil Holbrook was bought by Julie Holbrook for £20.

A meal for two from professional chef and club member Blake Bowden was bought by Chris Waite for £100.

A huge thank you most go to Ed for his impressive handling of the auction, all the club members who donated lots and finally all those who parted with their cash.

That brought a close to the formal part of the evening  but in true Hornsey style the party continued long after the dinner had come to a close.

A big thank you must go to club captain Chetan Patel who spent many hours organising the event. It was a terrific way to get the season underway and now everyone can look forward to the cricket getting started in a few weeks time.