Thursday 31st March saw several of the Bedouin fraternity gather for the annual golf day, this time held at Sapey golf course and thanks and congratulations to John Davidson for not only organising the golf but the fantastic weather to go with it.

The first group teed-off on the Par 3 course (above) at 10.00am in glorious sunshine and it was Andy Schofield who scooped the prize after the 9 holes. A superb brunch followed at midday with the usual excellent fry-up before the first group of players were away on the 18 hole course around 12.45pm. There were the usual fun and games on the first tee to see who could get the ball away cleanly for their first drive. Some did, some didn’t. No names…

The sun continued to shine all afternoon and the course looked fantastic, particularly the Par 3 11th hole pictured top of page (did I tell you I parred that hole). There were the usual moments of hilarity – at one point I managed to hit the same tree, dead centre, on three consecutive shots, with the ball heading back behind me each time. Quality golf.

Left to right: John Davidson, Clive Betts, Mike Williams

Left to right: Mike George, Ian Armstrong, Adrian Susman, Richard Ferguson

Left to right: Lee Bywater, Paul Lippitt, Jon Stanier Snr, Jon Stanier Jnr.

Left to right: Phil Barnsley, Neill Smith, John Branch, Andy Schofield

Eventually all players made it back to the club house to gather for the prize giving. Four players finished with 32 Stableford points (all bandits if you ask me) but best front 9 went to John Davidson (recount please!); best back 9 John Stanier; John Branch was given the runners-up prize and the overall winner was Phil Barnsley (pictured below). All winners walked away with a bottle of wine. A great day and all for the princely sum of £20, what a great deal.

Our good friend, the doyen of Enville CC, David Thomas, is this year marking 50 years as secretary of Enville.  That club has rightly made a bit of a fuss of him, and of Dawn, at the club’s annual dinner in the pavilion.  Tribute was paid by another Enville stalwart, Jonathan Roe, and we reproduce here what he had to say on that occasion:

We are here tonight to celebrate the successes of Enville Cricket Club.

In 5 years’ time cricket will have been played on this ground for 200 years, my personal involvement goes back to around the winter of 1970 when Wilf Bullock invited me to nets at Edgecliffe.

There were various players Mike Morris, Aubrey Sproson, Dave Darlington, Bill Taylor, Peter Howe, The Farmer Brothers and Fred Hodges but I was introduced to an immaculately dressed individual white pumps not trainers that had been carefully meltonioned, cricket flannels with creases as straight as rail tracks a smart white shirt and a knitted slip over which just might give it away this was Mr Thomas or DT to Enville Cricket.

Even then I was mesmerised his turn out was immaculate “Bradman said if you aint a cricketer you can at least look like one”. Well I can assure DT was a good cricketer captaining the mid -week side, Vice-captain of the 1st X1 and then captain of the second X1, as well as a member of the famous Wrigley indoor league side.

He was an exponent of seam bowling and renowned for his line and length, i.e. not bowling both sides of the wicket and he bowled with a repeatable action that was as near perfect as any modern day coach might dream of. He was also a capable batsman.

David become Fixture Secretary in 1962 and General Secretary in 1966 and tonight marks the 50th club dinner that he has organised which is an achievement in itself.

Back to 1970 Enville had one youth side made up of local lads from Enville and Kinver, David threw himself in to Coaching and became an NCA coach. Throughout his time he has always supported youth cricket not only here at Enville but also in Secretarial post for The North Worcestershire Youth Competitions, the Norman Gifford and Peter Dudley Competitions. David planted a seed in 1970 which has now grown and the club has four competitive senior Saturday sides and plays age group cricket under 8s through to under 19 as well as Sunday and Mid-week X1s

His senior Cricket involvement outside of the club has seen him in office for the Worcestershire Cricket Association, Midlands Club Cricket conference, Worcestershire Border League and the Worcestershire County League were his tremendous attention to detail has set him apart from his peers.

David has worked particularly hard in successfully gaining grants for the club over this period for mowers, covers, sight screens and more recently the new changing rooms, equipment store and pavilion refurbishment that you can see tonight .

Remember a lot was done without A MOBILE PHONE text, e mail, twitter or face book and all the work was completed despite having a family and a full time job.

I use the word Village Cricket with affection and pride because this epitomises what cricket is all about, Daryl came from a village side to captain Worcestershire. Without these clubs we won’t have players at County or test level and the work that David has achieved is incredible.

In the last 20 years Enville have seen three 1st X1 captains that have come through their youth sections I am sure that Worcestershire’s Academy Coach and Daryl would settle for that in years to come. That is the strength of this club.

Village Cricket is fundamentally important in this location as it is in the rest of England but in Enville it creates the link between the Hall and the Village and David’s work as Chairman of the Athletic Social Club enables Enville to enjoy the experience of this beautiful setting and facility.

There was a time when it looked like Enville was a one man club and indeed as in a lot of clubs Cricket Boards have seen burn out to the detriment of some well-established sides. But in the words of Elliot Wilson David has surrounded himself with good people to enable this club to move forward and with the tremendous support of people like Frank Golding, John Branch, Paul Grainger, Sheila and Rob Miller, Fred Hodges and the members of this club this Enville story will continue to thrive well after the clubs 200th anniversary

Secretary, player, Scorer, Umpire, Groundsman, Coach, Cricket Supporter behind him his number one supporter Dawn who has been with him every step of this journey in making this club what it is today in cricket and putting Enville on the map.

Jonathan Roe

The eagerly awaited 2016 fixtures have been released. Bedouins will start their new campaign with two home fixtures in May against Kinlet and Oldswinford. The fixture with Alveley has been reinstated and we can all look forward to playing on their excellent ground in June. There will be another attempt to get the game with Oldbury Wells Old Boys on at the end of July, after last seasons unfortunate wash-out and hopefully we may soon have confirmation of a date for our trip up to Halifax in August for the tour match which always proves to be such good fun. Keep your eyes peeled here.

Finally, thanks to Mr Chairman who has again put in the hard miles to get all these fixtures sorted. It is harder than it looks! And with him being poorly as well. Get well soon…

News hot off the presses – Ross reports that he will miss the rest of nets and maybe the start of the season as he has managed to break his ankle. Ouch. There are reports (mainly from Ross himself) that the injury was due to a wine-related incident but there are no further details at this time. Whoever thought he was that refined? Anyway, I’m sure everybody will want to leave Ross a message to cheer him up, he’s already said he’s sure there will be a lot of sympathy out there for him. Cue Spratters…

Winter nets started on Thursday 11th February and it was the usual suspects that turned up. Six in all plus one who failed a late fitness test. There was a fair amount of creaking and groaning but the effort was there and plenty of ‘bants’.

All members should note that there is no nets next week (18th Feb) as the school is closed for half term. Hopefully when we return on Feb 25th we will see a few more faces.

There must have been something in the air, or the water, or the gravy over Christmas because two of the Bedouins squad popped the question to their respective girlfriends. Lee is now engaged to Claire and Austin to Deborah and of course the club extend hearty congratulations to all concerned. No news of any dates being set as yet. The backroom staff will be monitoring whether any of this has a detrimental effect on the sporting performance of Lee or Austin.

When this announcement was made at the Duck Supper, some of us might not have been paying as much attention as we should have been, so here it is again. Take note!

John Davidson has once again kindly organised a Golf Day for us. We will be returning to Sapey Golf Club on Thursday March 31st for nine holes of par three and 18 holes on the main course (for those of us who can still manage to get round the full 18 holes, having done nine holes in the morning), interrupted only by the arrival of a full English breakfast which, for most of us, is the undoubted highlight of the day. The cost will be the same as 12 months earlier, a remarkably competitive £20 per person for the golf and the food, to include a small margin for prizes. And at the end of it all, the organiser will walk away with the winner’s wine, no doubt.

We played at Sapey before – this happened.

All those Bedouins the club has an email address for, should now (in theory) automatically receive an email whenever there is new content to be seen on the website, whether it be News, Match Reports, or additions to the blog. If the system is working you should be reading this having had notification in your inbox. If it’s not working, I shan’t look a fool because you’ll all be none the wiser. We’ll see…

Hopefully this will save the Head of Comms having to concoct physically an email when there’s some news to tell, and you guys won’t have to keep checking to see what’s new. God, we’re so high tech these days.

If this works, perhaps someone could let Head of Comms know please?

Bedouins held their Duck Supper on Friday 27th November at The Cat, Enville and as usual it was a very jolly affair, although not without a hint of controversy. The quiz, provided for entertainment between courses, proved popular and was won by Andy and Jonathan Hill, although there was a Stewards Enquiry as the ladies table also took part unofficially and scored more than anybody else. It was the Hill’s that scooped the prizes though.

The Skipper

The food was excellent and afterwards there were the traditional seasons reports from Mr Chairman, The Skipper and Mr Treasurer. The Skipper’s report was somewhat unorthodox and ended up being more like a group discussion in an old people’s home with all players around the table being invited to discuss their current ailments. It was a kind of group therapy for old knackered cricketers. I think that we established that, come next season, we may only have one or two totally fit players.

Mr Chairman gives his report on the season

Mr Chairman reported that the club may well have a few extra fixtures next season, which is good news and he gave us a few of highlights from last seasons performances. He then presented the prizes for the winner of the bowling and batting averages for the season which this year turned out to be one and the same. Jon Stanier, our very own TV celebrity from Homes Under the Hammer was head and shoulders above everyone else in the averages (view the averages here), showing his pedigree from years gone by. He’s rumoured to be heading for the jungle next year to appear in “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!”

Mr Treasurer reported that the club is fine fettle financially, and as a result of that the club is investing in an extra supply of shirts and some new baggy caps, complete with club logo.

The final presentation of the night was for Bedouin of the Year which was won by the clever dick below. The trophy, for those that don’t know, was the idea of Bedouins legend John Warner who wanted something suitable to commemorate his late mother and recognises not necessarily, the best player over the season, but someone who epitomises the Bedouin spirit. And believe me, this Bedouin was full of spirit come the end of the night.

More photos from the evening are available here.