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         Richard Chester Junior Award    

At our recent Annual General Meeting (2007)  we were delighted to announce that the Club's Junior Award is now to be named in memory of Richard Chester following agreement from his family.

Richard was an extremely talented Cricketer for Southwell, and a player who were he still alive today would be at the forefront of our club.  His junior cricket was not played at Southwell as the club didn’t have a junior section at that time, but mainly with Paul Franks at Farnsfield, and in the Nottinghamshire Representative teams where the pair of them enjoyed plenty of wickets and runs.

My earliest memories of Richard were when he accompanied his father David to 2^nd XI games, and started to score for the team. There is a fantastic picture of Richard with the 2^nd XI with him kneeling along side the team with a broad smile that is sadly missed.  In 1992 I wrote in my diary that we were struggling for numbers but I could depend on Richard to bring his kit. I think he bought it to every game in the hope of someone not being available.  In the days prior to young bowlers having a restriction on the numbers of overs they could bowl, Richard bowled 15 overs against a strong Kimberley team on a very hot day. Not bad for a 13 year old!

In 1995 starting in the Clubs 2^nd XI Richard was quickly promoted to the 1^st XI, after he had taken 10 wickets in just 41 overs at an average of 18.2. This was an impressive haul in a strong bowing line up of Steve Wright, Steve Foster, Howard Wibberley and Andrew Crossland.  Richards picture( seen below) can be viewed both in the pavilion and on the Web.

Richard played his cricket with a smile on his face, with a determination to win, a desire to improve his game and most of all with passion. It is this reason that we as a club are delighted to name our Junior Award in his memory.

Stuart Grimley,  Chairman ,Southwell Cricket Club