75th anniversary celebrations

Is it really 75 years since a group of actors were having a drink at the Tavern at Lord’s and decided to form a club whereby funds raised would be for the benefit of young people who needed support? The Lord’s Taverners has come a long way since then. Through our cricket programmes, we now help almost 30,000 young people with a disability and from disadvantaged communities across the UK to be more self-confident and lead more independent lives.

Our 75th anniversary gives us the opportunity to celebrate our achievements. I have agreed to chair the Events Committee which includes fellow members Tracy Warrington (Chair of Regions), Dee Ryall (Chair of East Kent), Mike Bell (Chair of Surrey), Carol Robinson (former Lady Taverners Chair), Carole Garner (former Lady Taverners Chair), Ian Martin (Head of Disability at the ECB), Chris Goater (five-time Tavs marathon runner) and Haylee Fuller (key member of our London and Edinburgh marathon teams). We will be working closely with the events team to ensure that our 75th anniversary is a year to remember.

Some dates are already in the diary including our return to where it all started at Lord’s on Thursday 15 May with guest speakers and a social in the Tavern, which will follow our AGM earlier on the same day. We will have exclusive use of the Tavern so it really will be a walk down memory lane and a chance to catch up with old friends.

In the same year we celebrate 75 years, the Honourable Artillery Cricket Club in the City celebrate their 300th anniversary so we join them for a day of cricket and black tie dinner on Thursday 26 June and our Taverners XI returns to Bishop's Stortford CC, who were the first team we ever played against, on Sunday 13 July. Please SAVE THE DATES now.

There is much more planned for later in the year, some of which the central staff team have already advised you of. We look forward to seeing how our hard-working regional committees celebrate the milestone with their own events, which we will be sharing with you all. Tracy or another member of the committee will be in touch with regional committees regarding this. To keep up to date with the latest 75th anniversary event developments, please continually check our website here.

I hope you like what you have just read and will be keen to support our 75th anniversary events. If you have any questions or helpful suggestions, please email me at davidatrobinson@hotmail.com, or get in touch with the events team on events@lordstaverners.org.

Here’s to a great year.