CEO message – October 2024

Hi all,

It’s a pleasure to be able to bring this latest update, and for those of you who haven’t seen or heard about some of the programme impact I’m about to share following this month’s activity, I think you’re about to read and see some incredible examples that highlight just why we do what we do.

Our Super 1s Awards evening, the annual event we deliver alongside our friends and partners at the Berkeley Foundation, celebrates the achievements and personal development of individuals engaged with the programme in the previous year. At the 2024 edition held at the Oval this month, we were able to share four stories in video form with all those attending the evening, each of which showcased the remarkable journeys each of our 2024 Inspire Award winners have been on since finding Super 1s. What each of this year’s winners achieved while overcoming the challenges they face really is remarkable.

Abdul, Hamza, Lucy and Imogen are all incredibly deserving Inspire Award winners.Congratulations to you all and thank you so much for being so open and sharing your stories, which not only enables us to highlight the impact our programmes have and raise awareness of our work, but also shines a light on the role models that are coming through the Super 1s programme and illustrating what young people with a disability can achieve. You can watch each of their stories and hear what their families, Development Officers and the participants themselves say about the impact Super 1s has had on their lives by clicking on their names in this paragraph.

Thank you to all of you as members and supporters, the Berkeley Foundation and ECB for enabling us to have this impact and create environments that see young people with a disability thrive and fulfil their potential through cricket.

We truly believe that our cricket programmes can play a vital role in ensuring that cricket becomes the UK’s most inclusive sport, so it was very encouraging to hear more about the ECB’s latest game wide action plan at their Inspiring Generations strategy launch hosted at Lord’s last week as they continue respond to the ICEC Report and continue to develop and grow the game ensuring more people can benefit from it than ever before.

There is a lot of work we still need to do as a cricket community to achieve this goal, but I strongly believe we’re on the right track and in conjunction with the ECB and our charity partners, we can reach more young people through the game than ever before in the coming years.

In working towards this target, we’ve been very fortunate to have been led by our current Chair of Trustees Tim Luckhurst over the previous four years. He’s overseen a period of very positive change for the charity but we’ll be very sorry to see his term come to an end in May 2025.

We’re currently in the process of recruiting our next Chair to take forward the brilliant work Tim has led, and our 75th anniversary year will be a great time to become Chair of the Lord’s Taverners.

If anyone reading this would be interested in the role you can find out more about it here and we’ll update all of our members once we have made an appointment next year.

Paying tribute

In more sombre news, I was sad to hear the news that former Treasurer and Chairman of the Northumberland and Durham region, Colin Basey passed away this month. Current Chair of the Region, Jamie Graham, has shared a few words he'd like me to include in this month's message:

"Colin was a true stalwart and committed supporter of the Northumberland and Durham Lord's Taverners. He has been involved in the charity since its inception in the region and was a prominent and active committee member up until a few years ago, acting as Chairman and Treasurer throughout his tenure. He had a fantastic passion for the charity and was always a strong advocate of the Lord's Taverners. A true cricket fan and proud family gentleman, he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time."

We'll be paying tribute to Colin at the upcoming Northumberland and Durham Christmas Lunch and we as a central team also send our condolences to all of Colin's friends and family at this sad time.

As we approach our 75th anniversary year, it was poignant that last month I attended the funeral of a person who has given so much to the Tavs over many of those first 75 years. Our former Chair of Trustees and longstanding, passionate Taverner, Richard Groom. 

When I first came into this role just over three years ago I first met Groomy, as he is so affectionately known, at a lunch with the former Chairs of Trustees. From that day on he regularly said that he wanted to give his time and advice to me. One of these times included over a lunch we had together in London in the summer of 2022 where he talked passionately about his love for the Taverners, his friends at the Tavs and the impact the charity and itsmembers has had through the years. This was very important to me as someone new to the charity, so that I could learn about, and better understand why, being a member and passionate supporter of the work the Taverners does was so important to those, like Richard, who have been committed for so long. 

Whilst obviously a very sad occasion, his funeral was a celebration of his life, and I was struck by how much he had achieved in that life where he was a great servant to charity and his local community. I attended the funeral with a number of equally committed Taverners including another former Chair John Ayling and his daughter, our former President Mike Gatting and Chair of the Surrey Taverners Mike Bell and his wife, who were all friends and admirers of Richard for many years. We all listened on as people, including Richard’s proud, loving family, talked about how much he did for them but also for many others and how respected, and recognised he was for the time and energy he gave to good causes and his local community.

Groomy will be sorely missed by many, and the Lord’s Taverners has lost a stalwart who played a very important part during our proud history. I’d like to say thank you Groomy for taking the time to welcome me into the Tavs and for helping me into my role. Rest in peace.

Best wishes,
Mark