Dear all,
As many of you already know last week we had the terrible news that Alan Wright had passed away.
Since moving to the village just over 20 years ago Alan has been an integral part of the cricket club. On the field, he was a left handed opening bat who rarely got out and for many years was Captain of our Sunday and Midweek sides. Off the field, for the past 14 years he has been club groundsman as well as fixture secretary for senior matches since 2013.
During his tenure as groundsman the club has gone from running three teams to twelve teams. Without Alan’s commitment to make the best use of the space available, many of those playing today simply wouldn’t have got the opportunity to play cricket at our lovely ground. These efforts have also ensured the club’s membership is very healthy and without this there simply wouldn’t be a club.
For many he has been the face of Chippenham Cricket Club. Someone passionate about his cricket, keen to get the game on whatever the weather and always engaging and enthusiastic in the social scene that surrounds a game of cricket.
His impact though went well beyond the cricket club. He was very active in village life, running monthly quizzes at the pub, weekly French lessons for anyone who asked, playing a key role in shows put on by the village for the community and helping his neighbours out whenever asked.
Just after moving to Chippenham Alan retired from his job of many years as a French teacher at Newmarket Upper School. The positive impact he had as a teacher is evident by the amount of his ex pupils who enjoyed playing cricket with him and the many parents (who had been taught by him when they were children) of our junior members. When arriving at the ground with their children for the first time and seeing Alan they would quickly recall him from their school days and tell us what a great teacher he was.
Alan also spent many years as a key member of the Newmarket twinning committee, helping organise many trips to Maisons-Laffitte and making many friends on both sides of the channel in the process.
Those of you who knew Alan well will know his other great love was horse racing. In the time I knew him, this was the one thing that could, on occasions, take greater importance than cricket. I remember playing with him in a game and as the bowler was running in I could suddenly hear the sound of a racing commentary. I looked up to see Alan with his ear tucked to his phone listening to a race. The incredible thing was that he was wicket keeping at the time, was fully crouched down in wicket keeper position, still ready to take the ball with both hands and using the top of his shoulder to balance the phone against his ear!
Alan’s funeral will take place at West Suffolk Crematorium at 2pm on August 30th. Following this, the wake will take place at the Chippenham Cricket Ground. The family are very happy for all those who knew and loved Alan to attend the funeral service and the wake afterwards. As for the dress code, the family have said people should attend in whatever they feel comfortable and reflects their own personal feelings in how best to remember Alan.
In a wonderful gesture, the family has also asked for any donations that people may want to make in memory of Alan go to Chippenham Cricket Club.
Alan will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Over the coming weeks the cricket club will be finding a way to ensure that we permanently remember Alan and his contribution to the club is never forgotten. We owe him so much.
Darren Hughes
Chairman
Chippenham CC
Comment:
Name: Rick Shepperson
This is a fine tribute to a good man. In my dealings with Alan, both as a teammate at Pimpernel CC and an opponent at Chippenham CC, he was always competitive but courteous. We shared many lengthy batting partnerships at Pimpernel and several bat-and-ball duels after he had moved across the fields to Chippenham. He was a good conversationalist in and around the pavilion, and a convivial raconteur in the pub after a match. Yes, he loved horse racing and also enjoyed following the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur FC, I seem to recall. His twenty-or-so seasons of work and play at Chippenham were rightly much appreciated and his cheerful demeanour will be missed by all involved there. I am sure there will be more than a few former Pimpernel players present on the 30th, to pay their respects and share tales of Alan’s hamstrings and his questionable calling for runs when batting. The occasion will be a happier silver lining to the sad cloud that brought news of Alan’s premature departure. Rick Shepperson – Pimpernel CC (1989-2007)