But some things never change...

YES, the weather was poor - as it has been on the five previous Coffee 'n' Cake mornings...

YES, we were again delighted to welcome about 150 people who came along for pre-play refreshments...

YES, the members of YCCSA again turned up trumps to produce a wide variety of cakes, buns and scones...

YES, our visitors fell upon these voraciously - but again there were still enough left over for a sell-off at lunchtime...

and, YES, once again Membership Secretary Joan Pickering and Committee colleague Veronica Denby revelled in adding names to the membership roll.

FROM THE KABIN

The 2013 Spring Newsletter has been available at the Kabin at Headingley for collection from April 29. Members - please collect your copy!

Here you will find details of the forthcoming presentations to players, the events organised for Scarborough, a lunch at Shepley, the day of celebration for Yorkshire’s 150th anniversary...and so much more..
 
Also at the Kabin, and on the K2 stall behind the East Stand at lunchtimes, are autographed copies of the presentation document to Anthony McGrath. These are priced at £1.
 
We must not forget Down the Decades, now in its fourth year! This eight-page publication relates the details and scorecards of matches between Yorkshire and their current County Championship opponents in the years 1953, 1963, 1973 and 1983. You can pick up a copy for a minimum donation of 50p.

PROMOTION CHEER

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Supporters’ Chairwoman Charlotte Evers welcomed Canon Max Wigley, Yorkshire County Cricket Club Chaplain, who was guest speaker at the Association’s post-season lunch when they celebrated Yorkshire’s return to Division 1 of the LV County Championship.

The celebrations of the 73 diners did not end there - a highly successful home season had been followed by recent progress in the Champions League T20 competition in South Africa.

The lunch was held for the first time on a Sunday – but it was not inappropriate to have as guest speaker Canon Wigley, who had in any case preached a sermon in Bradford that morning. Charlotte gave the apologies for absence of members who had been prevented by ill health from attending - Sheila Waterworth, Dennis Parkin, Brenda Smith and Derek Hawley.
 
The lunch showed a profit of £110, and diners’ generosity in the provision of raffle prizes and purchase of tickets realised a further £153 to be ploughed back into Yorkshire cricket. The members’ generosity extend to a run on Supporters’ Christmas cards before they went home.

The diners themselves are to be congratulated on their collective contribution to a grand get-together.

DINNER WITH BOYCOTT

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Yorkshire President Geoffrey Boycott congratulates Joan Pickering, who won the Supporters' Scarborough Dinner raffle prize to spend a day as his guest during the last match of the 2012 season at Headingley Carnegie.

Alan Frank, left, missed out as Joan shared her VIP day with stalwart Kabin colleague Veronica Denby. President Boycott was top-of-the-bill at the dinner - which this year was held at the Crescent Hotel on the Tuesday of Festival week, and once he and his wife, Rachael, had accepted the invitation the ticket sales soared.

The sellout dinner proved to be a huge success, and Geoffrey agreed after an excellent meal to a question-and-answer session. He delighted the diners with his typically honest and forthright replies to a wide range of questions.

A raffle for a day’s hospitality as Geoffrey’s guests at the Glamorgan match at Headingley Carnegie the following week which was won by Joan Pickering raised £162. The ordinary raffle raised £71, and Geoffrey’s prizes of tea in the marquee at Scarborough were won by Andrew Bosi and Sally Vaughan.

They succeeded by getting closest to the question Geoffrey asked himself: how many different opening partners did he have for England?

The answer was 16 - Fred Titmus, John Edrich, Bob Barber, Colin Milburn, Ken Barrington, Colin Cowdrey, Eric Russell, Brian Luckhurst, Graham Gooch, Derek Randall, Mike Brearley, Alan Butcher, Dennis Amiss, Wayne Larkins, Brian Rose and John Murray.

Greetings were sent from the diners to Association member Derek Hawley, who had entered hospital for surgery the previous week.

DAVID WARNER

BAND HIGHNOTE

There were rousing marches, rhythmic polkas and selections from well-known musicals in the end-of season concert delivered by Clifton and Lightcliffe Brass Band...and by the time we came to a medley of Glenn Miller numbers the members and guests were really swinging!

If we thought things could not get any better, how wrong we were - a stunning arrangement of Queens Bohemian Rhapsody left us awestruck...
 
Certainly a great night, and many were the plaudits for Committee member Clifford Gregg, who undertook all the administration of the event from start to finish.

WE MUST DO THIS AGAIN!

OUTGROUNDS LUNCH

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Our third annual Outgrounds Lunch was held on July 9 at Haxby, York - a venue secured by David Clark. Chairman Charlotte Evers asked for ideas on how the Association could contribute towards the celebration of Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s 150th anniversary next year, and this became the subject of much discussion over the meal.

There was much hilarity from the 25 present as impractical suggestions were laughed off…but there were one or two interesting ideas worthy of further examination.

A splendid lunch was followed by a raffle: it realised a profit of £30, and a further £7.50 left us with £37.50 for Association funds. The Chairman appealed for suggestions for a venue for 2013 - one was that we show the flag in the the Holme Valley area. Watch this space!

SCARBOROUGH QUIZ

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There was a sensation at the Supporters' Quiz Night and Supper in the Alexandra Bowl centre at Scarborough on the first evening of the LV Championship match against Leicestershire.

So fierce was the competition that it required a tie-break question before the team captained by John Harrison emerged as the winners, the probing questions on sport and general knowledge having been set by Ken Shaw and Chairwoman Charlotte Evers, who acted as MC.

There was a guest appearance in John’s team from well-known Yorkshire ground steward Malcolm Shaw, and others in the triumphant side included Alan Kaye, Gareth Makin, Peter Mann, Secretary Paul Chapman and a keen competitor known generally as “John of Rotherham.”

The event raised £120 for Association funds, and the Committee would like to thank all who gave prizes for the quiz and raffle.

All Association members and Yorkshire fans in general who watched the match deserve praise for so stoically withstanding four of the coldest consecutive days on which cricket can ever have been played - the temperature rarely, if ever, pushing its way past six degrees centigrade, accompanied all the while by a biting northerly wind.

The Yorkshire team are also to be congratulated on sticking to their task so admirably that they emerged winners over Leicestershire by an innings and 22 runs, their reward being to shoot into third place in the Division 2 table.

DAVID WARNER