The Grannies celebrated their 50th Season in fine style with the cocktail party held at The Long Room and a weekend's cricket and celebration at Goodwood.
Over 200 Grannies, past and present plus wives and offspring attended the cocktail party at the home of cricket. The surroundings perfectly suited the occasion making it a memorable evening not least for the number of old faces who made the effort to attend.
On Friday 23rd June the Grannies gathered together in their finery at Goodwood Race Course hosted by Nigel and EA Draffan. Cricketers past and present enjoyed a great evening of drinking and losing money on the horses.
The evening was crowned by Grannies honorary vice president Sonia Pougatch presenting the prizes for the last race The Grannies 50th Celebration Stakes to winning jockey Ryan Moore, for the record the horse was called Waterside!
Saturday dawned a beautiful day in front of Goodwood House. The cricket was split into two 20/20 matches, older Grannies in the first and younger Grannies in the second with a long, very long, lunch interval in the middle. A number of cameo roles were played out including the first third generation Granny having a catch dropped off his bowling by his dad, but the crowning moment of the day was Creff bowling Neil Cranston. David Pettman, armed with glass and microphone made sure no-one forgot.
The weather continued into the evening which provided spectacular views for the champagne on the VIP terrace at the race course. The Grannies then settled into an evening of great food and wild dancing, stopping only to sing the Grannies Calypso and cut the huge birthday cake. When Nigel finally managed to stop the band playing everyone staggered to their beds in the small hours all having enjoyed a great evening in the company of a lot of old friends.
Many thanks must go, from all members of the Grannies, to Mike and Linda Rogers and Nigel and EA Draffan. Their immense efforts made the celebration of the Grannies' 50th Season such a great success. It serves as a reminder to us all of Mike Roger's devotion to the cause of everyone enjoying the friendship of Grannies cricket.
For those who would like to see the total collection of photos from the 50th Season go to Picasa at the following address:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thegrannies50
Will anyone with photographs that have not been included please contact Ed Gardiner Hill who will add them to the albums on the website.