After putting the side into bat Timsbury had the visitors rocking on 23-3 with all three wickets taken by Dave Filer. Opener Saqib was still there, however, and in partnership with Aslan mounted an impressive recovery act. They added 86 for the fourth wicket until they were both removed by spinner Jonathan Strand, Saqib one short of his half-century and Aslan for 56. At 118-5 Timsbury were right back in the game but then Raja took over and his knock of 60 took the Asians to a total that was always likely to prove a difficult ask. (3-31) and Filer (3-43) both returned respectable figures for the home side.

Timsbury looked to skipper Mark Sage to play another of the innings that have held the side together for much of the season but he fell for 29 just 12 runs short of his 1000 runs for the club this campaign and with Dave Pippett and Doug Storey going cheaply the home team were soon up against it. and Filer came and went and it was left to Hare and Greg Passingham (29) to keep Timsbury in touch. They added an important 76 but realistically the total was always just out of reach. A final total of 197-6 represented a more than decent effort but the strength of the Asians’ batting had proved crucial in amassing a score that was well over par in the conditions.

The Waldegrade Arms, Chewton Mendip sponsored the match. Scorecard

Timsbury 2 XI ended their league season with a disappointing 7 wicket defeat away to champions Bristol YMCA in the Globe Sports Bristol and District League 2 XI Senior Division. The side have generally enjoyed a good campaign finishing second behind the YMCA.

Batting first Timsbury were dismissed for just 125 in 39 overs. Adam Workman with 38 and Jack Williams (22) were the only batsmen to make significant contributions with Steer taking 4-35. An opening stand of 95 between Steven (48) and Spence (48 not out) then put the home side well on their way and despite an encouraging spell from Ellis Hancock (1-7 in 5 overs) and two late wickets from the golden arm of Paul Cracknell the home side cruised to victory.

Reports by Malcolm Tucker

Timsbury 3rds were at home to second placed Grendel knowing that a win would crown them as champions. However, Grendel won the toss and put the home side in on a track that was fairly damp from the recent rain.

Archer and Vowles opened the batting with the intent of getting the innings off to a quick start. This happened to a certain extent with Vowles hitting some big shots but both the Grendel opening bowlers were bowling a decent line and length. Wickets began to fall for the home side through a combination of good bowling and poor shot selection. It looked like Timsbury were going to struggle to reach 100 until Weaver and Brown put together a decent partnership. Both players looked to play attacking strokes with Brown in particular hitting some mighty blows. However, the home side were eventually bowled out for 129 with the family capturing six wickets for Grendel.

The home side were determined to defend the low score they had reached. They opened with Weaver and Brown hoping to put the Grendel batsmen under pressure from the off. This appeared to work as wickets began to tumble early on for the home team. The visiting batsmen were given little chance to settle as they faced some quality bowling from Timsbury. One or two batsmen looked to play some extravagant shots but were soon snuffed out with some good catches. The away side collapsed to 73 all out with C Morgan making a notable contribution of 18 not out. Weaver was again the outstanding bowler finishing with figures of 4 wickets for 11 runs off his 8 overs. Timsbury finished the game as deserved champions with a team of commited players who have enjoyed their cricket.

Timsbury 3rds would like to thank in particular Martin and Den Sage for the well prepared wickets throughout the season and also Tina and Darren Barnes for the teas.

Match sponsor: Timsbury Service Station Scorecard

Report by Nick Cleevely

pan>

The competition has been won by Mrs Ann Colbourne – see pictures in the Gallery below

The Conygre Hall reverberated to “The Birth of the Blues” with a classic 1920’s feeling to the evening. The band varied the programme with many original upbeat renditions including “Sadie Green”, ”The Vampire of New Orleans”, “Down on the Bamboo Isle” and “My Cuties Due at 222”. The latter was embellished with authentic train whistles. The blues was not forgotten with “Pedido St. Blues”and “Mecca Flats Blues” showing off a stylish duet between baritone sax and double bass.

On Friday August 27  “The Severn Jazzmen” will be playing at Conygre Hall with entrance £6 to include  full bar facilities and room to dance. Then a week later on Friday September 3 at the same venue by popular demand “The Veroneka Big Band” will lead  a 40’s dance night

For information and to reserve tickets ring Kate on 01761 471245  www.aandwpromotions.co.uk 

Report by Malcolm Tucker – Photo Michael Moon

Mr Miller was born in Southampton but spent much of his young life in Corsham where he attended the local Primary School and then went on to Chippenham Grammar School. When he left school he joined Harwell (Atomic Energy Research Establishment) on a physics/engineering student apprenticeship from 1953 to 1958. His first job with was Plessey Nucleonics for a year before signing up for the RAF for two years. He worked for Edwards High Vacuum from 1961 to 1964 and then joined British Aerospace or BAC as it was then in 1964. He spent 25 years there, working on various projects including unmanned planes (drones). This involved driving up to Larkhill, near Stonehenge to test fly planes. Mr Miller took early retirement from BAC and then got another job at Coates Electrographic, in Midsomer Norton, where he worked until his retirement.

Mr Miller belonged to several model flying clubs including The British Model Flying Association, Bath Spa Radio Control Society, Lords Hill Model Flying Club and The County Model Flying Club.  Building and flying scale model aeroplanes had been a passion for more than 40 years and as well as competing himself, he had been an international judge in Poland and Sweden.  Mr Miller played the clarinet and he belonged to the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain and was also a member of the Bob Reynolds New Society Jazz Band. His other great love was cycling and in recent years he graduated from a racing bike to a gentleman’s tourer.  One of his proudest achievements was cycling around France as a 16 year old schoolboy in a small group led by one of the schoolmasters.

Mr Miller is survived by his wife Jenny, children Liz, Ant and Alex and four grandchildren, Lily, Charlotte, Jack and Andrew. The funeral was at Haycombe Crematorium in Bath and in keeping with his wishes it was conducted by Civil Funeral Celebrant, Christine Khoo.

His daughter Liz said, “Dad was a great father and was totally dependable, loyal and fair. He was always ready with an anecdote or witty comment and will be very greatly missed by all his family and friends.”

Report by Malcolm Tucker – Photo by Rod Watts

The competition gives players at each level of the club from first team to youth a chance to come together in carefully selected teams.

The tournament well organised again by Greg Passingham and Ian Ettle comprised of six teams divided into two groups with the top two progressing into the semi-finals and the eventual final.  After nearly seven hours of competitive cricket it was Jonathan Strand in his first year with the club who led his side to victory defeating Nick Cleevely’s six in the final.  Strand was well supported by Passingham himself, Paul Cracknell, Gary Pearcy, Seb Burvill and George Sage.  Cracknell not unsurprisingly also won the individual trophy for the biggest six which was judged by club stalwart Roger Bird who did a sterling job umpiring for the entire tournament.

The event was again sponsored by Mike Clothier and Sons to whom the club are very grateful.

Report and Photo by Malcolm Tucker

For long periods of the match they had victory in their grasp but in the end were not good enough to achieve the victory that would have kept them in with a chance of promotion in a totally unpredictable league.

After winning the toss and inserting the visitors on a damp wicket Timsbury gained an early ascendancy through the bowling of Dave Filer, Neil Hucker and Ian Ettle. With 30 overs gone the Bristol side stood at 79-5 but for the second time this season Imran was to prove a thorn in the Timsbury side and his knock of 53 was to prove crucial.  A total of 159-9 was far more than had seemed likely and was always going to test the home batting line-up that for all its strength on paper has fired too many blanks this year.

The exception has been skipper Mark Sage who has enjoyed an exceptional season and once again he got his side off to a confident  start in partnership with Dave Pippett. The two put on 49 for the first wicket before Pippett who was just beginning to move along smoothly was desperately unlucky to be run out for 23.   Doug Storey then carried on where Pippett had left off and Timsbury passed the hundred mark with nine wickets in hand and seemingly on the way to a comfortable victory. Storey was then dismissed for 16 and when Sage followed soon after for 61 Timsbury collapsed.  Nadeem (5-24) and Saqib (3-38) reduced the home side to 128-9 with eight wickets falling for just 27 runs.  A merry tenth wicket stand between Steve Clothier and Ettle took the game into the last over but with 13 runs still needed Ettle succumbed to Imran off the first ball of the 45^th over . Scorecard

The game was sponsored by Farmborough Tyre Service.

Report by Malcolm Tucker

With most other London children being evacuated by their schools her offer was accepted and my wife and her older brother, with three cousins, came to live in Timsbury. They stayed until 1944, my wife was seven years old when she first came to the village and by the time she left she was eleven.

Her father was a seaman, and his rare visits were shared between his children, the New Inn (now the Guss & Crook) and the Seven Stars, where she vividly remembers the steps leading down into the pub. t was to the Seven Stars that we headed when first driving into the village for our week-end visit, it seemed a good place to start and we found the landlord to be very helpful in answering our questions.

We were also pleased to see that the steps are still there. Clearly, my wife’s memories are those of a child. he has often spoken about her life here but much of the surrounding detail is absent. Notwithstanding, her memories of St Mary’s Church are clear, the place was an integral part of her Sundays. She recalls the Reverend Rose, whom she saw as a rather fearsome figure.

Staying at the Old Malt House at Radford, we spent the next two days exploring the village and meeting some of its people. When I asked a man in the Co-op if he could give me the directions to Timsbury Bottom he began to tell me but then decided he would show me. Instructing me to follow him he then drove to our destination. I was convinced I had taken him completely out of his way in offering this act of kindness.

Once there I parked up in front of a gate opening into a field until a man asked me if I wanted to use his driveway. According to him if I did leave it there nothing would go through for days but if I did then something would turn up in about five minutes. This seemed to me to be a good example of Murphy’s Law and I gratefully accepted his kind offer.

A young lady, she told me her name was Roz, listened to my reasons for being there and told me to knock on Norma Herbert’s door. ‘She and her husband know a lot about Timsbury history’ she said. Rather nervously, my wife and I followed her instructions. Immediately invited inside, for the next hour we were the delighted recipients of information dealing with the way the place had changed during the 20th century and the history of its coal mining days, aided by old pictures and other memorabilia that Norma was producing at regular intervals.

By the time we left their home I was sure Mr Herbert had identified the place where grandmother’s cottage had stood, seventy years before and most likely a hundred years before that. Now all gone, with new homes in their place, as we had fully expected.

Standing in the square later that afternoon a young woman, presumably sensing that we were strangers, asked if she could help. She told us she lived at Oakhill House, on Maggs Hill. We talked for about 15 minutes and she mentioned a publication called The Timsbury Book.

When we arrived back at the Old Malt House the proprietor saw us drive in and brought a package to us. Inside the rather large envelope was a copy of The Timsbury Book and he explained that a lady had delivered it there that afternoon. There was a brief note inside from Jackie Pennick, in which she asked that we ‘pop it through her door’ when we had finished with it. Another kind gesture, for which we cannot thank her enough.

On Sunday, by the time we left St Mary’s Church after the 11 o’clock morning service we had the feeling that we knew everyone in there, many members of the congregation being interested in my wife’s story. Sitting in full view of the choir stalls she could imagine an image of her brother, in another age one of the choirboys.

She has always remembered her grandmother threatening him with the cane if he did not behave himself properly while he was there. We returned Jackie Pennick’s book just before leaving to drive home to Essex. The whole week end experience had been very moving, for me as well as for my wife, returning to a place she had not seen since 1944.

Back home again, we have the satisfaction and contentment of spending just a couple of days in what we now consider to be one of the most pleasant areas of England. But the abiding feelings arising from our short visit is in the way in which we were greeted, guided and accepted by so many of the village’s naturally decent and caring people.

It will be a long time before Timsbury is not the top subject of our family conversations.

Pearl & Robert Putt Essex

The visitors won the toss and asked Chew to bat, and they were soon rewarded with early wickets for Hare and Hucker. Hare then took a stunning caught-and-bowled to remove the dangerous Denning (24) and, at 47-3 from 15 overs, Chew needed to rebuild.

Tejas started this process and was ably supported by Thompson and then Mondair. The introduction of Filer into the attack brought excitement for the locals watching as he tried to outdo his former team-mates. With Tejas playing well for his 54 but no one else staying with him, Filer (3-41), Ettle (2-24) and Clothier (2-15) wrapped up the tail as Chew reached 164 all out.

Timsbury set off in usual style, racing to 40 in five overs before the introduction of Tejas and Thomas slowed the run-rate. Sage went for 34 to a poor shot and was immediately followed by Carter without scoring. Pippett, who had batted well for his 37, was then caught sweeping as wickets began to fall.

A crucial run out of Hare meant that Filer needed to bat well to see his new club home. He did not disappoint with 42. But having put Timsbury in the driving seat, he was bowled by Thompson, who also picked up Brinkworth with a shooter in the same over.

Anderton removed Passingham for 17 and Timsbury were 147-8 with three overs to go. Hucker took charge and calmly scored vital runs when the pressure built up with vital support from Clothier.

With plenty of vocal support from the home side, Hucker took matters to the last ball, requiring two runs for victory, having failed to hit the previous two deliveries. With careful precision, he danced down the wicket to play a safe reverse on-drive past the keeper for four runs. Hucker finished 14 not out, sparking excited scenes at the end of a closely-fought contest. Scorecard

Timsbury batted first on a challenging track at Clarence Park in Weston. Although, they lost the early wicket of Cleevely, Timsbury had a strong batting line-up that always looked like posting a big score.

The partnership of Sage and Cracknell was the one that really piled on the runs for Timsbury. Both players were scoring at more or less a run a ball, hitting the ball to all corners. Eventually, Sage was bowled for 57, his third half-century in a row. He was followed to the crease by Clothier and Nowell, who also played aggressively to maintain the run-rate.

The Weston fielders tried their utmost to stem the runs and took some good catches to capture Timsbury wickets. Cracknell was caught on 80 after an innings of powerful strokeplay but by this time the away side had already reached 200.

More runs followed, with O Weaver again proving a valuable asset in the lower order with 30, as Timsbury finished their innings on 280-9.

This was always going to be an uphill task for Weston and it was made even more difficult with the loss of J Lawrence early on. The Timsbury openers bowled well, with D Vowles taking two wickets in his first game of the season.

Although many of the Weston batsmen reached double-figures, no one looked like building a big score. The wickets continued to tumble to some excellent bowling from W Brown and J Moon, who claimed five wickets between them.

It looked like an early finish was on the cards and so it proved when Ben Curtis took the last two Weston wickets as the hosts were all out for 121 in the 24th over. Scorecard

But Moore, who has taken over a team which finished bottom of the Premier Division last season, has no illusions about the task ahead and insists a place in the top half of Division 1 would satisfy him this year.

“I am a great believer in team spirit and good discipline, so I was very impressed with the attitude of the players for our recent friendly win at Purnells,” he said. “I hope to see this continuing when we start our league campaign at Berrow on August 14.”

A number of last year’s squad have departed to pastures new but Moore has managed to keep key players Joe Sparey, Steve Baker and Craig Cerba. He also has high hopes for young players such as Jack Williams and Gary Pearcy who forced their way into the senior side at the close of the season.

Moore, who was manager of Clutton for the last three years, has brought a number of players with him from Warwick Fields including Luke Tucker, Nick Hinton, Rich Daly, Andy Coombs and highly-rated goalkeeper Ben Paisey. Matt Doughty and brother Craig are also returning to the club after a year away.