As we have gathered at the club for the first games of the season, we have all been aware of the missing presence of a loyal and knowledgeable member of our club Ronnie Goldsmith who passed away earlier in the year.

Ron had been a playing member of the club, not only well remembered for his stylish shots but also for his humour and wisdom on the field.

Ex teammates remember him well and there was always some great reminiscing when they came together on the boundary edge in recent years or at the Annual Vice Presidents lunch.
Ron was proud of his Vice Presidents membership and was always one of the first to make an annual contribution to the club.

There was a good representation of the club within a packed Christleton Church for Ron’s service, where we heard a very moving tribute written by Ron’s wife Carol and their daughter Katie.
We heard about a packed life with such a positive influence on so many people, young and old.
Sport was a massive part of Ron’s life….Everton FC, Welsh rugby and Christleton, Barrow and Lancashire Cricket clubs.

Fellow Christleton, Lancashire and Wednesday Club member Nigel Campbell was a close friend of Ron.
” Ronnie was a top bloke . He was one of the most sociable people I have ever met.I loved watching him hit the off-drive and he was my favourite company when watching cricket…two good boozers together !
I will miss him on my forthcoming trip to Old Trafford, just as I missed him at Christleton on the first day of the season”.

Carol and Katie are very much in the thoughts of us at the club and will always be very welcome to join us in raising a glass to Ronnie.

Christleton Cricket Club is sad to announce the passing of our longstanding member Paul Evans.

Paul joined our club in the 1980s from neighbours County Officers C.C. The youthful seam bowler had turned into a steady and obdurate middle-order batsman. Paul loved to caress the ball through point and often chipped in with useful runs, regularly taking great delight in hitting the winning runs. He was a regular player at the club for many years, playing veterans’ cricket into his sixties.

Paul had a great memory for cricket and would often recall minute details of a match from long ago. He simply loved cricket. As a watcher he was the first person I knew with Sky TV in the days when dishes were square. As a player he simply played every match he could. There were no holidays during the cricket season but numerous trips with friends to watch cricket in far-flung outposts, journeys that were always remembered with great affection. Travelling to games was often done at startling speeds at Paul displayed another of his talents.

Paul’s contributions have been substantial both on and off the field. He was a committee member for over 20 years and was our league representative throughout that time. He was proud to be a vice-president of our club and he loved the reminiscence involved in a vice-presidents’ lunch.

Those who played alongside him will think kindly of Paul as a genial man with a total passion for the game that we all love. We will remember him fondly.

Paul’s funeral will be held at St Peter’s Church Plemstall (Mickle Trafford) at 1pm on 10^th January 2024.

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David Spencer

Christleton Cricket Club is saddened to announce the passing of Vice-President David Spencer at the age of 91.

Universally known as ‘Dave’, his funeral was held at Christleton Parish Church on Friday 5^th October.

Born in Hoole, Dave gave a lifetime of exemplary service to local businesses and community organisations.

A lifelong love of sport saw Dave playing football and cricket as a young man. In cricket, Dave was a stalwart wicker keeper/ batsman in a successful Hoole side. Our own club’s scorebooks reveal some of Dave’s qualities as a pugnacious batsman scoring a high percentage of his team’s runs. Dave is remembered for his safe hands behind the stumps. If the keeper is the heartbeat of the fielding side, it is easy to imagine Dave setting a determined example as he drove his colleagues on.

When Dave’s son Chris began to play for our club, Dave’s interest in local cricket was rekindled. There was a lot of family interest as Chris regularly took over 50 wickets and smashed it over square with the bat. When Chris relocated to Merseyside, Dave continued to be a keen supporter of our club, diligently carrying out a selection of valuable roles on matchdays. For many years we were proud to count Dave amongst our steadfast group of Vice-Presidents.

We will miss Dave not just for his commitment to the club but mainly because he was such a lovely man to spend time with.

Our deepest commiserations go out to Chris and the whole Spencer family at this sad time.

Everyone at Christleton CC was saddened to hear of the recent passing of our longstanding member John Noden.

John started playing at the club in 1974. At the time, the club was still in the Manchester Association and playing on the ‘old ground’.

The next few years saw tremendous change at the club with a move to a new ground and the recently formed Cheshire League. In those days, John was becoming an increasingly influential figure at the club, taking over as 2^nd XI Captain in 1977 and doing this job for 6 seasons. Players of that era remember John as a good and fair captain. He was one of a select group of cricketers anywhere to have taken 4 wickets in 4 balls. John was skipper of the 2^nd XI in 1981, one of the club’s most successful years, a year in which the numerous trophies won included the Aggregate Trophy, reflecting the all-round playing strength of the club at that time.

As well as his playing strengths, John was one of a small group of qualified umpires at the club whose certificates were proudly displayed for many years. It was rare to meet a qualified umpire in those days and so John; Dave and Gareth were ahead of the game and very useful reference points on the laws of the game when information was not as freely available as it is nowadays.

John became Chairman of the club in 1980, a role he held for 11 years. He is remembered as a decisive and forthright Chairman, steering the club with a reassuring calmness and efficiency throughout his lengthy tenure in this key role.

Having already given so much to the club, John then agreed to become Head Groundsman, a volunteer role that John committed himself to for 20 years. John’s pitches were always well prepared, his task made more difficult before the era of covers by a succession of wet summers and a ground prone to holding water in the middle of the square. Rudimentary mathematics suggests that John must have prepared over 500 pitches at the club, which is quite a feat.

However, when the members and friends of Christleton CC remember John, whether as a player, captain, chairman or groundsman, the overwhelming memory will be of a friendly and dedicated chap, a lovely man who gave a lifetime of service to our club.

In recent years, John’s visits to the ground became fewer as a result of heath issues. However, he remained a loyal Vice-President, always supporting the current incumbents of his roles in the club.

John Noden was a Life Member for over 20 years and a true lynchpin of the club. His contribution was massive. We will remember John and everything he did here. We send our respectful best wishes to John’s family and friends.

John’s funeral will take place on Friday 5^th May, 3.20pm at Chester Crematorium.

Membership fees for 2023 are now open for payment for members playing at intermediate and senior level. Online payment, preferred, can be made using the link below.

Junior membership and fees will be subject to a separate communication from the age specific coordinators.

Membership 2023