Festival bowls over cricketers
DESPITE the rain hovering over the district last week the 2010 Golden Oldies Cricket Festival passed off successfully with hundreds of cricketers enjoying the event.
The week started with an opening ceremony and Parade of Nations through Masham Market Square on Sunday.
Over 800 players, family and friends then watched former Yorkshire and England captain Ray Illingworth welcome cricketers from around the globe to Yorkshire. Participants in the spectacular opening ceremony and Parade of Nations came from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as the unlikely cricketing countries of Japan, USA and Canada.
The participants, many of whom brought their wives and partners from across the world, were hugely impressed by the organisation of the festival.
Sir Thomas Ingilby, chairman of the festival, said: “It exceeded our wildest expectations.
“All the teams came up to me afterwards and almost unanimously said this was the best of the festivals they had taken part in.”
A full fixture schedule was played across 29 grounds around the Harrogate district – and Sir Thomas managed to get to 26 of them.
Sports reporter Andrew Groves and chief photographer Marcus Corazzi managed to catch some of the action between Ripley Knights Out and Brockfield Brumbies from Brisbane at Ripley CC.
Elsewhere Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams turned out for the England Lord’s Taverners against the Australian Lord’s Taverners at Newby Hall.
He played alongside former Yorkshire wicketkeeper Richard Blakey and Emmerdale actor Chris Chittell, best known for playing Eric Pollard in the long-running soap.
The festival closed with a feast at the Great Yorkshire Showground last Saturday - and organisers hope the successful week could be repeated in future years. The event also brought a boost to the local economy, with many players bringing their families to Yorkshire and enjoying the local attractions on free days.
Sir Thomas Ingilby added: “A lot of hard work has gone into this - it has taken us nearly four years to prepare.
“It was an amazing feat for an amateur village cricket league and I can’t think of any other league that would have achieved it.”
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Weather for Harrogate
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -7 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
