We kicked off the 2025/6 season with a corker of a meeting.
Our speaker was Mr Stephen Chalke, the prolific and prize-winning author, oral historian and publisher, who last visited us in 2011 during our days in Hull, at the old Humberside Police Sports and Social Club.
Although based in Bath, Stephen has worked on and with many YCCC players over the years, including Bob Appleyard, Geoff Cope, George Hirst and Ken Taylor, and in his latest book, One Hell of a Life (the 2024 Wisden Book of the Year), he turns his attention to the great Brian Close.
After a welcome by Simon Foster and a brief intro from Maggie, we were off - and rapidly too.
Stephen is a fount of information and stories – many of them humorous, but some more sombre in character.
This is largely because his subject Brian Close is such an interesting and multi-faceted personality, including darker aspects that were not ignored.
Stephen was first drawn to Brian in 1963, at the age of just 15, watching the Yorkshireman at Lord’s facing the might of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith.
England were behind in the game, and in an effort to change things around, Brian bravely took the ball on the body rather than play rash wicket-losing shots.
In the course of writing so much, and interviewing so many cricketers, Stephen learned that everyone has a Brian Close story.
More than once he commented that Brian held no malice and always looked for the best in people.
Nonetheless he had a slightly childish sense of humour, which could sometimes cause him problems, as did his constant desire to win rather than settle for a draw, even if the odds were against him.
While Brian’s physical and mental courage was never in doubt, he found it hard to display his emotions. ‘Sympathy makes you soft’, he said.
But, in Stephen’s view, Brian was a very emotional man – still deeply distressed by his sacking as Yorkshire captain, even when reliving the events in interview so many years later.
In a playing career of almost 30 years, Brian found some cricketers easy to get on with but his relations with others were more problematic – including Fred Trueman.
And as an 18-year-old, taken on tour to Australia in 1949, he suffered from a stark difference in attitudes and conventions between the pre-war and post-war generations of England cricketers.
Brian was a reckless driver, a heavy smoker and a lifelong gambler but, for Stephen, Brian was also the greatest Yorkshire captain – both as an attacking player and a master tactician.
His record of four Championship titles in six years, with three on the trot in 1966, 1967 and 1968, stands comparison with the best.
Mark Heap thanked Stephen for a wonderful evening, and thanks too go to all our members and guests who so generously supported the raffle, which raised a total of £190.