LETTER: Sad to see chairman of Burnley Cricket Club stand down

One of my schoolboy recollections is helping Ellis Achong, an amiable Trinidadian and Burnley’s first post-war professional, to carry his gear uphill from Seedhill to Nelson centre where he queued with the rest of us for a bus.

For many years now I have been the only patron subscriber to both Burnley and Lowerhouse.

It is against that background I reacted with dismay and acute disappointment when I learned John Stubbs had recently decided to stand down after four years as chairman of Burnley Cricket Club.

John has worked tirelessly and effectively to improve the club’s fortunes and brought to bear his valuable experience, as a successful businessman with excellent local contacts, in filling with distinction a managerial vacuum that had existed for far too long at the club.

What makes John’s departure all the more regrettable is, of course, the need to ensure a successful cricket outcome to the negotiations and planning involved in responding to the aspirations of Burnley Football Club to acquire the cricket ground site.

John has always insisted the minimum requirement for a deal would have to be a state-of-the-art cricket facility with excellent social provision in an accessible central location, backed by legal and financial arrangements that would help to ensure long-term stability for the cricket club.

The potential availability of the old Towneley School site would appear to offer the prospect of an arrangement beneficial to both clubs and to the town.

I know some, though by no means all, of the older cricket club members are strongly opposed to any relocation, however favourable the terms.

It would be unfair to simply label them as backwoodsmen, but it is surely fair to ask what they have in mind instead as a long-term solution to the club’s debt problems and the chronic decay of its buildings.

A good man, who deserved better support, has gone. Thanks John for your time, unstinting effort and undoubtedly good intentions.

MR HARRY BROOKS

Lower Langtree Farm

Standish