A Celebration of Cricket at Alresford
The famous broadcaster
and writer John Arlott
was remembered in style
on Sunday 21 June
as a plaque in his
memory was unveiled
on the exterior of
his former home in
East Street , Alresford,
in the presence of
the Mayor of Winchester.
Tim Arlott, son of
John Arlott, performed
the ceremony and gave
a short speech outside
their former family
home, now owned by
Mr & Mrs Ben Kelsey.
At the unveiling were a number of local people who remembered John in some connection, including Lord David Chidgey who had known John as the Chairman of the local Liberals Association. In his incredibly broad career, John had stood twice for Parliament as a Liberal candidate. Also present on Sunday were former friends and acquaintances of John from further afield, including representatives of a number of cricketing organisations who had helped to sponsor the event. The sponsors were The Alresford Society, the Cricket Society, the Hampshire Cricket Board, the Hampshire Cricket Society, the Hampshire Deli, New Alresford Town Council, the Thomas Lord and Grassroots grants. The event itself was organised by Alresford Town Partnership, with close co-operation from New Alresford Town Council.
%20and%20the%20Mayor%20of%20Winchester,%20Dominic%20Hiscock.JPG "Picture courtesy of and © Mo Farrell")
Speeches at lunch-time
were made by Dr.Nigel
Paterson and the Mayor.
Dr.Paterson, Chair
of Alresford Town Partnership,
gave a brief resumé of
the life of John Arlott.
He also told in brief
the distinguished history
of Alresford Cricket
Club, which had been
one of greatest cricket
clubs in the country
in the late 1700s.
Then in his speech,
the Mayor launched
a beautiful tourism
leaflet about Cricket
in Hampshire, which
can also be seen online
at www.cricketwinchester.co.uk.
It is anticipated that
the leaflet will provide
inspiration for many
a themed visit across
Hampshire both by local
people and by tourists.
A commemorative cake
was cut by Leo Harrison,
a great friend of John
Arlott and long-time
wicket-keeper for Hampshire.
Wouldn't it be a good thing if all the charities, volunteer groups and people who want to help each other all got together to work out how Alresford could be made better for everyone?
It would be great if they could draw in all the people and ideas from the surrounding villages too.
And if we could just join up all this local enthusiasm with what our various local councils want to do then we really might get somewhere.
Welcome to the website of the New Alresford Town Partnership, an organisation that's come together to do exactly that.
Because we're often not held back by the red tape that can affect others like the school or the parish council, we can draw in money that otherwise wouldn't be available to the Town. We can also join together with public bodies to help in bids for other money.
With politicians of all parties now apparently keen on the idea of making things more local, there are pots of money appearing all over the place that we can ask for as long as we can show the community wants what we are bidding for.
In fact, we've already done it. The new car park at Perins and recent improvements to local paths are the result of us working with others to make things happen in the Town. There's more on the way.
Alresford Town Partnership consists primarily of residents of the Alresford area bringing together the people and the organisations they belonging to in an endeavour to improve the town and the local environment. It has a Steering Group and three Working Groups: Housing, Parking and Youth.
It has the following Aims and Objectives:
- to identify, survey and respond to the current needs of the town and the neighbouring parishes
- to represent those needs and their possible solutions to others as appropriate
- to appoint and facilitate Working Groups concerned with specific local issues such as traffic, housing and youth
- to prepare and administer bids for project funding.