Dick had a dedicated 38 year playing career for North Midd and represented the club in every grade. After his retirement from playing, Dick then embarked on a stellar 15 year league umpiring career which topped off over half a century of active service to the club. Dick continues to be one of our most dedicated and loyal supporters, often making the trek to the most far flung grounds in all conditions to watch “his test team” play, even prioritising the Midd’s first team matches over watching the Ashes.

Dick was aptly born in the house opposite the entrance to North Midd on the corner of Park Road and Farrer road in 1940. Dick’s first living memory was as a 4 year old being marched up Park Road in the middle of the night to escape the German V1 “doodlebug” bombs which rained down over Hornsey in the 1944 “Baby Blitz”, otherwise known as Operation Steinbock. The bombing campaign killed 6,184 people, injured 17,981 and destroyed 18,000 homes. Who would have thought that 80 years later, the Midd would once again become a bombing range for young guns with such prophetic nicknames, Max “Bomber” Harris, Joe “Crackers” Cracknell and Hans “the Ambassador, Kaiser, Augustus” Hollman.

Aside from being a loyal player, Dick’s club service included many seasons as captain of the 3s and Sunday friendlies. Dick’s family also gave years of service to the club - his children Ian and Susan were dedicated scorers, working their way up the grades to score third, second and first team matches.

Dick was also instrumental in encouraging young talented players to the Midd. As third team and Sunday captain he recruited a young Keith Piper (Warwickshire CC), who was watching his cousin play at the Midd on Sunday. Dick handed Piper the keeping gloves for the first time in a Sunday friendly – Keith went on to become one of the finest wicketkeepers in England, carving out a very successful playing career for North Midd, Warwickshire CCC and was regarded by some to be unlucky not to play for England. Piper was batting with Brian Lara when he scored his world record 500 runs and in doing so became part of cricket history. If it wasn’t for Dick’s encouragement, this would never have happened!

Dick also captained a young Alex Hill whom he identified as a “very promising youngster”, and when pressed by reporters as to what stood out about Alex as a young man, Dick replied “well, there isn’t anything extra special I can think of to say about him”. A worthy endorsement indeed.

Club captains from across the generations lined up to pay tribute to one of the club’s longest serving and most popular members.

Former first team captain and Bertie Joel historian, Andy “The Reverend” Saunders described Dick as one of nature’s gentlemen, who has literally been a North Midd “life member” in every sense of the word. Andy has fond memories of Dick flying through the North Midd gates on his Honda 90 motorcycle with a trademark white helmet that made Dick look like he was “part of a motorcycle display team”.

Club legend Alex Hill had fond memories of playing with Dick as a teenager in the mid-nineties, particularly his buckle up pads, and Gunn & Moore blade held together with string and nails. Alex also paid tribute to Dick as an umpire who was always available for Sunday cup fixtures and always did a great job and made the Captain’s life much easier.
Former first XI Captain, overseas and underrated seam bowler Evan Flowers (12th on the all-time first team league wicket taker’s list for the Midd), described Dick as an inspiring and humble man unlike other former captains. “I derived huge motivation from Dick’s unwavering support, particularly in the lean years in Div 3 when we were staring down the barrel of dropping out of the MCCL altogether. Dick’s quiet commitment and support made it clear to me that representing North Midd (a club with a 145 year history) really meant something special and was worth fighting for on the field. To see Dick arrive at grounds as our only supporter with his backpack on a rainy day in Bessborough or Twickenham, or Teddington or made me feel extremely proud to represent his club.
Flowers described sharing the recent Premier League win with Dick on the boundary as “a special moment that I will always remember with huge fondness and great pride”.
Dick recalls the excitement of watching both of North Midd’s MCCL championship victories live at the ground – the first at Finchley in 1990 and the latest at Harrow St Marys in 2019. Dick described watching the first championship win on the Finchley boundary as the highlight of his Midd career – he also described the standard of the current Premiership side as being as good as he has seen in his time at the club.

Here is Dick joining in the celebrations after the Midd won the Premiership in 2019. He is seventh from the right between Jon Mundy and Millsy.

Also courtesy of Conrad Williams, the cover picture is again from the 2019 Premiership winning campaign. On this one Dick is sitting on the bench between Phil Flowers and Pete Hollman with two young guns also in the picture - Luke Hollman at the crease and Joe Cracknell behind.

When asked for his “all time” North Midd player, Dick nominated the late Mike Horne (father of former first team captain Steve Horne and Kevin Horne) as the best Midd batsman of his generation. He also rated Peter Hattrell very highly as a batsman from that era.
Dick’s playing career peaked in the days before the MCCL league was formed in 1972, when he opened the batting for the first team against the Northampton Exiles (based at Palmers Green obviously), scoring 39 runs. Dick described his first grade career as occasional but he was always happy to serve the club in any way he could. Dick’s quiet example, his commitment, humility and integrity are an inspiration to all members. We wish him a very happy birthday and look forward to many more Summer afternoons on the boundary with Dick cheering us on.

Congratulations and Thank You, Gentleman Dick!!

PS Here is a rather blurred photo of another winning Midd team at Lords with Dick standing second from the right next to Wozza (aka Warwick Ailes). This dates back to 2006/7 when we won an indoor competition at Lords with the prize being a game on the Nursery Ground against the Cross Arrows.