By Chairman, Cliff Gillott, 1987

The 1987 season must surely rank from a cricketing point of view as our best ever.

To win both the Britannic Championship and the NatWest Trophy speaks volumes for our cricketing ability, and whilst to narrowly miss out in the Refuge Assurance Sunday League was disappointing, we must try not to be too greedy!

It is, therefore, with pride that I congratulate our players on their fine performance – every man jack of them – Nottinghamshire can be justly proud of them!

Ken Taylor reports elsewhere in greater detail but I should like to take this opportunity of paying tribute to the sterling efforts of Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee for their dedicated service and magnificent personal contribution to our successes and near misses over the past decade.

No club could be blessed with finer overseas players. I salute their memory, wish them well in their future lives and they know there will always be a welcome for them at Trent Bridge.

There are no immediate substitutes available to replace Clive and  Richard, but we do still have many talented players who will be determined more than ever to show us what they are made of.

In the meantime we know we must consolidate, be patient and give Franklyn Stephenson ample opportunity to settle down after his long lay off from first-class cricket.

Others played their part in our cricketing success last summer – people like Ken Taylor, Ron Allsopp, John Cope and Mike Bore.

Ken Taylor’s shrewd influence had much to do with our success and I hope he will be around for a bit longer yet to guide us through the period of transition that lies ahead.

Ron Allsopp, whose groundsmanship is the envy of other counties, played his part. Not too many flat tracks are to be found at Trent bridge and which we feel that is as it should be because sterile draws and contrived finishes cannot surely be good for game.

John Cope and Mike Bore continue their ground work in cricket development and we are very proud of their achievement in the area of youth cricket. Mike, of course, has been called upon from time to time to resume his first call career and he has never let us down.

I am delighted that the Notts Cricket Association won their particular County Championship – in other words, a good year for Notts cricket all round! I am also pleased to say that our ties with the NCA continue and strengthen.

Finally, on matters of cricket, it was pleasing to see that the England selectors called up four of our players for this winter’s activities abroad. Bruce French, Tim Robinson and Chris Broad were expected to tour but to recall Eddie Hemmings was perhaps the nicest thing to have happened to a Notts player in years – well deserved too. (Well bowled Eddie!)

From the financial point of view, the year turned out better than was envisaged, mainly because of the receipt of bequests from the estates of the late Mr. and Mrs Hart and Harold Alcock – for which we are truly grateful.

I hope members do not mind my suggesting to them that they might care to remember the County Cricket Club in their will, whenever and wherever it is appropriate in their particular circumstances!

Last year’s income reached a record level. That reflects well on our hard working staff and here I would like to thank Brian Robson and everyone at Trent Bridge for this state of affairs.

David Seward’s marketing department did their stuff extremely well in a year devoid of a Test Match. Incidentally, I am sure you all join me in wishing David every success in his recent appointment of Secretary of Surrey.

Our expenditure again continued to rise, reflects our desire to maintain our cricket to a high standard and to keep our ground up to Test Match specifications.

It goes almost without saying that without sponsorship county cricket would die and we are grateful to all those kindpeople and organisations who are listed elsewhere in this report for their invaluable support.

This help ranges from the support we receive from the national sponsors, our main sponsor, Home Brewery, local authorities, companies small and large, as well as individuals – not forgetting our ladies section – all help is vital to the Club and we are grateful to them all.

As you know, we are celebrating the Club’s 150th anniversary next year, and we must not let the opportunity pass of celebrating significant milestone in such a way that we both enjoy ourselves and at the same time raise new money for ground development and youth cricket.

We need new money for ground development – we need to spend more of our resources on youth cricket. I would like to pay tribute to Bryan Ford – Chairman of Trent Bridge 150 – and Bob Holland, our Appeal Director, and Barbara Gibson, the Appeal Secretary, for their tremendous hard work in preparing for what I hope is a memorable year.

Before closing this report, may I thank my predecessor, Jim Ward, for his considerable contribution to our affairs during his Chairmanship, and to say how pleasing it is to be able to call on his wise counsel.

In conclusion, I must thank all members for your support in the past season and ask you please to continue into our 150th year, so that together we can ensure that the Club goes from strength to strength.