Special day

Posted by Peter Davies

Cold and rainy at Illingworth St. Mary's for the Kevin Doherty Memorial Match. 'Kev', as he was known, was a very popular figure at Illingworth and, people said, he lived for his cricketing summers. There was a very good turnout for a match between Illingworth's 3rd XI and a Southowram-dominated visiting XI. The weather was poor but the game went ahead. In the pavilion there were spicy chips and some excellent flapjack. Martin Farrar, ex-Augustinians, was selling some of his cricketing prints and I purchased a rather fetching one of M.S.Dhoni - with a proportion of the takings going to a local charity. There were also visitors from Glodwick, Oldham. Dennis O'Keefe - who wrote his University of Huddersfield MA dissertation on ISM - was in attendance. This was a very good effort given he'd taken part in long run in Leeds in the morning! ISM officials Andrew Smith and Dorian Brooksby were in good cheer with the club celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and Andrew's new history of the club about to be published. Andrew's wife, Caroline - a senior ISM tea lady - was off-duty and enjoying the warmth of her car on the boundary's edge. Andrew said the church that ISM is connected to - Illingworth St. Mary's parish church - is set to close, but as a listed building will, whatever happens, always remain a focal point of the village.