Message From Mike Coward

MORE CHALLENGES AHEAD

“There was a unifying sense of optimism when the founder members of the Lord’s Taverners Australia raised a glass to the future 29 years ago.

But none of us, I think, envisaged the exponential growth of the organisation which has been as startling as it has been gratifying.

For many years I have been closely involved with the work of the Taverners in Adelaide and Perth and I have attended special branch functions in Melbourne, Darwin and Hobart.

It is always pleasing to learn that the newest members of the extended family are flourishing and I’m delighted that the Northern New South Wales group is making impressive and rapid headway.

That energetic chairman Stan Gilchrist has enlisted the help of his son Adam as patron and cajoled Matthew of the Hayden Way to contribute to the website, will further lift the profile of the branch not only in the region but the length and breadth of the country . It is my good fortune to know well these two exceptional cricketers and I have no doubt they will be wholehearted and humble in their endeavours on behalf of the Taverners.

But as both these champions will attest it is often more demanding to maintain a standard than it is to establish it.

This is now the task before the northern NSW branch of the Lord’s Taverners and on the evidence before us the ever-growing membership will relish the challenge.

Best wishes,

Mike Coward (cricket writer, commentator and interviewer)