The 75th Anniversary of the Lynxes was celebrated on July 15th 2022 when a dinner at the school, organised by Gary Marshall, President of the Club, was attended by about 50 people, including Will Chuter (Headmaster), David Firminger and Alex Presnell (former Heads of P.E.) and Lynxes players from the late 1950s to the present day, with several being accompanied by their partners.

Gary welcomed all the attendees and mentioned that some notable people could not attend due to illness or other personal reasons, including the Guest of Honour, Robin Mayes (Fleet Street Exiles C.C.) Honey Barras and fellow Lynxes Richard Fisher, John Furminger, Roger Tapping, Philip Thompson and John Townsend,

Gary announced that Graeme Edmonds (Head Chef), who is leaving after 17 years in charge of catering for the school, would be presented with a new style Lynxes shirt, monogrammed with his initials to mark the gratitude of the club for his services to and the Lynxes. Gary then invited some members of the Lynxes club to speak.

Tim Spelling related how much enjoyment Lynxes cricket had given him over many years. He spoke of his willingness to devote some of his summer holidays to come back to Cranbrook to play a high standard of cricket amongst friends and enjoy the rivalry with regular opponents such as The Racqueteers. He invited more of the younger players to contribute to the Lynxes Memories section of the OCA website.

Jeremy Barham described how the club operated in its early years under the watchful eye of Frank “Joe” Evans and how, inspite of much change, the central purpose of the club remained the same. He thanked Gary, Owen and the current Committee for keeping the club going through the recent difficult years and urged younger players to add their support in the future.

Tim Barlow described some of his own special memories – his first game against the Old Suttonians; the off-field exploits of visiting members of The Racqueteers; and a very personal contest when he scored three successive boundaries off the bowling of the England player, Bob Woolmer. Tim’s description of each of these shots was cheered on by younger members of the audience.

Will Chuter, Headmaster and Lynxes player, said one of his aims would be to provide future Lynxes players. He confirmed that, under the guidance of Mike Parr (Master i/c cricket), the standard of junior cricket was improving rapidly and he was optimistic for the future of senior boys and girls. Among the latter, Maisie Wright is already representing Kent. Will confirmed that the school would be re-installing practice nets on Bigside and also has a long term project to develop a new cricket ground and pavilion on Cornwallis field.

Owen Dearn called on his contemporaries and others to support the club and said that he was determined to ensure that Lynxes cricket continued for many years to come. Then, in his closing words, Gary Marshall announced that the Lynxes would be donating £ 1,000 to the School’s project to relay the square on Bigside. A raffle raised further funds for the club.

OCs Attending:

Tom Allen (W 1986), Simon Anthonisz (R 1970), Jeremy Barham (C 1960), Tim Barlow (H 1965), James Barron (C 1991), Luca Bertoli-Mitchell (W 2012), Will Chuter (W 1996), Louis Cox, Owen Dearn (W 2012), Roger Eltringham (C 1957), George Gibbons (R 2012), Jake Hornsby (R 2010), Finn Hulbert (C 2014), Josh Humphreys (R 2014), Ian Klemen (H 1960), Tom Laver (2021), Nick Manser (R 2010), Gary Marshall (H 1977), Giles May (C 1991), Toby Mullins (R 1979), Toby Russell-Vick (A 2014), Joe Schindler (A 2012), Jeremy Senneck (H 1958), Peter Senneck (H 1958), Matt Simpson (A 2014), Tim Spelling (H 1972), John Taylor (A 1967), Hugo Youngman, (A 1983).