The Gloucestershire Cricket Board is proud to announce the winners of the GCB OSCAs 2011. Each individual has been recognised for the hard work and dedication in a particular area within cricket. We have 7 County winners who all have been rewarded with an invitation to the ECB National OSCAs Event at Lords on the Monday 17th October.  Two of the below individuals have also been shortlisted Nationally and are in the running for the National Award for their respective category, which will be presented at Lords on the 17th October. Please see below the category GCB OSCA Winners:

Behind the Scenes: Paul Rowley

Paul has been an integral part of Lechlade CC for several decades. As a player he came through the youth ranks to firstly play friendly and latterly league cricket. As Captain of the 1^st XI hewas instrumental in raising the standard of players recruited and retained by the Club which in turn has lead to Lechlade CC being near or at the top of the Wilts Div 1 over the last 3-4 seasons. However it is true to say that off the pitch Paul is the drivingforce behind many of the key initiatives that the Club has undertaken over thelast few years and have on their radar for the next decade or so! These include fund raising events which have raised approx £30k inthe last 5 years via three dinners with guest speakers including Sir Gary Sobers, Allan Lamb and Nasser Hussein. In June this year we hosted a SummerBall to celebrate 125 years of the club. Looking forward Paul is now turning his attention to new nets anda new pavilion, ensuring that he leaves a cricket legacy, and the community hasa strong local club at its heart. Paul is tenacious in everything he does and it is absolutely the case to say that if it wasn’t for Paul Lechlade CC would not be the thriving club that it is today.

Building Partnerships: Chris Germiane

Chris Germaine is being nominated for a number of reasons around building partnerships for Gloucestershire Cricket Board and his large amount of voluntary work he carries out in various aspects of grassroots cricket. First of all Chris is the current Chairman of the Cricket Boards Schools and Community Development Group – who are responsible for the co-ordination and planning of all community and school delivery across the County. For example the group oversees ASDA Schools Kwik Cricket and ECB Young Leaders award (planning of delivery). Chris is a very active Chairman of this development group and Kwik Cricket was one thing which has been a priority for the last two years, as Chris along with the cricket board want to continue to make the festivals bigger and better. This was not just a coincidence, this was a direct result of Chris’s work with the development ground to improve and build important partnerships with Competition Managers and School Sports Partnerships.   Also recently Chris has also managed to get the County Sports Partnership on board and attending the meeting to help the Board put together plans to deliver the new Sport England targets of increasing adult participation.

Along leading this group for the County superbly Chris also continues to do the work on the ground level, as he is also the driving force behind Newent Cricket Club. He is not only doing an outstanding job on the development of the club at all levels (junior cricket, club development, and fundraising) he is also the groundsman. Again Chris continually puts in his time to build local partnerships to ensure that club strives to improve.

CricketForce: Andrew Marson

Hatherley & Reddings is a wonderful example of a large club that is grounded in, and focused on, its community. Andy has totally bought into the CricketForce concept and his energy, enthusiam and organisational skills mobilise the club. He also understands the PR benefits of NWCF and capitalises on the visits of GCCC players.

As a large club that has very good facilities it would be easy to do very little but Andrew works very hard year on year to ensure that the club comes together for CricketForce weekend. Sometimes it is not just about changing the appearance of the club but instead about bringing people together. 

Leagues and Boards: Ken Booker

An accomplished cricketer in his own right Ken's life has been totally devoted to cricket particularly in helping young Cricketers in Gloucestershire . From the year 2000 to 2010 he ran the Under 11 Divisional cricket festival at King's School Gloucester and now continues to support it as an umpire .

More than that , however , he was a mainstay of County Youth Cricket for almost 40 years. He started as a county cricket coach and manager in 1970 being involved with all teams from Under 11 to Under 16 years old . It became his life's work with total commitment to all the boys involved to the extent that from year to year they always knew that “Mr.Booker” would be there for them. He saw it as a natural progression for them for him to be there and he carried out his duties until 2007 – a labour of love for 37 years.  There are now literally hundreds of young men – and older – in the county who are truly thankful to Ken for his work , which was carried out in a very gentlemanly fashion showing respect to the boys and teaching them the disciplines and techniques of cricket which are so much part of their lives in general today .  He joined Kingsholm Cricket Club in 1950 and never played representative cricket for anyone else . He has been Club President for many years and is still a source of great inspiration to all club members , both young and old . Thanks to his continual support the Club is now thriving and coaches up to 60 young members from 11 to 16 to such success that the club has been awarded “Club Mark” which enabled the club to build a new pavilion . He stands outside it now and says “Oh to be 15 again!! “  We have many in our club who passed through Ken's hands and they are superbly adjusted for cricket and life in general . His contribution to cricket is immense because he knows only too well how it can help kids grow up and enjoy life .  

Lifetime Achiever: David Parry-Jones

David was a cricketer of some note: he played 4 seasons for Welsh Schools and also for Glamorgan 2^nd X1. When he took a teaching appointment at Patchway High School, Bristol, in 1971, he joined Almondsbury CC and quickly established himself as one of the most prolific run scorers in the Bristol and District League.  He has now given 40 years of service to the club and to local cricket. He captained the 1^st X1 for 10 years and has been club secretary for 30 years. He also ensures everything is in place for our 3 league teams to play and he has organised tours, dinners, raised sponsorship and dealt with Local Authorities.

After retiring from the game, David became the club umpire and after 20 years of umpiring, he is now on the West of England Premier League Panel, umpiring the top games in the region. He also umpires school matches. He is a qualified coach and ran the club youth section for 5 years. He is now devoting a great deal of time, producing a book to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Almondsbury CC,  In conclusion, he has spent a lifetime in the service of our wonderful game and we believe is fully deserving of an OSCA.

Young Volunteer 16-14yrs:  Charlotte Pretty

Charlotte is a young cricketer who is also an invaluable volunteer at Cam CC.   Charlotte has been volunteering in our U7 and U9 junior sections, both girls and boys, for the past few seasons but recently took up the opportunity to become a cricket Young Leader in March and this has enabled her to feel more confident and take on more responsibility within the group settings.  She works tirelessly for the club most evenings and weekends with our younger members coaching, running games or scoring – she can turn her hand to all of these at the drop of a hat and is extremely confident and efficient
in doing so. Charlotte has often managed and scored for a team in U9s festivals all morning and then gone on to play 35 overs of cricket herself in the afternoon.  From a coach’s point of view, Charlotte is a delight to have around and working with children. She always brings her bubbly and enthusiastic personality with her, making every session fun and exciting for the children. She is a fantastic example to others and has already logged over 60 volunteer hours since her award in March.

Officials:  Geoffrey Trett

Geoff Trett is a person totally committed to sport, all the moreremarkable as he never played either of his passions, cricket and football. Hehas been a lifelong scorer, starting at school at Buckhurst Hill, and then scoring for Woodford Wells CC, near his then home in Essex.  In 1977 he moved to Cheltenham, commencing his career at GCHQ. He joined Hatherley and Reddings CC and was appointed as their 1^st X1 scorer. He quickly became involved in every aspect of club business and for 5 years was Chairman of the club.

During this time, he was also involved with Cheltenham Civil Service Sports Club and, for many years, ran the line for Cheltenham Civil Service FC. By 2005, he had ambitions to further his scoring career and moved to Cheltenham CC, then playing in the Western League, the top flight of club cricket and with many strong connections to Gloucestershire CCC. To this day, he is still the 1^st X1 scorer and it is no surprise that on a Saturday evening, the full Cheltenham scorecard is very often the first to appear on Play Cricket and is supported by a match report, written by Geoff.

He also scores regularly for the Gloucestershire Age Group teams, the Gloucestershire Gypsies and in the Cheltenham Indoor Cricket League.  A member of the Gloucestershire Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (GACUS), Geoff has recently been appointed as the Scorers Representative to the Gloucestershire Association of Cricket Officials (GACO). He has also recently been appointed by the ECB as the National Scorers Administration Officer. In 2009 he was voted as Gloucestershire Scorer of the Year and we fully believe that he is deserving of further recognition.