
Thanks, coach: Jonathan umpiring while his the under-15 girls celebrate a wicket
All our junior coaches are heroes to us but this week we would like to salute the exceptional efforts of the man behind the success of our young girls’ sides, Jonathan Cirkel. Both his teams, made up of many of the same players, reached the finals of their Hertfordshire competitions on Sunday and the under-15s were duly crowned champions with a scampered bye off the last ball. Jonathan, who is also a girls’ coach for the county and runs our boys’ under-13 team with Richard Roomans, has built a formidable side, giving up countless evenings and weekend mornings to teach his young charges. He has had a tough time lately, mixing his coaching duties with running backwards and forwards to Ealing to help care for his elderly parents. In fact, we hosted the three girls finals on Sunday with great contributions in running the day by David Baird, Richard Roomans and Russell Haggar, and, most of all, by David’s wife who made a fabulous array of cakes and Nick English who stepped in to do the BBQ. Sadly, Jonathan with his daughter and girls team stalwart, Catherine, was at his father’s funeral so they couldn’t be there until the final drama unfolded. Our condolences … along with these, our heartfelt thanks … go to Jonathan.
Every week, the chairman salutes the member or supporter who has gone that extra mile to help make our wonderful club that little bit more wonderful. We’d like to offer him or her a holiday in the sun or the latest smartphone for their selflessness but instead they will have to make do with this small public pat on the back.