Fostering the Fossils

John Reynolds of St John’s, Worcester remembers:

- John Reynolds

It all started in the winter of 1994/5 when I attended the Malvern Wells Cricket Club dinner. I Rod overheard a distant relative of mine, who was then in his 60s, talking about how league cricket had stopped older players from playing because the general feeling was "win at all costs". I asked him why he didn't start an over-50s team, then he could still play friendly matches. I didn't give it another thought until just before I left for home, two chaps came up to me and said they would play when I started an over-50s side.

I said I just thought it would be a good idea — not that I’d start it myself. The very next day, Les White, who had also been at the dinner, rang and said he would also play. A few days later, while walking up the Shambles in Worcester, another chap asked when I was going to start an over-50s team and I gave him the same answer. But, by this time, the seed was sown.

So, one morning, I told my wife, Margaret, I was going to form an older blokes’ team, but I couldn't think what to call it. Margaret's response was that because we were a lot of old fossils, why not call it the Fossils? The Fossils was born. My initial objective was to play one or two games a year, but this soon became six in the first year and rose to 50. We also had some excellent tours.