Sunday, May 08, 2022

ENJOY AN EVENING WITH SIR GEOFFREY BOYCOTT WHO BRIGG COMPANY BOSS ONCE DISMISSED IN A NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE MATCH


We anticipate many cricket fans living in the Brigg area being interested in attending an event featuring one of England's greatest post-war opening batsmen, Sir Geoffrey Boycott, who went on to become a top commentator on Test matches.
The forthcoming show brings back personal memories of when a businessman from Brigg dismissed the star opener in North Lincolnshire.
An Evening with Sir Geoffrey Boycott will be held at Scunthorpe's Baths Hall, Doncaster Road, on Thursday, May 12.
The venue tells us this event will see him offering forthright and honest views, hilarious anecdotes and personal film footage from an incredible career.
There will also be an opportunity for audience members to put their own questions to him.
Use this link to find out more about the evening and to book tickets...
We reported on Geoff's appearance for Yorkshire against Minor Counties North in a Benson & Hedges Cup match at the British Steel Corporation's Brumby Hall Ground, Scunthorpe, in the mid-1970s.
A decade later we did likewise when Outcasts Cricket Club staged an early season testimonial match for Geoff at its Hirst Priory Ground near Crowle, which Brigg Town will be visiting for a Lincolnshire League game later this season.
The Scunthorpe Telegraph photographer assigned to the Sunday fixture in April 1984 asked us to approach Geoff to pose for some pictures before the game began. He duly obliged and we asked a member of the opposing team to bowl a few balls at the Test star for the photographer's benefit.
The local player in question was Lincolnshire Minor Counties seamer Rick Burton, who was then managing at Ideal Transport on Brigg's Island Carr industrial estate.
An hour-or-so later, Rick dismissed Geoff in the match.
A request by Rick for an enlarged print of the ball which dismissed Geoffrey Boycott followed, and this was displayed in the transport boss's Brigg office.
While a regular in the Lincs line-up, Rick often provided lifts to Minor Counties games across the country while we were reporting for the Grimsby Telegraph and the Scunthorpe Telegraph.
He also accepted an invitation to present the trophies, as guest of honour, at a Brigg Town Cricket Club presentation evening held at the Sugar Factory Club on Scawby Road, Scawby Brook. Brigg Town were then playing first team games on the adjoining factory ground.
The last time we saw Rick to speak to was during a Christmas shopping visit to Thomas Bell's Country Store, off Bigby Road, Brigg.

PICTURED: Rick Burton in his Lincolnshire playing days and Sir Geoffrey Boycott - image credit - North Lincolnshire Council www.northlincs.gov.uk