‘The book is being produced under the auspices of John Tickell and written by John Morton (who also worked on the Warwickshire Ladies Centenary book). It has to be completed by November to be available for the beginning of the Centenary in March 2005.

‘They have spent months of research from papers such as the Birmingham Post, John (Tickell) working diligently with Graham Bradshaw using the microfiche at the Central library.

‘However, if Council members (and those reading this editorial) can go back to their clubs and see if there is any anecdotal information, perhaps from the ‘senior’ members of their clubs regarding the foundation of the Union, it would be most appreciated.

‘We especially need photos. The publishers are looking for around 60 (for the Centenary book) and at present we have approximately 40 so if you can contact your secretaries to see if your club can contribute.

‘The Centenary will start 100 years to the day from when the first meeting took place of Warwickshire Clubs at Olton Golf Club. It will be marked by a Cocktail Party.

‘There will be two Am-Ams, one in the North of the County and one in the South when clubs will send teams to play with one of the members of the County Squads. The Four-Ball Better-Ball competition will be held with clubs asked to nominate participants.

‘During the Centenary Season there will be matches including one against Worcestershire who celebrate their own Centenary starting on November of this year. Gloucestershire are also celebrating their own Centenary at the same time – apparently the first County match was against Gloucestershire.

‘We will finish with the County Dinner which for 2005 will be a much bigger affair. Normally we have around 200 people who come to Copt Heath each year to celebrate the achievements of the past season. After some searching we have now already found a venue which can cope with 350-400 people (or more). The date is already fixed and the venue will be the newly refurbished Motor Cycle Museum which is very central.’

Graham Hargreaves has been County Captain before. He will only be Captain for the centenary season and Gareth Jenkins (Kenilworth) has been appointed Vice Captain for the next two years, to take over from Graham in 2007.