THE memory of one of Devon cricket’s great characters won’t be forgotten thanks to the generosity of one of his friends.
Stuart Munday, who spent most of his playing career with Tavistock, devoted himself to supporting cricket and cricketers when he retired from Saturday afternoon league cricket.
When it came to telling cricket stories Munday was a great raconteur, who told tales of his encounters with some of the best-known names in the game. Stories about Munday and his ‘whole-hearted; approach to the game were regularly swapped over a drink in cricket pavilions by rivals.
One of the tributes paid to Munday when he died came from a rival who described him as ‘a talkative seam bowler who nagged away at batsmen!’ The double meaning was intentional!
Munday, who died in May 2017 aged 72, worked hard for the David Shepherd Cricket Trust as a fund-raiser and also sat on the Devon CCC committee from 2012 until his death.
At the time if his death he was the chairman of the Devon Cricket League, a post he assumed in 2013 when he stepped-up from vice-chairman to replace Joe Clowes.Other interests included the Lords’ Taverners cricket charity and the Devon Lions development programme for up-and-coming young cricketers looking to progress in the game.
Keith White, from the West Country jewellery company Michael Spiers, knew Munday well and supported a number of his projects over the years.
To keep Munday’s memory alive a trophy has been donated by Michael Spiers to honour a Devon CCC volunteer whose has made a significant contribution to the administration of the county club.
Neil Gamble, the chairman of Devon CCC, said the first holder of the trophy is someone who has raised thousands of pounds for charitable causes largely through the publication of an annual brochure promoting the county club and its achievements.
“The inaugural recipient is David Thorneley, whose major contributions to the county club have included the establishment, in 2016, of a highly regarded Devon CCC annual brochure,” said Gamble.
“David has also organised charitable fund raising of more than £4,000 for Sidmouth Hospice at Home, the Memory Cafe (dementia support) and the David Shepherd Cricket Trust.”
Jack Davey, the Devon CCC president, was a class-mate, team-mate and firm friend of Munday’s from the mid-1950s, when the two of them met at school in Tavistock. Davey presented the Stuart Munday Trophy to Thorneley on behalf of the county club during a meeting in Exeter.
Pictured either side of Devon president Jack Davey and recipient David Thorneley are (left to right): Dave Tall,
Roger Wensley, Gamble, Nigel Mountford and Tim Western
