Board Appointments following the 2019 Annual General Meeting
3 May 2019
Roger Cooke chaired his last meeting on behalf of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club at its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 30 April 2019. After 6 years as Chairman and 12 years on the Club’s Executive Board, he stepped down following a fond farewell from those members in attendance.
Roger is succeeded as Chairman by John Hollingdale MA (Oxon), FCA. John – who is Bristol born and bred - was originally appointed Honorary Treasurer of the Club at the 2016 Annual General Meeting. He is married with four grown up children (and nine grandchildren). He is a keen sports fan and a participator in tennis and golf. He is a lifelong supporter of the Club.
John was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School in Bristol and at Keble College, Oxford. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1975 with Deloitte Haskins+Sells and worked in the accountancy profession as a partner with Deloitte until 1988. John, who is entrepreneurial by nature, then ran his own successful accountancy business firm for many years. In 2005, John lead the management buyout of a significant engineering company, and started a new career as shareholder, Chairman and Finance Director of Space Engineering Services Limited, a national refrigeration company based in Bristol which is the leading provider of refrigeration services to the retail food sector in the UK. He continues in the role as non-executive Chairman. John is also the non-executive Chairman of Computerworld Group and Chairman of Jack and Jill Preschool in Bristol, a family owned business. He was also a qualified Arbitrator and carried out many appointments mainly solving disputes between accountants!
John has also been very active in supporting the local community throughout his career. He was Treasurer of the SSGB Trust for 12 years until 2016, a former Governor of Red Maids School and is currently a Governor of Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School, Bristol. He is also a Trustee of the Guild of Guardians Charitable Trust and a former President of the Dolphin Society, a major Bristol charity where he continues to be Treasurer.
Current Board Member, David Jones, assumes the role of Deputy Chairman. Having recently taken a sabbatical from Waitrose – where he worked for over 36 years – David will retire in September. He sits on the ECB Board for the new “Hundred” Tournament and is the Independent Member on Bracknell Forest Council's Governance and Audit Committee. He is on the Board of Kempton Park Racecourse and was previously the Chair of the Thames Valley Police Authority’s Standards Committee. David was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital and then University College London. He first visited the Club in the 1960s with his grandfather. He was elected to the Club’s Executive Board in April 2014.
Recently Co-opted Board Member, Rebecca Watkin BSc (Hons), ACA (ICAEW), who qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2014, will take over as the Club’s Honorary Treasurer. ‘Becky’ is currently the Chief Finance Officer of a multi-academy trust in Bristol; consisting of two special schools and two alternative provisions. She is responsible for all operational aspects of the Trust: finance, HR, IT and premises. She also utilises her skills in a voluntary capacity as treasurer of a number Girl guiding organisations.
In addition, the Board welcomes two newly elected members (following a membership ballot ahead of this year’s Annual General Meeting). John Nicholls and Matt Windows both join the Board for a 3-year term.
John first encountered Gloucestershire Cricket during a Sunday League game at Moreton-in-Marsh when he went specifically to see his boyhood hero Tony Greig. He became a Member of the Club in 1996 when he moved to Swindon and continued as a County Member whilst he pursued his retail career at Woolworths, IKEA, Boots (as an Area Manager) and at Superdrug (as Head of Store Operations).
When he moved to Cirencester in 2016, he retired from Sunday League Cricket and joined The Cotswold & North Wiltshire Region Committee, currently serving as Secretary. He is also a member of the Cheltenham Cricket Society and a season ticket holder at Gloucester Rugby. He plays golf badly in his spare time and has recently started to re-learn French.
Matt, who was born in Bristol and educated at Clifton College and Durham University, where he obtained a BA Honours degree in sociology, is probably best known as a Gloucestershire County Cricket Club player from 1992 - 2006 during which time he was an integral member in the Club’s success of the golden years as the "One Day Kings." He played over 170 First-Class matches for the Club along with honours at a higher level, representing England "A" on tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe. During his playing career, Matt qualified as an Investment Manager working for Rowan Dartington stockbrokers in his off seasons. During 2007, Matt joined Barclays Wealth Investment Management where he became a Director of the business, responsible for the management of client assets. In February 2017, Matt joined LGT Vestra to set up the Bristol Office where he has recently been made Partner having grown the office that currently manages in excess of £300m.
Matt is very much an understated sportsman having excelled in numerous sports, not least to the successes of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club; he is now heavily involved in the junior section of Chew Valley Rugby Club where he spends much of his Sunday mornings!
Finally, the Club is pleased to announce that Roger Gibbons has been elected as the Club’s President for 2019-2021 (succeeding Mrs Marie Journeaux). Stroud born and bred, Roger first watched Gloucestershire in 1950. He has been a Life Member of the Club since 1982.
His working career brought him back to Gloucestershire in 1977 when he served for a number of years on the former Stroud Regional Committee. He was a member of the Club’s Executive Board from 2013 to the 2016 Annual General Meeting at which he was elected a Vice-President of the Club. As part of his GCCC Board responsibilities he also served as a Director of the Gloucestershire Cricket Board which brought him into contact with the wider field of Gloucestershire recreational cricket.
Never a serious cricketer – he describes himself as an all-rounder who couldn’t bat, couldn’t bowl and couldn’t field - the highlight of his cricketing career was as a member of the National Provincial Bank (Bath Branches) Team that lost in the final of the Bath and District Evening Knockout Cup in 1968 at Lansdown Cricket Club where he batted at No.11 and fielded at third man at both ends.
Always interested in the history of the game in general, and Gloucestershire in particular, he is a Founder Trustee of the GCCC Heritage Trust, the Independent Registered Charity that looks after the Club Museum at the County Ground. This has given the opportunity for a number of appearances on local radio talking about the Club and its history. One such contribution at the time of the centenary of the death of WG Grace was included in a feature broadcast on national radio by the Test Match Special programme. For several years he has contributed articles in the Club Year Book on aspects of Club history and he is a frequent contributor to the Gloucestershire Exiles magazine, Outside Edge. His extensive knowledge of the Club’s history and former players means that he is regularly consulted and acknowledged in print by authors wanting detail on Gloucestershire cricket and cricketers.
The GCCC Executive Board from 30 April 2019 is:
Chairman John Hollingdale
Deputy Chairman David Jones
Chief Executive Will Brown
Honorary Treasurer Becky Watkin (co-opted)
Elected Executive Board David Mclauchlan
John Nicholls
David Partridge
Matt Windows
Chair of the GCB Kevin Langley
Co-opted Members Adrian Britton
Kathryn Davis
Steve Nelson
