HARRY'S DREAM REALISED

PICTURES KINDLY SUPPLIED BY ANN BOULTON






Former Lincolnshire Minor Counties skipper Harry Pougher received our county's Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by fellow ex-county captain and Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire player, Mark Fell.
Harry was also presented with the coveted Wilkinson Sword, won by his club, Lindum CC (Lincoln).
Former England skipper Mike Atherton - coached by Harry in his youth - sent a tribute, and Harry - and wife Steph - are seen with the warm message, which has been framed for them.

Below is the citation put forward by Lindum:

Harry Pougher was born in Scunthorpe on February 1, 1941. I worked in Scunthorpe in the late 1950s and can recall first hearing about Harry when reading about him scoring a lot of runs playing for Appleby-Frodingham whilst still at Scunthorpe Grammar school. One of his mentors at Appleby Frodingham was the late Jack Todd. Harry made his debut for Lincolnshire County CC, at age 18, in 1959. His last game for Lincs was in 1988. Harry was also a good footballer and played for Ashby Institute - at that time Scunthorpe's top football team. Harry went to Carnegie teachers' training college (which specialised in PE) and got a job at a school in the Isle of Axholme.
When Harry got a job as head of PE at the Robert Pattinson school in Hykeham he and Steph moved to Lincoln, where he played his cricket with Ruston Bucyrus. But when the firm folded in the late 1980s the cricket club went out of existence and Harry started his connection with the Lindum, where he played - as skipper - until 1990. Somewhat surprisingly, Harry never played for Lincolnshire's Over-50 side after he turned 50; indeed he never played any cricket at all after reaching this age. Instead, he devoted his energies to developing junior cricket, particularly at the Lindum, where he has been the chairman for the last 20 years. His devotion to this has resulted in the Lindum now fielding ten sides in the league, with spectacular success last season when all three county cups were won by Lindum sides and the Under 13s reached the national finals of the Ken Barrington Cup competition. Harry was instrumental in the Lindum achieving ECB Clubmark status, which in turn has attracted grant aid for a number of projects.
Harry became a top coach, one of the few non-professionals to coach at top level. He received an award for this at a ceremony at Trent Bridge a couple of seasons ago. Future England captain Mike Atherton was one of the youngsters he coached - and Mike remembered him during the award ceremony. Harry also ran coaching sessions to benefit local youngsters. Harry was also active as the chair of Lincolnshire Cricket Association for many years.