All involved with Strathmore Cricket Club over the years will be saddened by the news of the passing of the club’s Honorary President George Peters at the age of 92.
George died suddenly at his home in Old Halkerton Road in the town late on Saturday evening.
Although he had a ‘good innings’ as they say, his death has still come as a shock to his family and his many friends in the town as he had been reasonably active in recent weeks and a familiar figure downtown.
In fact he had been ‘chewing the cricketing fat’ in his home only 48 hours before his untimely death with former colleagues Gavin McKiddie, Walter Lee and brother in law Neil Prophet.
Amazingly his passing came just eight days after that of his life time friend Burge Craik also a member of Strathmore for many a year and in fact prior to Burge’s funeral service.
George was a Forfarian to the core having attended Forfar Academy as a pupil, returning as a teacher in 1953 following National Service and furthering his education as a student at St. Andrews University.
His career at Forfar Academy teaching in the main Geography, but also History, English and Religious Instruction was to span four decades, broken by only one year up at the then Websters Seminary in Kiiriemuir. By the time retiral came he had assumed a role as Assistant Rector.
Although he enjoyed both a game of golf and bowls and followed football and horse racing avidly, cricket and Strathmore Cricket Club in particular were his main sporting love.
In fact he gave a lifetime’s dedication to the ‘Strathie’ cause.
His playing career saw him flirt with first team cricket in the fifties at Lochside, before becoming captain of the 2nd XI. He scored a memorable hundred against an at the time strong Kirrie side at Lochside in a derby fixture in the early sixties.
However it would be fair to say that it was behind the scenes or perhaps on many occasions as ‘front of house’ that George made his mark and his legacy with the club.
He became a committee member in 1966 serving until 1971. In that final year he supervised arrangements for both the team and a large travelling support who made their way to Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow to see Strathmore clinch the Scottish Cup, then under the banner of the Rothman Quaich.
Vice Presidency beckoned in 1972 and a year later he began his first at the time three year stint as President.
During that spell he watched in the early hours of a fateful Saturday morning in April as the clubhouse not long constructed was almost burned to the ground. However he then proceeded to play a pivotal role in the process of the re-build of the new clubhouse which stands to this day.
In November of 1976 he took a break from management duties at the club but continued to work tirelessly on fund raising activities etc until his return to the committee for the 1979 campaign.
By 1982 he was Vice President once again and by 1984 began a second spell as President which was to last until late 1992.
By then ‘Strathie’ had joined the Scottish Counties set up and although George had enjoyed the many successes the club had achieved in the Strathmore Union, he loved the new challenges that lay ahead on the playing front for the club.
He also thoroughly enjoyed entertaining many new faces that arrived at Lochside with the change of opponents and in particular his visits to Forthill, Alloa, Linlithgow and Prestwick where he regailed in the company of Mev Smith, Len Bell, Cecil Kerr and of course his big buddies in Ayrshire Douglas Haggo and Henry Thow.
He served a one year term as President of the Counties Board and during that second presidential spell with the club he was a more than willing host of the newly introduced match sponsorship package.
He was also a very proud President on that Tuesday in April, 1991 when Lochside staged its first ever Benson & Hedges tie, a star studded Lancashire outfit led by Michael Atherton, the Scots opponents on the day.
In 1992 he took a step into the background taking on the newly created role of Honorary President, a fitting reward to a man classed as Mr. Strathmore himself to many of his era.
He did however continue to run the 200/300 Club that he had set up in the mid sixties and his famous Christmas £5 draw, handing over the reins only in very recent times, though he still remained a key salesman in both ventures right up until Christmas past.
He was thrilled of course when his son Glenn showed a great interest in the game playing at all levels for Strathmore, captaining Edinburgh University as well as a spell with Grange.
Son in law Ian to his delight is also a cricket enthusiast having served the Aberdeen Grades as treasurer for over thirty years and now also a board member of Cricket Scotland.
Mention of family, George was of course preceded some years back by his wife Isobel. However all our sympathy go out at this time to daughter Kay and husband Ian, Glenn and Penny and both their families.
As one member of Strathmore’s victorious Rothman side of 1971 commented on Sunday in an email to the writer on news of George’s passing’-
George was a great Forfarian, a good and loyal friend to all of us, a great supporter of generations of Forfar Academy pupils and of course and last but not least Strathmore Cricket Club.
Funeral arrangements will follow.
(This short tribute concentrating mainly on George’s time at Lochside was penned by David McGregor who George had the misfortune to teach English nearly sixty years ago. Apologies for any grammatical mistakes!!)