It is with great sadness that Horsham Cricket Club has to announce that our President, David Horsman passed away earlier this week a day after his 85th birthday.
David had been an integral part of local cricket for almost all his life, His cricket career began in Kirdford at the age of 13 and he subsequently played for Wisborough Green and Horsham. Not only did David play the game he loved he was also involved behind the scenes at Horsham and also served as Chairman and President at Wisborough Green. David was always to be found helping with the preparations for Horsham’s County cricket week , welcoming all visitors to the club and was a great believer in upholding the traditions of the game. When his playing days were over he still took to the field regularly as one of the best dressed and most elegant umpires in the county.
David was a great supporter of the Mirfield Cup and Thursday afternoon cricket and helped to resurrect both when popularity was declining. However, perhaps the most important legacy David leaves is within junior cricket. In 1986 he and Peter Garland had the idea and energy to start a local league for junior players. With just a handful of clubs initially this grew to become the legendary Identilam Cricket League which by the time it was recently amalgamated to become part of the Sussex junior cricket league, included just about every club in the north area of Sussex . It is probably fair to say that anyone who has played junior league cricket in the last 30 or so years should be grateful to David for his hard work in helping to create these playing opportunities. Many will have been presented with medals at the annual awards evening by David who was always there with wise and encouraging words.
David was our President for only a short while, and was greatly honoured to succeed Barry Peay in the role. He had hoped to lead the club through our 250th anniversary celebrations, sadly this was not to be, but we will endeavour to find a fitting way to honour our dear friend and President, David Horsman.