Players fall silent in memory of cricket club chairman

A MINUTE’S silence was observed at Henley Cricket Club on Saturday in honour of its former chairman, who passed away last month.

Players lined up on the pitch prior to the match against High Wycombe to recognise the contribution Jim Rance had made to the club.

Mr Rance, who died shortly before his 92nd birthday, first played for the club in the mid-Sixties and also served as its president. He was one of the signatories when Brakspear granted the club a 30-year lease on the ground, off Matson Drive, in 1974. In 2005, the club borrowed £200,000 to buy the ground from the pub company and in 2018 made the final repayment to keep it as a cricket ground in perpetuity.

Mr Rance, who was married to Adrienne, who passed away in 2021, lived in Crazies Hill for 70 years and continued to support the club as he got older.

He was born on August 28, 1932, in Taplow and survived meningitis as a child, but his brothers sadly died from the disease.

Mr Rance moved with his parents to Crazies Hill when he was 20 when the family bought The Paddocks in 1952, with 26 acres of fields and woodland, where they raised pigs and chickens.

Mr Rance met Adrienne through their shared love of horses. She was a familiar sight, riding her pony Clover around the village and he was a keen horseman. They married in 1963.

The couple had three children, Penny, Sarah and Hugh, and eight grandchildren, George, Will H, Katie, Millie, Harry, Will R, Ollie and Liza. They had a rowing crew to stay with them most summers for Henley Royal Regatta and were involved with the annual Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta.

Mrs Rance passed away aged 81 and after a few months Mr Rance, aged, 90, moved to the Henley Manor Care Home. He passed away on May 31.