I was looking through, as you do, my collection of Kent CCC Annuals, and happened to open the 1963 edition for a quick browse. But as everybody who collects cricket publications knows, there is no such thing as a quick browse. At least two hours later, I emerged from an in-depth read, secure in the knowledge that the summer of 1962 was ‘extremely disappointing’ and that I could buy a Hillman Minx 4-door De Luxe Saloon for £616.16/3d, which is roughly what a still-in-its-box Dinky toy of that Hillman Minx would fetch today.

The President of Kent CCC in 1963 was Noel Boucher, a stalwart of The Mote, Kent 2^nd XI and the KCCC Committee, whose brother Sidney played one county game for Kent in 1922, against Hampshire at Southampton. He scored no runs and took no wickets, but the fact that he was never picked to play for the county again was more to do with his career in the Royal Navy than any lack of cricketing skills.

Arthur Phebey wrote an appreciation of his team-mate Derek Ufton, whose Testimonial Year it was to be in 1963. What he said about the much-lamented Uffers was remarkably accurate in its summing up of his character and also in predicting his future. “Derek is the sort of team man who does not know how to give of anything but his best. He will, I am sure, serve Kent well in whatever capacity he is required for many years to come.” Spot on, Arthur.

The annual report of the committee did not lament the passing of 1962: “The summer of 1962 was extremely disappointing” and they went on to report the dire weather of the first part of the summer. There were “almost Arctic conditions at Dartford and Gravesend”, but “if the weather was cold and dismal for the first six weeks of the season, so too was the performance of the XI.”

We finished eleventh in 1962, but there were some signs of green shoots of hope for the future, but the same old problems persisted. “With the county’s best XI in the field, there were few stronger batting sides in the country but as has so often been emphasised before, the bowling is not sufficiently strong to press home the advantages that may have been gained by the batting.” The bowling attack was further hampered by the car accident suffered by Dave Halfyard during the summer, which effectively finished his career with the club. But by this time, Brian Luckhurst and Mike Denness were beginning their careers and Alan Knott and Derek Underwood were not far behind, so there was a glorious future ahead, if only they had known it.

1963 was a crucial year in the development of the professional game in England. Not only was it the first year in which there was no longer a distinction between Gentlemen (the unpaid amateurs) and Players (the professionals) but it was also the first season of the new limited overs competition, known simply, in those days before sponsorship latched onto cricket, as The Knockout Cup. This innovation, soon to be sponsored by Gillette, was greeted enthusiastically by the Annual, but with a rather over-optimistic take on our chances. “Kent could not be more fortunate in the first round draw by having Sussex as our opponents. This game will be played on the Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday May 22^nd.” The draw could in the event have been more fortunate – Kent lost by 72 runs despite Peter Richardson’s Man of The Match 127, and Sussex went on to win the trophy. The matches were of 65 overs a side that year, 130 overs in a day, which was no problem sixty years ago, but is a bit more of a stretch these days.

On a lighter note, Brian Johnston wrote an article entitled “Broadcasting Banter”, in which he disclosed that “Kent has always been my second choice” after Middlesex, his home county. This was mainly because Leslie Ames was his cricketing hero and when he read the newspapers each morning “after seeing how many Patsy Hendren had made for Middlesex, the next thing I always looked for was how many ‘stumps’ Ames had got off Freeman.” As a broadcaster, “one of my regrets is that Frank Woolley and Doug Wright were not playing for England in the days of television; just think of the thrill that Frank Woolley could have given to millions of viewers at home as he leant nonchalantly on a ball and sent it sizzling to the boundary. Or think of Doug Wright’s kangaroo hops – what a picture they would have made.” The legacy of Brian lingers on in the shape of the Johnners Trust, which contributes significantly to funding visually impaired cricket, and also to giving small scholarships to promising young county academy cricketers to help with the costs of their kit and travel.

At the beginning of 1963, the club had 5057 members, all of whom are listed at the back of the annual. Among the Life Members was a very young Christopher Stuart Cowdrey, and among the ordinary members are a large array of lords, knights of the realm, major-generals, air vice-marshals and lieutenant commanders, not to mention a congregation of vicars and the Rt. Hon Harold Macmillan MP, who by the end of 1963 would no longer be our Prime Minister. One name leaps out from the list of junior members – A.G.E. Ealham – but I hope that many of those young names are still supporters of our club and county 60 years on.

Things have moved on a great deal since 1963, and perhaps this is best illustrated by the companies that thought it worthwhile to advertise in our annual that year. Apart from the Hillman Minx already mentioned, you could learn all about Kent CCC  “ties, squares, wall shields, car badges and links” from Sharps, 8 Gabriel’s Hill Maidstone and The Broadway, Broadstairs. Nowadays, you get them from the club shop, although Barrie says it’s more Vitality Blast shirts than car badges at present. Perhaps my favourite advert is the one that shows how much Kent has moved from being the Garden of England to becoming a mere suburb of London over the past 60 years: G. Twyman and Sons of Faversham were advertising “Efficient Farming Demands”, “The Best Agricultural and Horticultural Chemicals and Selective Weedkillers” “Fruit packing materials of all descriptions and Corn Sacks For Hire.” Now it’s all cricket kit, accounting systems and, of course, the magic nectars of Shepherd Neame. Not too many members seem to want to hire corn sacks any more.

Let’s hope that the KCCC Annual of 2023 will be worth looking back on in 60 years’ time, and that there are still companies wishing to advertise in it.