Above: Photographs of David Townley
I guess most of you have now heard of the very sad passing of Dave Townley. DT suffered a heart attack on Monday and was not able to recover from it. Dave was a life member of Metro and devoted much of his time and energy to blind cricket.
As a player he was an incredible B1 or totally blind player for both Metro and England, scoring loads of runs, bowling immensely accurate and taking some quite amazing catches. Dave was always a calm bastion on the field no matter what the situation. He played cricket in the way true cricket lovers regard as the ‘spirit of cricket’.
As an administrator he took domestic cricket in the UK forward in leaps and bounds. he was one of the founders of BCEW and Chairman for almost its entire existence so far. DT was the driving force behind the introduction of the T/20 knock out competition. He leaves blind cricket in the UK stronger for his massive vision, input and direction. Whilst DT was always unbiest in his capacity with BCEW, he nevertheless remained an avid Metro man. Before handing our League winners medals to us at the end of last season, Dave was quite emotional saying that he had been waiting for that moment for a while; he knew it was coming and he was so happy that it had arrived. DT also took World Blind Cricket forward with a two year tenure as President of the governing body.
Most of all, DT was an immensely good man and we are all better for knowing him. He will be sorely missed.
Rest in peace DT! – Rory Field
