Luke Evans (left) with grandad Roy Honeybone.
When Luke Evans emigrated to Australia after the truncated covid pandemic season of 2020, the only chance his grandfather Roy Honeybone appeared to have of watching him play in the future was by staying up late and watching live streams of his matches from Down Under – a far cry from sitting by the boundary rope at Bemerton with his camera.
But all that changed dramatically when Luke’s Aussie club St Patrick’s reached the Grand Final to play Lavington in the Albury Wodogna First Grade competition, based (roughly speaking) on the New South Wales/Victoria state border.
Who should be in the crowd but grandad Roy – the St Patrick’s players raising almost A$3,000 to fly him across from the UK to Melbourne and beyond to watch the game.
Retired schoolteacher Roy Honeybone, who modestly describes himself as an enthusiastic amateur photographer (he’s way better than that, as his pictures on this website will verify) has been a father figure to Evans growing up in Southampton, inspiring him to play cricket - initially with Cadnam and subsequently South Wilts, where he won Southern Premier League titles and was named Young Cricketer if the Year in 2017 – and teaching him the values he still holds close today.
“I told my team-mates about my upbringing and the life I lived at home and what my Grandad means to me. He’s spent his whole life giving to people, being the kindest human being I’ve ever met,” Evans explained.
Unbeknown to Evans, plans to fly Roy out to Australia began directly St Patrick’s qualified for the Grand Final – with club secretary Gus MacLeod and Luke’s fiancée Luck Chalmers the chief instigators.
“I took it upon myself to rattle the tin and within two hours we’d raised A$3,000, with almost 30 people chipping in,” MacLeod revealed. “There wasn’t a dry eye on the house after Luke had told his story. He’s had to navigate through some difficult times as a young fella and Roy was the father figure in his life growing up.
Massive
“We feel like Roy’s the number one ticket holder at St Patrick’s, but despite having never seen us play before, he’s knows every stat about every single A-Grade player and stays up late at night to watch us.
“Grand finals don’t come around all that often, so we thought this would be a fantastic memory for Roy and Luke. It’s not the financial side of the story that is important, it was everyone in the club making a contribution to make it happen.”
So, off flew Roy on the marathon 24-hour flight to Melbourne before knocking on Luke’s front door on the eve of the Grand Final. Evans got the shock of his life to see Grandad standing on the doorstep.
Evans explained: “For him to come here (to Australia) and experience this means everything to me. From a young age Roy’s basically been my dad and he’s the reason I play cricket. He got me into the game and ever since then it was all about making him proud because I knew how much he enjoyed travelling the country to watch me play. He’s been a massive part of my life and I’ll be forever grateful to St Patrick’s for raising the cash to fly him out here.”
Roy’s whistle stop trip to Australia didn’t have such a happy ending on the cricket field as Lavington prevailed in the Grand Final, but he was sitting (as usual) on the boundary rope snapping away merrily as grandson Luke took two wickets and thus celebrate his 100th competitive wicket for the Albury club.
“We didn’t get the result in the final, but he great thing was that my Grandad was able to be here,” Evans closed. If Roy has his way, it won’t be the last time he pays St Patrick’s a visit. “I’m already planning to come back next year,” he beamed.
But all that changed dramatically when Luke’s Aussie club St Patrick’s reached the Grand Final to play Lavington in the Albury Wodogna First Grade competition, based (roughly speaking) on the New South Wales/Victoria state border.
Who should be in the crowd but grandad Roy – the St Patrick’s players raising almost A$3,000 to fly him across from the UK to Melbourne and beyond to watch the game.
Retired schoolteacher Roy Honeybone, who modestly describes himself as an enthusiastic amateur photographer (he’s way better than that, as his pictures on this website will verify) has been a father figure to Evans growing up in Southampton, inspiring him to play cricket - initially with Cadnam and subsequently South Wilts, where he won Southern Premier League titles and was named Young Cricketer if the Year in 2017 – and teaching him the values he still holds close today.
“I told my team-mates about my upbringing and the life I lived at home and what my Grandad means to me. He’s spent his whole life giving to people, being the kindest human being I’ve ever met,” Evans explained.
Unbeknown to Evans, plans to fly Roy out to Australia began directly St Patrick’s qualified for the Grand Final – with club secretary Gus MacLeod and Luke’s fiancée Luck Chalmers the chief instigators.
“I took it upon myself to rattle the tin and within two hours we’d raised A$3,000, with almost 30 people chipping in,” MacLeod revealed. “There wasn’t a dry eye on the house after Luke had told his story. He’s had to navigate through some difficult times as a young fella and Roy was the father figure in his life growing up.
Massive
“We feel like Roy’s the number one ticket holder at St Patrick’s, but despite having never seen us play before, he’s knows every stat about every single A-Grade player and stays up late at night to watch us.
“Grand finals don’t come around all that often, so we thought this would be a fantastic memory for Roy and Luke. It’s not the financial side of the story that is important, it was everyone in the club making a contribution to make it happen.”
So, off flew Roy on the marathon 24-hour flight to Melbourne before knocking on Luke’s front door on the eve of the Grand Final. Evans got the shock of his life to see Grandad standing on the doorstep.
Evans explained: “For him to come here (to Australia) and experience this means everything to me. From a young age Roy’s basically been my dad and he’s the reason I play cricket. He got me into the game and ever since then it was all about making him proud because I knew how much he enjoyed travelling the country to watch me play. He’s been a massive part of my life and I’ll be forever grateful to St Patrick’s for raising the cash to fly him out here.”
Roy’s whistle stop trip to Australia didn’t have such a happy ending on the cricket field as Lavington prevailed in the Grand Final, but he was sitting (as usual) on the boundary rope snapping away merrily as grandson Luke took two wickets and thus celebrate his 100th competitive wicket for the Albury club.
“We didn’t get the result in the final, but he great thing was that my Grandad was able to be here,” Evans closed. If Roy has his way, it won’t be the last time he pays St Patrick’s a visit. “I’m already planning to come back next year,” he beamed.
