Local cricket will shortly be saying its farewells to long standing Burridge stalwart Jim Cunningham, who died recently aged 85 years.
His funeral is at 11am on Tuesday 24 March at St John’s Church, Church Road, Locks Heath, Southampton, SO31 6LW, with a celebration of life at Burridge cricket club after.
Jim was a long standing Burridge clubman and prior to that Gosport Borough, where his son Neil previously played. During his many years at Burridge he took on numerous roles, including club secretary, scorer and founder of the very successful 💯 club which developed into the 200 club. He was deeply proud to be made an Honorary Vice President of the club, a reflection of his long standing commitment and contribution.
He lived a long life filled with hard work, quiet strength, and dedication to his family. Jim had served with distinction in the Royal Navy, a 30 year career that shaped much of his character, disciplined, resilient and quietly dependable. He carried those values with him throughout his life.
He was a lifelong and devoted supporter of Southampton FC, following the Saints through every high and low over the years.
Jim packed away his calculator, pens and pencils for the last time after scoring Burridge’s final Premier Division match of the 2017 season against Alton – the curtain falling on three decades of meticulous cricket book-keeping and, more recently, operating the electronic scoreboard.
Burridge won't forget the outstanding 30-year service Jim Cunningham gave them as scorer – they named the scorebox after him !
Jim reckoned he'd scored over 600 times (and recorded many thousands of runs) in his wonderful Burridge stint, prior to which he spent four seasons at Privett Park.
He got an emotional send off too – the Alton and Burridge teams forming a Guard of Honour when he came away from the scorebox for the last time.
“It was a very emotional moment and the engraved glass plaque Burridge presented to me was a lovely gesture and will be treasured,” Jim smiled.
“One final statistic : only two of the Burridge team that played against Alton were actually born when I began scoring for the club.”
His funeral is at 11am on Tuesday 24 March at St John’s Church, Church Road, Locks Heath, Southampton, SO31 6LW, with a celebration of life at Burridge cricket club after.
Jim was a long standing Burridge clubman and prior to that Gosport Borough, where his son Neil previously played. During his many years at Burridge he took on numerous roles, including club secretary, scorer and founder of the very successful 💯 club which developed into the 200 club. He was deeply proud to be made an Honorary Vice President of the club, a reflection of his long standing commitment and contribution.
He lived a long life filled with hard work, quiet strength, and dedication to his family. Jim had served with distinction in the Royal Navy, a 30 year career that shaped much of his character, disciplined, resilient and quietly dependable. He carried those values with him throughout his life.
He was a lifelong and devoted supporter of Southampton FC, following the Saints through every high and low over the years.
Jim packed away his calculator, pens and pencils for the last time after scoring Burridge’s final Premier Division match of the 2017 season against Alton – the curtain falling on three decades of meticulous cricket book-keeping and, more recently, operating the electronic scoreboard.
Burridge won't forget the outstanding 30-year service Jim Cunningham gave them as scorer – they named the scorebox after him !
Jim reckoned he'd scored over 600 times (and recorded many thousands of runs) in his wonderful Burridge stint, prior to which he spent four seasons at Privett Park.
He got an emotional send off too – the Alton and Burridge teams forming a Guard of Honour when he came away from the scorebox for the last time.
“It was a very emotional moment and the engraved glass plaque Burridge presented to me was a lovely gesture and will be treasured,” Jim smiled.
“One final statistic : only two of the Burridge team that played against Alton were actually born when I began scoring for the club.”
