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“Thank you to those of you who have spoken to Mike's daughter Jo, and I regarding the funeral, we’re now in a position to confirm that it will be held on Tuesday 30th December at Chelmsford Crematorium at 1.30pm and that we will be gathering afterwards at the Fox and Goose pub at Cooksmill Green, which is approximately 10-15 mins away.
If you would like to attend and haven’t already spoken to either Jo or I (my email is acmcoaching@hotmail.co.uk) , please drop either of us a message before the 20th December, Jo, my mum Christine Boyers and I would love to see anyone there who would like to come.
If you are attending the funeral, please come wearing what you are comfortable in and colour is very welcome. Also family flowers only please, but donations can be made to the Rob George Foundation should anyone wish to do so via the following link: https://michaelboyers.muchloved.com.
Rob’s father Pip was a close friend of Mike’s and the Foundation’s aims in relation to young people and sport and education very much align with what was important to him as a teacher and coach and thus we all feel this is a very appropriate charity to support.
Thank you for all the very kind messages we have received over the last week, they are very much appreciated. Please do get in touch with Jo or I if you would like to attend.”
Andy McGarry
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I first met Mike some sixty years ago. He was a student at Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow (where he was taught by, amongst others, the legendary Del Steward). Mike's father was the chauffeur and general factotum to Sir Stuart Mallinson, a prominent Woodford benefactor who lived at The White House on Woodford Green - now the site of Haven House Childrens' Hospice. Mike was a great friend of Robert Wiggs, Bernard Sutton and others, and the group spent most of their long school summer holidays playing cricket on Woodford Green.
My father Rex George had been a member of South Woodford Cricket Club since before the Second World War. He had at this time - the mid 1960s - successfully spearheaded a drive to build a new state-of-the-art pavilion, and he had the vision to see that the way to build a successful cricket club was to start at the bottom by introducing a colts section - an unusual step at this time. He was assisted in his task by the fact that he had two cricketing sons - my brother Peter at Forest (who introduced Martin Oliver, Tony Leek, Tony Day, Bernard Evans, Steve Duncombe and many others) and me at Chigwell (introducing Robert Wiggs, Bernard Sutton and through them, Mike Boyers).
And so was born a formidable Colts team, which went on to form the backbone of a highly successful 1st Xl in the early 1970s. The team was always close to the top of the newly-formed Essex League, but when Ossie Gooding, a tearaway fast bowler who had had experience of playing for Barbados, the Army and Hampshire Second X1, was recruited, the final piece was fitted into the jigsaw and the team won the league in 1976.
Mike and Ossie formed a formidable opening pair of fast bowlers, and they were justifiably feared and respected throughout the County. On one famous occasion, playing against Buckhurst Hill, Mike achieved the rare feat of taking all ten wickets. He was also a very attractive and accomplished batsman - good enough indeed to be selected on one occasion in 1969 to represent Essex against Middlesex, although he was twice dismissed by the England off-spinner Fred Titmus and was never selected again.
Mike was a very popular member of the South Woodford team. In the days before the word "sledging" had been invented, Mike was the master of banter; the two-way conversations between him and the Brooks brothers, Vic and John, with whom Mike had toured abroad with London Schools and who were always fierce adversaries in the twice-yearly Bank Holiday fixtures against Walthamstow, became legendary.
Everyone at the Hamro Foundation Essex League passes on their best wishes to all of Mike’s friends and family at this sad time.
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