Between the end of the 2019 season and the early spring of 2020 we learned of the passing of three former members who made significant contributions to the earlier days of Mitre Cricket Club. Standing on the brink of the late start to a shortened 2020 season seems an appopriate time to pay tribute to them.
Jonathan Charles Smith usually known as Jon, or JC, passed away in Yorkshire on 6th November at the age of 57 after a period of debilitating illness. Jon was a batsman and leg spin bowler who played mainly half seasons from 1975 to 1980 and from time to time thereafter. The reason for the half seasons was that there was a family holiday home in Robin Hood's Bay where he resided for most of the school summer holiday. In 1975 Jon played in our first ever second eleven fixture, under the captaincy of his elder brother Geoff, and in 1979 his score of 52, being last out in a total of 112, having gone in at 8 for 2, was vital in a league win over Atlas Steel Works at Armadale which did a great deal to ensure that we remained in the inaugural Division 4 at the end of the season . Writing in our Golden Jubilee booklet in 2004 Jon recalled an eventful homeward journey from that match. In all matches he scored 1025 runs and was just short of 100 career wickets. Research by the late Norman Thomson shows that he took at least 5 wickets in an innings eight times with a best of 7 for 23 in a Sunday fixture against Stirling County at Williamfield.
Jon played his school cricket at Stewart's Melville College where all through his time in the Senior school he opened the batting with Julian Scott who described Jon as "a good technical bat" and perhaps it was this that led two of our club coaches to take some slides of Jon demonstrating some basic batting techniques to show to primary school players new to cricket. It is not certain whether this technique came from good coaching at school or from time spent watching Geoffrey Boycott batting at Scarborough and Leeds. Jon was an avid watcher of the former Yorkshire and England opening bat and in a photograph in the book If the Cap Fits he can be seen in the middle of a group watching Sir Geoffrey bat in a net.
Apart from cricket Jon took at great interest in railway matters covering both heritage lines and present day operations.
Ian Francis Clark Fleming was President of Mitre from 1976 to 1980 which included our Silver Jubilee year of 1979. He played as a medium pace change bowler and lower order bat mainly in the years before we entered the league in 1975 and often arrived at games on a motor scooter. As President Ian was constantly encouraging and enthusiastic and Jon Smith did mention this in his recollections in our Golden Jubilee booklet. On the field Ian's main achievement was taking a hat trick and there are vivid memories of a glorious square cut for 4 against Boroughmuir on a calm sunny Sunday at Meggetland. As far as can be traced Ian's top score was 19 not out against Botanics. Off the field Ian was responsible for the production (i.e. typing and printing) of our regular News Letter and he continued to undertake this task for a number of years after standing down from the Presidency.
Ian also played bowls but his main interest was watching rugby at club, Pro 14 and international level. The writer frequently encountered him at games and sometimes shared bus journeys to or from games with him when after discussing the rugby match we were about to watch or had just watched and current rugby matters, all with Ian's customary enthusiasm and laughter, conversation would turn to the exploits of and prospects for Edinburgh South C.C.
Although Ian passed away after a short illness at St. John's Hospital, Livingston on 3rd October. We only learned of his passing through our Women's Section Secretary, Veronica Fraser, a former work colleague at Ancient Monuments Scotland, at the club's Presentation Evening in mid-November.
It has been reported that Ian, who had started work with the Ordinance Survey, had been following the Rugby World Cup 2019 from his hospital bed so as another Ian Fleming from San Jose, California said "it was sad that he did not manage to see it to its end."
Douglas Kemp known as Dougie, first played for Mitre in a few midweek matches in the early 1970s but it was not until much later when we were well into our league career that he joined us for Saturday cricket having previously played for Leith Franklin. Dougie took 3 for 26 in one of these early matches but it was as a wicketkeeper batsman that he became a notable performer.
Dougie scored over 1100 runs for Mitre with a top score of 103 against Old Contemptibles in August 2003 shortly after his 50th birthday. In that innings, recorded by the aforementioned Norman Thomson, he opened the batting and was run out on the last ball of the innings in a total of 212 for 4. He claimed upwards of 70 victims behind the stumps and also coined the nick name Trevor for Stuart Templeton.
Dougie served for several years as the Club's Treasurer and his business sponsored our Golden Jubilee shirts in 2004.
In his younger days Dougie played football as a striker for Civil Service Strollers with whom he won the East of Scotland League in 1973.
Dougie had spent the last five years in Alicante, Spain where he had played for and managed the local walking football team.
The previous two paragraphs were taken from an article by Kenny Kemp, Dougie's brother. This had appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News on 4th February.