Introducing the Ken Ohlson Room
On Saturday 15th July 2017 the Sutton Cricket Club annual Vice President dinner was held in the Grace Room during the 1st XI fixture with Camberley. However, this was no usual VP lunch as a little bit of Sutton Cricket Club history was updated with the re-naming of the Grace rooms to the Ken Ohlson room in honour of Ken for his service to the club, his presidency, and his ongoing commitment to club matters.
There was also a further unveiling of the new Presidents board to honour all the the Presidents of Sutton Cricket club. Current President, Ian Philippe spoke at the unveiling:
“Good afternoon, ladies & gentlemen.
A very warm welcome to everyone, and especially our visitors today from Camberley and the Panel umpires as well as our Vice Presidents who will be sitting down for their annual lunch once the players have departed.
I have the immense honour of being only the 9th President in the Club’s 160 year existence, and it is a privilege to be able to host the unveiling of a new board and a change which between them uphold our History, Tradition and Relevance in today’s world.
In the bar area, we have various boards covering captains, winners of various tournaments and awards together with photos and the trophy cabinet around the walls. This room is currently bare as we have just refurbished it, and today we are starting to re-populate it.
There is one board which depicts our history and tradition as well as being up to date which is missing. So today I am personally delighted to present to the Club this board.
I am going to ask Ken Ohlson, our only Past President in our history and a member of over 70 years, to unveil this new board.
The new board shows all our Presidents to date. We hope in due course to be able to find photos of all our Presidents to display alongside this board.
The second unveiling today is to have a name plaque for this room, which is known as the Grace Room. However, the Committee and I feel that this name is no longer appropriate and that we should link it firmly with Sutton Cricket Club and its peoples.
At our Annual Dinner in April Richard Thompson, Chairman of Surrey County Cricket Club spoke about cricket being relevant to the current age. So we have decided to rename this room in honour of a member who has served this Club with great distinction.
I am going to ask Sir Michael Pickard, our newest Vice President and also heavily involved in the building of this current pavilion, to come and unveil the Room Name plaque and announce the new name.
The new name is the Ken Ohlson Room”.
Below are a few photographs from the initial unveiling:
