Tour Party
A large tour party travelled down to South Devon for the 76th Annual Devon Tour. Ashford has been touring South Devon since 1947 and a similar tour has taken place every year until 2020 when Covid-19 struck.

Since 2020, it has proved difficult to get members to tour and the club has even tried, unsuccessfully to move the tour to August. However, a return to Whitsun week for 2024 proved very popular and the following tourists appeared during the short, three day tour.

• Aftab Afridi
• Elliot Axten
• Jim Berressem and Sophie Haynes
• Alison Boxell and Ken
• Afzaal Butt
• Paul and Nev Cousens
• Amber Cousens
• Sean and Rioden Cully
• Mark Doggett
• Ian Doggett
• Chris and Jane Evans
• Gareth, Sarah, Georgia and Luke Evans
• Trefor, Amy, Millie and Max Evans
• Kirsty Hull
• Matt Knight
• David, Bethan and Jack Langrish
• Ryan Little
• Chris, Kirsty, Connie and Arthur Lunn
• Mansoor Malik
• Keith and Liam Manning
• Robert Nicholls
• Ibrar Shahid
• Rajesh Sharma
• Navjot Sidhu
• Jamie Tilt
• Andrew Tippell
• Craig and Edward Turner

Sunday May 26th - Travel to Devon

Most tourists travelled to Devon on Sunday morning and had lunch either in the Thorverton Arms in Thorverton or in the cafe at the Exe Valley Farm Shop and Garden Centre.

Thorverton Fixture

We were well entertained, as usual at Thorverton. The large number of spectators made good use of the honesty bar, and all settled their accounts at the end of the day.
Match report awaited from Robert Nicholls.
https://ashfordcc.play-cricket.com/website/results/6427408
Thorverton CC are keen for Ashford to return in 2024 and have already reserved the equivalent date for next season, Sunday May 25th.

Accommodation

The tourists stayed in various locations from B&Bs to hotels, from the Exeter Premier Inn to the Travel Lodge, from rented accommodation in Exmouth to sharing with family members.
There was no tour headquarters as previously, an experiment which need to be considered carefully for the future.

Monday May 27th - Devon Dumplings Fixture

Chris Evans received a phone call from Devon Dumplings at 10:30am on Monday morning informing us that the match was off. The Budleigh Salterton pitch was flooded and with the poor forecast, the groundsman felt there was no chance of play in the afternoon.
There were some thoughts about trying to rearrange the match and find another venue but, the short notice put a big damper on this and in the end, it was a lost cause.
This was a great shame for five of the tourists who had travelled to Devon for the day, simply to play in this fixture. An amazing effort from Navjot Sidhu to bring five 1st / 2nd XI players to Devon to ensure we came close to matching the Devon Dumplings. Unfortunately, all in vain.
Jim Berressem’s phone was not working on Monday, so Keith Manning went to the ground at Budleigh Salterton to ensure he received the cancellation message. Both Keith and Jim confirmed that conditions at Budleigh were indeed unplayable.

Beach in Exmouth

The tour party en-block, travelled to Exmouth for the afternoon and met up with Navjot, Rajesh, Afzaal. Mansoor, Aftab for lunch in The Bath House, followed by a short game of beach cricket.

Meal at Venezia

During Monday afternoon, Kirsty was researching options for dinner in Exeter. She found a very nice Italian restaurant on the Exeter Quayside called Venezia. A group of about 20 assembled and enjoyed a thoroughly good meal. There was much deliberation about which size pizza was needed and many decided that 16" was the right size for one person. Only one defeated it! On the way back to a pub for a nightcap, the group was provided by a flypast by the local bat community. A good evening was had by all.

Tuesday May 28th - Dawlish Warren

After much deliberation during the previous evening, it was decided that Dawlish Warren would be the group destination for daytime entertainment. A look at the sea discouraged the hardy swimmer in the group from entering the water, so the penny arcade was visited instead. Then it was on to the crazy golf for a tournament. A challenging course provided the venue for people to show off their skills or in most cases, ineptitude. Some even blamed their ball. At the end, after much mathematics, Craig was declared the winner. Fish and chips for lunch, then on to the go karts. Ian and Keith decided to sit this out mumbling about power to weight ratio and nodding to each other. Craig again blazed a trail, showing that years of previous experience driving rear wheel drive cars was the difference. It was then time to leave to go to the evening game.

Chulmleigh fixture

Match report awaited from Craig Turner.
https://ashfordcc.play-cricket.com/website/results/6600254
After the match half the team retired to The Old Court House in Chulmleigh for some refreshments with the opposition. Chulmleigh & Mid-Devon CC are keen for Ashford to return in 2025, but the club must decide if this fixture is a little too far from Exeter.

After the match, a large herd of cows appeared at the fence.

Tour ends

Tourists returned to Surrey either on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning or much later in the week.

Tourist of the Year

There were six nominations for Tourist of the Year:

• TREFOR EVANS – Top run scorer on tour.
• KIRSTY HULL – Tour Committee member who produced the brochure and organised other off-field matters.
• RYAN LITTLE – General ‘good egg’, just what the tour needs.
• KEITH MANNING – Tour Manager and main stay behind this year’s tour. Also, top wicket taker on tour.
• NAVJOT SIDHU – Recruited five extra players for Monday which, ultimately, unfortunately proved in vain.
• CRAIG TURNER – Winner of Crazy Golf and Go Karting at Dawlish Warren.

After a very close contest with 34 votes received, the winner of The Dennis Cornwell Cup for Tourist of the Year 2024 is KEITH MANNING. Keith has dedicated his time to the tour over the past 6 months to ensure this event returns to the forefront of the ACC calendar. Very well-done Keith.

Also, especially thanks to Kirsty and Navjot who came a close second and third.

Thank you to everyone who toured in 2024, we’ll see you again in 2025 from Sunday May 25th, 2025, onwards.