Trustees John Winspear and Mike Hepburn have both resigned from their positions as trustees.
The Warwickshire Cricket Foundation wishes to thank John and Mike for their dedicated years of service to Cricket and the county and wish them all the very best in their continued enjoyment of the game we all love.
Ed McCabe, the Head of Recreational Cricket and Operations, has shared the following words.
John Winspear
John Winspear has announced his retirement from the Board of Trustees at Warwickshire Cricket Foundation.
John was part of the original Warwickshire Youth Cricket Board which soon morphed into the Warwickshire Cricket Board in 1998, making him the longest serving Board member in the organisation’s history.
Throughout this time of steadfast service to Cricket and Warwickshire John has been able to balance a kind and friendly demeanor with the ability to ask challenging questions when needed. He passionately cares about local cricket and loves the Bears. This enables him to understand grassroots cricket development and the pathways into talent programmes and the first-class game. Having been a renowned local cricketer himself and a dedicated clubman of Old Edwardians CC has helped.
Again, throughout most of this time, John also served Warwickshire CCC with positions on the General Committee, Management Committee, Members’ Committee, and Cricket Audit. John stepped down from his position with WCCC in 2022, along with former Chair of WCB, Mike Williams. This conformed with the requisites of the Club’s service policy.
As a Chartered Accountant by profession, John became the Financial Director of WCB in 2019 and oversaw a period of steady growth and financial consolidation. He was able to not over-complicate the presentation of accounts and ensure the cash flow and budgeting requirements were always in place. This, of course, became quite a challenge in the pandemic years but he remained a calm and reassuring colleague and mainstay of the Board.
He served under five Chairs of the Board: Rob Ball, John Dodge, Mike Williams, Danny Longhorne, and currently Cath Muth, and saw many colleagues at Board level and in the staff team come and go. His positive personality allowed him to successfully adapt to all the different personalities and styles of these Chairs and people with his love of the game providing the core motivation to allow modifications and adaptations. In the last few years, there has been a lot of growth and change so his experience and knowledge of cricket have been vital.
John retires from the Board as a very popular colleague with the staff and trustees and we call join in with wishing many best wishes for his life away from the Board room filled no doubt with much more relaxing watching and enjoyment of the game.
Mike Hepburn
Mike Hepburn has also stood down as a Trustee after seven years of service to the Board/Foundation.
Mike has given great service to the Foundation and game in this time, particularly in helping cricket clubs navigate the practicalities of grounds maintenance, safeguarding and governance. As a very active cricketer, groundsperson, umpire, safeguarding officer and volunteer predominantly at Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club Mike has huge experience in how the recreational game works and this will be much missed by the Board.
Mike is a solicitor by profession and therefore his legal knowledge has been invaluable when he has helped clubs unpick complex freehold and leasehold arrangements and threats.
He was the Board/Foundation Safeguarding Lead since 2021 and in this period the ECB’s requirements in this area have proliferated and he has had to face this with equanimity, perspective and skill. He has helped oversee an expansion in the Board’s safeguarding provision and has navigated some challenging issues.
Similarly to John, Mike’s commitment to attending meetings of the main Board, sub-committees and other get togethers has been unwavering and he has always been happy to travel up and down the County to represent the team and attend events and matches.
Importantly Mike has also provided an ear to staff who have needed help or support and he has championed their interests when needed.