Vale – Kevin Holley

Briars has lost one of its longest standing members with the recent death of Kevin Holley at the age of 83.

Kevin joined Briars, along with his schoolmate Jerry Wells, at the age of 16 in 1958, and as a young left-handed opening bowler and aggressive middle/lower batsman, he soon graduated to A-Shires (1st grade). Kevin showed himself to be a great team man with a strong desire to win.

At the same time, strong friendships were formed with teammates such as David Walker, Peter Richardson, Barry Cardwell and Peter Manford, and those ties remained strong over the years and included a period when Kevin represented Briars in Hockey, needless to say, Kevin participated with his usual enthusiasm and will to win.

Kevin was an extremely dedicated family man and encouraged Darren, Melissa and Jason in the many and varied sporting activities in which they engaged over the years, and one of his greatest thrills was seeing Darren and Jason go on to play cricket with Briars and lead teams to premiership success after each had successful grade careers at Sutherland. A further issue that gave Kev immense satisfaction was his involvement with the Croydon CC which resulted in players like the Prices coming to Briars.

Being the “people person” he was, one of Kev’s great joys in life was having lunch with mates and he had several that he lunched with that included old work mates (from Allen Sweets) a group from his bowling club and a group of Briars Old Buggers.

Regrettably, Kevin’s health over the last 8–10 years has not been great and as a consequence some 4–5 years ago, he moved to South Australia to live with his daughter Melissa, her husband Chris and their family, where he was residing when he passed away.

We will miss a great mate and Briar.