A POPULAR former Worcester teacher has been honoured for nearly half a century of support for blind cricket with a place in the Hall of Fame.
Clive Spencer, a Physical Education teacher at New College Worcester from 1969 until 2008, has been inducted follow 48 years of involvement in many visually impaired sports as a coach, team manager and official.
As well as coaching cricket whilst working at the college he has also acted as an umpire and scorer for both British Blind Sport and Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW).
Clive is presently a member of the BCEW Scorers Panel for whom he has recently scored at matches in Somerset, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire as well as in Worcester.
His influence is still very noticeable on the field as of the 63 people to have played for the England blind cricket team since its inception in 1998 eleven are Clive’s former pupils.
Added to that three of BCEW’s twelve end of season playing awards for the best players of 2016 were won by players who were taught by Clive.
Clive was presented with his award & officially inducted into the Blind Cricket Hall of Fame at BCEW’s Twenty20 Cup Finals Day at Wolverhampton Cricket Club, after he had scored for one of the semi finals and the third place play off.
BCEW Chairman Dave Gavrilovic said: “Clive’s contribution to visually impaired sport over nearly half a century is totally unparalleled amd visually impaired cricket has benefited more than any other sport as so many of Clive’s former pupils are still involved in the game.
“Like hundreds of Clive’s former students I consider myself extremely lucky to know him as he played a massive role in helping me to get back to playing sport after I lost my sight,” he added.
