Joe Stubbs, Tony Chesson and Peter Meadows – by Derek Howell

The year of 2013 is proving to be a particularly sad one for the Club as we have lost very loyal Old Cryptians taken away from their families and the Club before their time. In the space of only what seems a short time we have lost Joe Stubbs, Tony Chesson and now Peter Meadows who passed away on Monday after a relatively short illness.

All were dedicated (in their own way) members of the Club in all its aspects and were also sportsmen of the top bracket (locally speaking).

Peter was a fine all round sportsman playing rugby for Gloucester RFC at a time when the local system produced talent which the Town Club greedily grabbed. Pete had more than one string to his sporting bow, he played cricket for the Old Cryptians CC as did Tony and Joe, from 1958 to 1978 as a medium fast bowler and a more than adequate batsman – he captained the Club for 13 years from 1964 – 1976, and like the rest of us drank copious amounts of beer!

For many seasons – up to the end of last year – he was a regular member of “The Cryptics” skittle team – and very rarely missed a game – we now have to find an anchor man for the first half – a very hard act to follow.