We elect an Honorary President to act as a figurehead for the club on a singular three year basis. This individual is a stalwart who has made a significant contribution in the past, and we should be enormously thankful for the amount of hard work and dedication they have put in over the years. Our annual Presidents Day event in August celebrates this and other longstanding members, including our incredibly supportive network of Vice-Presidents.

2023 - 2025 President Barry Brown

Barry started going to the Bank of England Sports Club at a very young age and made his debut for the 3rd X1 in 1965 at the age of 13.

When not playing for the school, Barry scored for the 1st X1 until making his debut for them at the age of 16. He will always be grateful to the captain, Chris Parry for giving him the opportunity to be first change bowler and bat at 7 or 8. He considered it to be great privilege to play with club legends such as Chris Parry, Colin Parham, David Scrivens, Mike (Punchy) Porter, Nick Moore, and many others. During the seventies, he opened the bowling for the 1st XI with Vince (Trundler) Chandler and played under other Bank of England legends, Jeff Denison and John Bushell.

Barry dropped down to the 2nd XI under the captaincy of Barry Hoffmann at the end of the seventies, where he opened the batting and bowling. Unfortunately a back problem prevented him bowling after the late eighties, so he continued batting until his back caused a premature playing retirement in 2000. Throughout this time there were sporadic appearances in the 1st XI when needed, with appearances in four different decades!

After his premature retirement and back surgery, Barry did play the odd game making up the numbers for the 2nd X1, batting at No 11, Kent tour games at Marden and Staplehurst and the Veterans/4th X1 match on Governor’s Day, now President’s Day.

Barry joined the Cricket Committee in the early nineties and formed the Colts Section in 1993 with Mike Burns. This was possibly the most important moment in BOECC history, as without it thousands of young players may never have caught the cricketing bug.

Initially there was just a handful of youngsters, with an U15 team entered into the league in 1994, U15 and U13 teams in 1995, gradually building the section, culminating in U9 through to U16 league teams plus a Development team. Numbers gradually increased and peaked at 230 in 2019, the final season before the double whammy of the worldwide covid pandemic and the Bank's decision to lease out the Sports Centre.

Barry helped to rebuild the colts section in 2021, before standing down as Colts Chair after after some 28 years. Throughout this period he also managed several age groups, truly going above and beyond in his service to the club.

Barry has taken great pride in watching colts develop into fine young adults, continuing to enjoy and play cricket at whatever level. Some have remaining friends and play a couple of times a year for a pub team, others playing for different clubs, and of course many have continued to play for the Bank of England, some taking on captaincy roles and other offices for example our current Hon Sec.

Barry also takes pleasure in watching colts and former colts playing senior cricket and monitoring their progress. He can often be seen at Oberon and Beverley Meads on a Saturday afternoon and tells the story of walking around the Oberon boundary watching the 1st X1 fielding, when he met a dad from the opposition who asked him who his lad was, to which he replied “him, him, him, him, him and him!!”

Barry considers it an honour and privilege to be elected your Cricket Club’s President and looks forward to watching the continued consolidation, development and growth of the club in the new era.

Previous Presidents

2020 to 2022 - Peter Oliver
2016 to 2019 - Vacant
2009 to 2015 - Barry Hoffmann

Vice-Presidents

John Hodges
John Kendall
Karen Chadwick
Lance Sapsford
Ian Canning
Peter Andrews
Peter Oliver
Richard Kendall
Richard Langley
Robert Waller