Jeff Wornham Memorial Cricket Match – 29 June 2025

Crispin Hardy (G90-95) reports : It was 20 years ago this year that we lost a great friend, son, and brother when Jeff gave his life trying to save another’s whilst serving for the Hertfordshire Fire Brigade.

Jeff was a wonderful friend; funny, kind natured, and effortlessly cool. We miss him dearly. To mark the anniversary of his passing we decided to organise a game of cricket in his honour. Jeff loved Cricket so what better way to celebrate his life.

Despite the busy calendar and extremely precious nature of ‘The Back’ (I’m sure you all remember!) the College understood the importance of the event and worked hard with us to find a date to make it work. It just would not have been the same playing on Penny Farthings! So back in January of this year we booked the date and venue for our game – 29^th June.

Next – to find some players. This was not hard, a group of 5soon ballooned to 55 as word spread of our mission to get together for a game of cricket to remember Wornham. It was such fun to see the names popping up, some of us had not been in touch for 3 decades. The years seemed to just fall away though as the anecdotes / banter flowed over the proceeding 5 months ofcomms.

As well as playing cricket we wanted to try and raise some money for The Firefighters Charity too. We decided to have a go at an auction of promises. Our group did not let us down and soon we had 12 fantastic prizes, including Coldplay Tickets, fishing, signed F1 race gear, and a Caribbean holiday of a lifetime to name a just a few.

Many sleeps after our initial group shout out the Memorial Weekend was upon us. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny weekend, which was just as well as we had zero wet weather plan! On Saturday the 28^th OF’s from all corners of the globe descended on Fram to honour Jeff. We met at The Station pub where many memories were shared of the happy years we spent at The College, it was such fun to see old friends, like we had never left.

The next morning we met with weary heads on The Back at 11am, match day! Before we got underway the early birds were treated to wonderful tour of the school by the current school Chaplain Brynn Bayman. The tour culminated at Jeff’s George Medal in the Chapel where we were invited to light a candle of remembrance. A lovely touch – thank you Brynn.

Teams were split into College Road (K and G) v Main School (everyone else). As you can imagine – the Cricket was not the standard usually associated with The Back. However Messrs Buck, Carruthers, Erith, Baird and Lee showed glimpses of the old magic – square cuts down the hill. We discovered during the game that Evans (K 90 – 95) is actually pretty good at cricket and Bunting (R 90 – 95) needs new trousers.

During tea Tom Wornham (K88 – 92) gave a lovely speech about his brother [see full speech at the end]. Particularly moving was the moment where Tom asked us to remember not only Jeff but other OF’s that have passed away –

“Simon Lee, Karen Buttenshaw, Ali Boyce, Lucy Tomkin, Ali Litz, David Chow, Jason Joslin, Robin Holloway, Chaz Taylor and Patrick Joyce All School leavers during Jeff’s time at school. All of them taken drastically early in life. All of them much loved and greatly missed. May we take a moment to remember them”

This was especially poignant as we had Nick Lee (G89 – 94) and Martin Buttenshaw (R90 – 95) with us on the day to remember their siblings with us as well as Jeff. After Tom’s speech Peter Mayo (K89 – 94) donned his Auctioneers Tie and with some very generous bidding sold the 12 lots. In total we raised £6,375 for The Firefighters Charity, not bad!

The match ended in exhilarating fashion with the result coming down to whether or not Erith (S 91 – 96) could hit Evans (k90 – 95) or at least 4 runs from the final ball (he couldn’t). Who would have thought such a mixed skill base of players could conjure up such an epic!?

Many back slaps and shared stories later we peeled away from magical Fram back to our everyday lives. Whilst only a short period of our existence in the context of our lives, our time at Fram forged beautiful memories and lifelong friendships. It was wonderful to be able to get together, from all corners of the globe to remember some of those times and of course to remember our wonderful friend Jeff who we miss dearly.

Those in attendance (that I can recall!)

Crispin Hardy (G90 – 95)

Jon Phillips (G90 – 95)

Will Buck (G91 – 95) (travelled from Singapore)

Nick Lee (G89 – 94)

Tim Humphrey (K91 -96)

Richard Dyde (K90 -95)

Dan Evans (K90-95)

Pete Mayo (K89-94)

Tom Wornham (K87-92)

James Blyth (79-94)

Jon O’Sullivan (Z91-96)

Barry Turner (Z90-95)

Huw Williams (R92-97)

Adam Carruthers (Z90-95)

Jim Howe (R90-95)

Paul Moxey (S90-95)

Tom Bunting (R90-95)

Marcus Booth (Z90-95) (travelled from Dubai)

Danny Erith (R91-96) (travelled from France)

Ollie Drury (S90-95) Peter Johnson(S90-95)

Rob Mcleod (S90-95)

Marcus Veevers Chorlton (Z90-95)

Ali White (K92-95)

Stuart Clarke (S92-97)

Martyn Buttenshaw (R90-95) (travelled from Switzerland)

Henry Bale (G90-95)

Rob Baird (Z90-95)

Ben Coulter (K90-95)

Chuma Orakwusi (K93-95)

Duncan Cork (K89-94)

James Walsham (R90-94)

Jim Fennell (K90-94)

Matt Earley (G90-95)

Mike Roberts (S90-95)

Phil Dougherty (G90-95)

Mark Rodwell (91-96)

John Barker (Z90-95)

Mat Howlitz (S89-94)

Dom Vipond (Z88-93)

Colin McKay (Z88-93)

Will Townrow (R88-93)

Matt Davies (G88-93)

Simon Dougherty (G60-67)

Norman Porter (K50-57)

Imogen Slaughter (V92-94)

Katie Coe (P88-93)

Antonia Key (P89-93)

Lucy Clarke (P91-96)

Henry Mayo (K92-97)

Dr Baird – (Hon OF) College Staff captain of the all conquering cricket team in the 90’s, as well as doing some English!

Special thanks to Sam Hayes (Z89-94) and Jamahl Misick (G90-9 5) whilst not in attendance, very kindly donated auction prizes. Robert Wornham and Mark “History” Robinson (Hon OF) for umpiring, (good to see you at the pub the night before too MR). Simon Dougherty for being the official photographer! The College, the catering team and the ever youthful Martin Myers-Allen (Hon OF) who helped organise. To those unable to attend due to work commitments / prior engagements, you were missed but don’t worry, we hope to gather again!

Footnote: Whilst the 20 anniversary was in the minds of many a special mention to Jim Fennell for raising the idea, to those who helped organise the day and making it happen and of course the Wornham family for agreeing to the event.

The following is Tom Wornham’s full speech :

Thank you for inviting me to talk. For those of you who don’t know me, you may find it hard to believe that I am Jeff’s older, better looking, more charismatic but humble brother, Thomas! I would like to thank Crispin Hardy for his hard work organising this event, ably assisted by Rob Baird, Peter Mayo and James Fennel. For the school to grant us the use of the facilities and providing this wonderful food. I just need to do a quick roll call to ensure everyone who has booked today are present and not having a sneaky fag. Peter Mayo? Marcus Booth? Richard Dyde? Danny Evans? Jahmal Misick? Tom Bunting? Jeffrey Wornham? Jeff?

In September 1990, Jeffrey packed the car full of his belongings, for his first evening boarding in Kerrison House at Framlingham College. “I thought this day would never come”, is a sentence emblazoned into my parent’s memories. He must have been one of the few pupils ever sent away to boarding school for the first time aged 13, with a sense of excitement and wonder, rather than foreboding. Thus a 5 year sentence to Suffolk’s premier academic centre for the mediocre individual began. A demographic that Jeff was just about capable of keeping up with. Academically speaking, of course.

Friendships were born and relationships blossomed. Within those 5 magical, teenage years, Jeffrey ably

assisted by friends in the years above and below, began to chisel out his vision of happiness. Then in June of 1995, at the end of A levels, this chapter concluded as pastures new were ready to welcome him. New faces, new adventures, new girlfriends were beckoning, oblivious to the reality that life is not always full of happiness.

Simon Lee, Karen Buttonshaw, Ali Boyce, Lucy Tompkin, Ali Litz, David Chow, Jason Joslin, Robin Holloway, Chaz Taylor and Patrick Joice. All, school leavers during Jeff’s time at school. All of them taken drastically early in life. All of them much loved and greatly missed. May we take a moment to remember them.

After leaving Framlingham, Jeff went on to Writtle to study Agriculture, supported by Tom Bunting which included frequent outings to Jukes of Chelmsford with Chunky Phillips in tow. After graduating with a Level 1 diploma in pretending to be a farmer and to the dismay of the local girls, Jeff completed a further course in agriculture at Occoncrew in Scotland. Returning to Hertfordshire, Jeff who was the natural farmer of the two of us, found an alternative career in the fire service. While here, Jeff, through gritted teeth, had to join the picket line during periods of strikes and endured the monotony of rescuing cats from trees. Such was his frustration that on an early

social media platform – Friends Reunited, Jeff’s profile stated that he spent his days throwing cats up trees, only so he could retrieve them when he turn up for work in the evening. As the older brother, I remain perplexed by the aura he created. Lord Wornham, was Jeff’s call sign in the fire service and mature colleagues would bring him tea at work, while he would lounge on a settee. On one occasion when visiting a girlfriend’s parents for a simple meal of fish and chips, the mother decanted his portion of tomato ketchup into a ramakin rather than just pass him the bottle? I witnessed first hand Jeff’s charm at work, as he and I shared a house, together with Tami Carlick – now my wife and Lizzy Honeycomb. Punching well above his weight, Lizzy would be the doting girlfriend, making sure Jeff was always cared for, while I, who paid his rent because he was too disorganised to get his finances in shape, looked on in despair, wondering what she found so appealing? And you lot still seem to be mesmerised by him! To paraphrase Ruth Ginsburg, “in every good family, it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.” As a result, how fortunate we all are for his presence in our lives.

So here we stand, again, on the same soil that gave birth to so many fond memories. No doubt many of you have been exchanging anecdotes from your childhood. Stories of sporting conquests or missed relationships. Remembering moments of exceptional academic achievement or just the thrill of not being busted for some

misdemeanour. Whatever your stories and no matter how long the divide between reconnecting; for some this could only be days, others not since the mid 90’s, you will have been remembering moments of joy. So, when I ponder the past 20 years without my brother, your friend, do I have any noticeable observations worthy of sharing with you? Put simply, yes. That friendships endure. That even in grief, happiness prevails. For all of you who will have lost family, friends, colleagues, people you hold dear, after the initial sorrow and mourning, the legacy of that individual grows as today shows. To quote Alexandre Dumas; Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives, and remembering what one receives.

And I would like to finish with a poem written by the American writer, Raymond Carver, who overcame alcoholism to write some of the most beautiful poems about grief, and happiness, left a short poem before he died from cancer, aged just 50. It was his epitaph, and I think it sums up the purpose of life.

And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth.