Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

Norwich Union, Yarmouth and Norfolk Club and Ground. He was still playing for the sheer joy of it. There remains to be dealt with the progress of Bill Edrich’s brothers, Geoff and Eric, into the first-class game. According to Ralph Barker in The Cricketing Family Edrich, Geoff and Eric, anxious to emulate Bill (and another brother, Brian, who had obtained a contract with Kent), approached Michael Falcon for advice as to how to gain admittance to the first-class county game. His contacts had informed him that Lancashire were struggling desperately for players, so he wrote to Major Rupert Howard, the secretary at Old Trafford, and Geoff and Eric were duly signed up – without even having to leave Norfolk for a trial! As well as stepping down from the Norfolk captaincy, Michael Falcon also resigned the chairmanship of the Yarmouth and Gorleston Conservative Association, being elected president upon standing down. The Association decided to cease supporting the local Liberal, Mr Jewson, and to put forward a candidate under the Conservative banner at the next election. We should also note that Falcon’s wife, Kathleen, was also active in the community’s interest during the Second World War. Her daughter, Sybil, remembers that she did her share of shifts with the ARP in nearby Acle and she was also interested in the fortunes of St. Augustine’s Lodge, a home for girls ‘in trouble’ (as it was then put) run by the Sisters of the Community of All Hallows, Ditchingham. The home was bombed and Kathleen Falcon was actively involved in the raising of funds to establish a new residence for the girls; several letters appeared in local newspapers from Mrs Falcon begging for support and then saying thank you for aid received. Alf Mace There are only two cricketers who remain alive today who played Minor Counties Championship cricket under the leadership of Michael Falcon. One of those is Alf Mace, who played most of his cricket in west Norfolk. He was something of a teenage prodigy and remembers averaging approximately 340 runs per innings in his final year at Sedgeford School, not far from Hunstanton. As a schoolboy he was advised by the county coach, Jack Nichols, to practise in front of a large mirror in the family home and monitor his backlift to ensure it remained straight. 106 Second World War and Beyond