Anyone for cricket? Aug. 23, Cornerstone Park, Littleton

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The Den(ver) of the Secret Nine is pleased to invite Sherlockians, Janeites, Wodehouseans or in fact Anglophiles of any stripe to a cricket game at 2 p.m. Aug. 23 at Cornerstone Park in Littleton.

The Littleton Cricket Club will be hosting the Colorado Springs C.C. Come early (about 1 p.m.) if you’d like to meet some players and get a quick primer on the game so you’ll know your googlies from your leg before wicket.  The game is free but there is no seating, so bring a lawn chair or towel to put on the grass. There are public restrooms nearby and we’ll set up a marquee where refreshments will be served (we’re still trying to arrange this aspect of it, so if you’re good at making cucumber sandwiches, we’d appreciate your help).

In case you’re wondering what the connection is with Sherlock Holmes, P.G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen, you should know that the Sherlock Holmes Society of London regularly plays the P.G. Wodehouse Society of the United Kingdom, and both Wodehouse and Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, were avid cricketers. Catherine Morland, the heroine of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, also played cricket (she also played baseball, but that’s for some future summer).

P.G. Wodehouse Society team

Sherlock Holmes Society of London team

Above: Catherine Morland, the heroine of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, playing cricket … or baseball … or baseball with a cricket bat

Our game should take about three and half hours with tea break (this is Twenty20 cricket). Fill out the form below to RSVP, so we’ll know how many sandwiches to make (you won’t be on a mailing list and your interest in cricket will remain a deep, dark secret). There should be plenty of parking. The cricket pitch is on the east side of the park and the marker on the map above is right next to the pitch. This is a city park, so no alcoholic beverages.

 

Dan Ruperal with the Colorado Cricket League will present the primer before the game, but he is also playing with Littleton C.C. If you can’t come early, here’s a YouTube video that explains the basics of the game.

 

Latest movie night a success

The Den(ver) of the Secret Nine conspired recently to watch Heavy Weather, the 1995 BBC TV adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s Heavy Weather, starring Peter O’Toole as Lord Emsworth and Richard Briers as Galahad Threepwood. We had a great turnout although we greatly missed those members engaged in dubious activities of a questionable nature who couldn’t attend.

Thanks to original member Mike who provided the venue and thanks to everyone who brought desserts. We may have to broaden our menu for the next meeting or the Nine won’t all be able to fit in the same den.

After Heavy Weather, we watched two episodes of the second season of Blandings, although our enjoyment was bitter sweet with the news of its cancelation. The Denver branch of the worldwide Wodehouse conspiracy enjoyed the series immensely.

The next meeting of The Den(ver) of the Secret Nine will be at 12:30 p.m. July 13 at Pints Pub in Denver. We’ll be discussing If I Were You, which is in print again thanks to Overlook Press. We’re also planning our Aug. 23 excursion to a local cricket game, in concert with the local Sherlock Holmes and Jane Austen societies in the Denver metro area. More about that in the next post.