One of the tour grounds, Lansdown.

  Another view of Lansdown.

The club has toured on a regular basis to the South Coast, but, since 1969 have maintained a regular visit to The West Country, having established headquarters at The Shrubbery Hotel, Illminster, Somerset.

Whilst originally the tour was a six day event, starting on the Sunday afternoon, with the advent of Sunday League Cricket, Harborne Mitres now tour regularly from Monday to Friday inclusive, generally in the last complete week of July.

Whilst fixtures have varied slightly over the years, the common denominator is the Monday day game against Old Blundellians on the delightful Blundels School ground (founded 1604), Tiverton, Devon. Similarly, despite a short period when fixtures could not be agreed, the Thursday fame is against Old Tauntonians, on the equally impressive Taunton School ground.

On the Friday of the tour, we now play against a Lansdown Cricket Club Eleven, on their splendid ground, near Bath, subject only to helicopter landings, in connection with the adjacent hospital. One Vivien Issac Richards was billeted at Lansdown whilst qualifying for Somerset.

The new millennium see the appointment of a new Tour Secretary, David Law (an ex-Taunton School pupil who knows the vagaries of their wicket better than most of us), who is to be ably supported by Alistair Lyttle. It has been proposed for the first tour of the next century to depart from the previous format and provide for cricket on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, but provide a designated day for golf on the Wednesday, as many cricketers also enjoy giving the smaller white ball a smack.

As with most tours, the sport is all important, but there are plenty of opportunities for off the field enjoyment. The excellent hotel run by Stuart Sheppard boasts a heated swimming pool and a late-night bar and there are certain excellent hostelries well known to the older tourists in easy reach of The Shrubbery. The late-night attractions of "Crewkerne" have in the past often proved rewarding to the younger members of the touring party!

Dates for the Millennium Tour are Monday 17th - Friday 21st July, inclusive, and the three fixtures outlined above have already been confirmed and confirmation of Tuesday's fixture will shortly be available.

Anyone interested in joining the tour would be most welcome to contact David Law, who will require a £10.00 non-refundable deposit, which also secures the tour T-Shirt, which is generally designed on an annual basis.