RHT NAMILCO Thunderbolt team hosts Basil Butcher memorial programme

The Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour First-Division and Under-21 teams on Friday commended the 2024 Basil Butcher memorial trust programme.
The teams, with the guidance of the management of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC), have been hosting the memorial programme in memory of the late Basil Butcher, former West Indies middle-order batsman who died in December 2019 after a long and profound illness.
RHTY&SC Secretary Hilbert Foster stated that the first edition was held in 2020 with the full blessing of Butcher’s widow, Pamela and family. Over the past four years, the trust programme has assisted dozens of youths across the Ancient County, with a wide variety of items including bicycles, electronic tablets, educational material, uniforms, household items, kitchen utensils, footwear, cricket gear and sports equipment. Foster stated that the former West Indies batting maestro was very close to the club as its President, Keith Foster was his eldest child and he was close to the club for over 25 years before his illness. Butcher personally sponsored the Basil Butcher cricket development programme for many years and assisted many youth cricketers in Berbice with personal cricket gears including West Indies middle-order batsman Shimron Hetmyer, Sean Perriera, Shemaine Campbell, Assad Fudadin, and Clinton Pestano among numerous others.
Butcher also assisted by offering his service as a mentor to members of the club and also supported other programmes of the RHTY&SC, including the annual award ceremony, say yes/say no campaign, Christmas charity programme and the annual Cricket Academy.

Butcher, a product of Port Mourant Cricket Club, played 44 Test Matches for the West Indies, scoring 3104 runs at an average of 43.11 with seven centuries and 16 half-centuries. He was named Wisden Cricketer of The Year in 1970 and later served as a selector. He was inducted as an honorary member of the RHTY&SC in 1996 and also received the club’s highest award, the Dolphin Award of Excellence.

Activities
Foster, who is also the former President of the Berbice Cricket Board, stated that the NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour teams in 2024 would be distributing 25 bicycles to youths and institutions like the Mayor and Town Council of Rose Hall. The teams would also be handing over cricket gear to promising club members,12 electronic tablets to outstanding students, food hampers to the less fortunate while hundreds of school bags with educational materials would be handed out to students preparing for secondary school. The NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour First Division Team in September would also undertake a series of activities to mark the 54th anniversary of Rose Hall becoming a township on the 20th of September 1990. The activities would be held under the theme “Simply the best” and would include a cross-country race, 10/10 cricket match, fitness walk, say no to drugs march, food hampers for 54 families, medical outreach, evening of music and educational competitions for schoolchildren such as essay and poster competitions.

RHTY&SC Cricket Manager Robby Kissoonlall hailed the hard work of the cricketers in obtaining the necessary items and urged the youths who would have been receiving bicycles, cricket gear, school bags and electronic tablets to take proper care of them.
The Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour First Division Team are the most dominant team in Berbice and are currently being led by national player Clinton Pestano. Players such as Kevin Sinclair, Kevlon Anderson, Eon Hooper, Silas Tyndall, Junior Sinclair, Shemaine Campbelle, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond, Jonathan Rampersaud, Jeremy Sandia, Matthew Pottaya, Jason Sinclair, Ramzan Koobir, Troy Matheson, and Keith Simpson are all current members of the team. The RHTY&SC since 1992 has won a total of 121 tournaments at all levels and has produced 123 players for Berbice and Guyana.
Additionally, 17 of its members have gained selection to the West Indies teams or the United States senior team.