David Gower and The Country Food Trust

In the latest edition of our Newsletter we caught up with cricketing legend David Gower to find out more about how sport gave him confidence and why he is a supporter of our charity of the month, the Country Food Trust.

Forward defence and cover drives…

New circumstances bring new challenges and inevitably bring change. I have faced all sorts of challenges, many of them on sports fields from school days onwards, most of those on cricket fields once it was firmly established that cricket was not just my strongest suit but was also going to be my career, and, of course, there are always personal challenges to meet day in, day out.

How one responds to these issues is what defines character. How does one respond to pressure? Is one a leader or a follower? Do you crave success? Do you fear failure? The questions are endless, yet the answers are key and if we are honest with ourselves, we will probably never know all the answers anyway. Not only that but the answers can change too as we gain experience and new perspectives.

One can also question whether character in the positive sense (given that the word character in its basic form is like weather in that it covers an entire range) is just a given, one of those things we start with and if we are blessed with it so much the better, or whether character can indeed be formed.

Sport is a good test of this at all levels and I do indeed believe that through sport we can build character and confidence and become stronger and more productive because of it.

In my case I can truly say that it has given me everything. I came through my school days with good academic results, the right number of O and A Levels, grades good enough to read law at UCL, and yet what gave me more self-confidence was the status gained by being a bit of a schoolboy hero at sport. 1^st XI cricket from the age of 14, 1^st XI hockey, 1^st XV (if only for half of one season) rugby all gave me a modicum of kudos and helped overcome what was an inherent shyness.

Fast forward to a cricket career which I can look back on mostly with great pride and I can see myself growing in stature year by year as that career progressed. Captaining an England team is always rightly stated by each and every new incumbent as an honour and privilege and one hopes that results go the right way and that one’s reputation at the end of it remains intact. That in itself provided me with Everest like highs to set against Marianas Trench lows. Character forming indeed. Winning in India in 1984-85 was a major achievement, the Ashes win the following summer was the pinnacle both as a captain and as a batsman, the two ‘Blackwash’ series against the West Indies I came to accept in the end as almost inevitable given that those teams from the Caribbean in the mid-80s were probably the best in world history, and the 1989 Ashes defeat was one of those epic lows that left me battered, bruised and much chastened.

As a batsman one is very much in the firing line and with TV coverage ever more pinpoint sharp and analysis ever more probing one knows that the spotlight is always very focused upon you. Having said that, the trick is simply not to let that thought even enter one’s head out in the middle, where it is all about using one’s unfettered instinct to react as best one can to each and every ball and to deal with everything thrown at you in the spirit of the fiercest competition. At best it is simply exhilarating, at worst, not that you are ever allowed to admit it, deeply terrifying.

Some cope, some don’t. One of my most eminent colleagues, at least in the cricketing sense, was Ian Botham, now of course Baron Botham, a position which he has vowed to use to promote and defend where necessary country issues. Self-belief, not to mention a shedload of natural talent, was his core. I once asked him on a stage at Lord’s if he had ever had a moment of self-doubt and his answer was an immediate and definite “No”. As a long-time friend and colleague, I know full well he would have had such moments but that ability to dismiss the negatives is invaluable.

A determination to succeed and to make things happen is one of the great attributes, which brings me to the Country Food Trust (CFT) and its founder and driving force, Tim Woodward.

Tim left what one might describe as a proper job to set up CFT on the simple premise that there was a major benefit in using that vast supply of fresh and very tasty meat that is the by-product of the shooting industry to help feed those for whom good wholesome food was hard to come by. Yes, a lot of pheasant and partridge is sent to game larders and kitchens both in this country and back into Europe but there was a huge opportunity to use this healthy lean meat as a way of feeding the poorer in our society and so the CFT began producing pouches of pheasant and partridge in casserole and curry form that could be given to food banks on the premise that for each one sold another could, and would, be given free to those food banks.

Shooting is always going to be a divisive issue, with those on one side who feel that the £2 billion per annum shooting industry is very much part of country life and brings all sorts of benefits to rural communities set against those who see it as some sort of ritual slaughter of defenceless birds enjoyed solely by the rich and privileged. As one who shoots, I have good friends who take their responsibilities as landowners incredibly seriously. The Bereleigh estate in Hampshire is one very fine example. It is primarily a well worked farm but the land set aside for shooting is just as well managed and the woods, hedge rows and cover crops are all part of an estate that is at the forefront of and involves much of the community there.

One of the key issues with shooting is what happens to the concomitant casualties and this is where the Country Food Trust finds itself beautifully placed not only to mop up the surplus but to play its own part in a major benefit to a much broader sector of our society.

It is my happy role as a patron and as an ambassador for the Country Food Trust to help highlight the good work done and to pay tribute to the efforts of Tim and his team for the extraordinary progress they have made with the number of packages delivered now numbering over two million.

David Gower

David is described as one of the most stylish left handed batsman of his era, becoming one of the most capped and highest scoring players during his period. He played 117 Test matches and 114 One Day Internationals for England and scored 8,231 and 3,170 runs respectively. He also led England to an Ashes victory in 1985. Until recently David was the main Sky Sports presenter for international cricket alongside another great CFT supporter, Lord Ian Botham.

Lycetts is delighted to be an official supporter of the Country Food Trust.

For further information see www.thecountryfoodtrust.org