ONE of Falmouth Cricket Club's most familiar faces will be honoured by a match to celebrate his 60-year association with the club on Sunday.

Tom Meneer, aged 91, has held numerous roles in the club and is currently president and an honorary life member.

He told the Falmouth Packet: "I watch every home game and I always tell the captain, if you're one short, I'll play."

The left handed batsman and left arm slow bowler's love affair with the game began from an early age on his father's farm in Egloshayle, near Wadebridge.

"My two older brothers made a bat from any wood they could find. There wasn't the money around in those days. They'd use anything for a ball and one day they asked me if I wanted to play. I soon discovered why, because I had to go and fetch the ball!"

As a young boy he used to cycle to Pencarrow Cricket Club and wait outside the changing room. The captain Harry Pearce would sometimes come out and ask him to field for them.

He joined the RAF at the age of 18 in 1944 but did not take part in any operations, because World War II ended shortly afterwards.

"I always said that when I joined up, the Germans and Japanese saw me coming and packed it in," he joked.

"I have suffered from tinnitus ever since - we'd quite often spend four or five hours a day with the constant sound of the engines and there was no protection for your ears back then."

His last role was as a rear gunner before coming out after four years and joining Wadebridge Cricket Club, for whom he played before moving to Falmouth to run his insurance business. He made his debut for Cornwall in 1949.

"Falmouth Cricket Club is a lovely club, with friendly people who spend hours looking after it and helping out. It is a very good club."

Tom looked after the pitch for 21 years and also captained the first team for five seasons. His son David is now the groundsman, while his other son Keith, also a former Cornwall player, occasionally helps out Falmouth's fourth team.

"Every home game I like to walk around the ground twice and say hello and thank you to everyone who has turned up to watch. Then I sit down in my seat which is in memory of my wife Phyllis, who was the caterer at the club for 20 years."

Sunday's match will be 30 overs a side and will see a Chairman's XI take on at Falmouth XI, starting at 1pm.

The Chairman's team includes Adrian Noott, Antony Angove and Christian Purchase, who have all played for both Falmouth and Cornwall. Also on parade will be legendary Cornish spin bowler David Toseland, who took 440 wickets in 162 Championship matches for his county.

The bar will be open all day, and there will be a barbecue in the afternoon and early evening.