Dear Members and Friends

The coming year is the 75th Anniversary of our UK Tour – from 1929 to 2010, missing only the war years. I feel we should all be immensely proud of this achievement.

To share this historic milestone with members and friends, we have three days of festivities during the 2010 Tour including cricket, golf, dining, and plenty of opportunities to renew old friendships and relive memories. Our aim is to re-capture the magic atmosphere that we all so enjoyed at our 75th birthday lunch-eon in the Long Room at Lord‟s in 2003.

We are delighted that the Club is thriving. Three of our former Colts have, or are, playing for Kenya and our UK fixture card now reflects the high standard of our cricket. Our golf section is also successful and expanding.

Our Development Fund, thanks to the generosity of our members, has been very effective for the whole Club, reviving the Colts section in Nairobi, providing scholarships for young Kenyans to play on the UK Tour and improving kit and ground facilities at Nairobi Club.

So, on the back of these successes, we are planning to celebrate the 75th Anniversary in style with a weekend of festivities, inviting all Kongonis from around the world to meet up with old friends again.

One of the cricket matches during this weekend sees Kongonis take on the Stragglers of Asia at Sheffield Park - the historic, recently restored ground that was home to England v Australia Test matches in the late 1800‟s. In addition to the cricket, there will be two golf competitions: a Club Member/Guest Invitational and the inaugural Club Open Championship. There will also be a 75th Tour Anniversary Dinner at Cottesmore Golf and Country Club, which is near Pease Pottage, in Sussex.

Full booking details for the 75th Anniversary Celebrations can be found here - please book early to help with the planning of what prom-ises to be a very special year for the Kongonis.

You will also see that our season starts earlier than usual this year with a new fixture in May against Old Cranleighans at Cranleigh School thanks to David Waters.

Finally, and to cap it all, we play the Duke of Norfolk‟s XI at Arundel Castle in September. We are indeed honoured to get this fixture, through the efforts of Neil Trestrail, and I hope that it will be well supported on this most beautiful ground.