Samuel (Sammy) Haire

For someone who never played the game Sammy gave a large proportion of his latter years to North Down CC in many different guises. One of his greatest gifts to the club of course was his talented cricketing son Robin, followed by two talented grandsons in Ryan and Andrew. This legacy was but one of his contributions and it was as a groundsman that perhaps he is best remembered, spending time and skill fine tuning what was a great natural asset. With Jim Barry and Eddie Doherty he discussed club affairs and ways to move forward in what became known as the Thursday Club when the trio would meet unofficially over a ‘wee dram’.

He loved his cricket and basked in the successes of the 1st XI in their period of NCU dominance. He travelled to Barbados with the club in 1984, became President from 1995/96 and then to the supreme honour of Patron. He was always a wise councillor but above all a gentleman held in the highest regard.