My Father John Brown or as he was known by all in the cricket family "JD" has recently passed away.

He loved cricket and loved developing young cricketers and was coaching until the end of 2021 season at the age of 84.

He was involved at Derbyshire CCC as young player himself for the club and ground, Coach and a role he held for 20 years Derbyshire County Coaching Organiser.

Within this role he ran junior age group coaching around schools and the County age group teams which many youngsters not only got an opportunity to play the game but develop into International players. When he retired from his employment at Derbyshire he was elected on to the Committee and subsequently made a life member.

He had an active involvement with the County Club from volunteer to Life Member for 50 years..............

He would be seen at the boundary edge on a week night watching developing junior players in youth cricket not because he had to be there, but because he wanted to watch the young players he was working with hone the skills they were working on.

On a Saturday he'd be out again hunting that young talented player playing senior cricket who may not have had the opportunity of a trial for the County he loved.

He devoted a life to the County Club and was instrumental along with lifetime friend Phil Russell in resurrecting the County 2nd XI in 1977 as he knew this was the life blood for Derbyshire to develop players to enable the County to compete in the future.

Together they'd scour the leagues around the country for young talent. They unearthed many gems over the years together with many going on to represent Derbyshire and England.

With this in mind the family have decided we'd like to set up a Scholarship in Dads name to enable young cricketers to have the opportunity to become the best player they can be.

This could take the form of giving them access to coaching, a bat or even contribute to a winter away so he could continue to help young cricketers within Derbyshire.