” Lara The England Chronicles” Launched

by Christopher Williams

The Empire Club had the honour of being selected  as the place where Cricket icon Brian Charles Lara would launch his book ” Lara The England Chronicles”. 

In spite of heavy afternoon rain, last Friday, scores of Lara’ fans came out to the event, many of whom purchased his book which Lara signed while graciously accepting the outpouring of admiration for him.

Former teammate and roommate Roland Holder delivered the opening remarks telling a few off the field encounters with Brian Lara punctuated with humour as he credited Lara as the driving force in his cricket career.

President of Empire Club Melvin “Ibo” Oxley presented Lara with the club’s cap and shirt. In a show of great appreciation he unveiled a framed photo of Lara which will be added to the club’s prestigious wall of test players from the Empire Club.

During his remarks Lara spoke about the 2004 Champion Trophy where due to a gritty 71 run partnership with Browne and Bradshaw the West Indies took victory from England in a late evening thriller. Lara said it was one of his best memories in his career.

The gathering included a large contingent from England, many past and present cricketers and youth cricketers from the Empire Youth Cricket Programme. In his presentation, Lara thanked all who made the event possible and said that he felt humbled to see that so many people would face the bad weather to be with him. He also expressed his pleasure with Fairfield Books, Miller Publishing Company Ltd and Empire Club for being instrumental in the successful launch of his book promising to also launch his next book in the same way.