The Foundation Office was delighted to welcome Roy Kings back to the School because he takes a very keen interest in how RGS is getting on as well as actively supporting pupils through his generous regular giving. However, on this occasion Roy was making a different gift to support the School’s archives. He presented the School with his copies of the Wisden Cricket Almanac editions that cover his time at RGS. 
 
Lovers of this most quintessentially English of games will need no explanation but for the uninitiated, Wisden’s is the cricketer’s bible published annually and containing a treasure trove of statistics, match reports and information relating to players, clubs and critically, to schools.
 
During his school years Roy was a cricketer of outstanding ability. So much so that he captained the 1^stXI for three years and his prolific batting earned him inclusion in the Wisden reports for ‘Worcester Royal Grammar School’ for five seasons from 1942 through to 1946.
 
In 1942 Roy would have been the equivalent of today’s Year Nine but already he was established in the first XI. Wisden records he played 14 innings with 4 not outs scoring 215 runs and posting a highest knock of 48* (* denoting ‘not out’).
 
He followed up his debut summer with some marginal improvements in 1943 when he played the highest number of individual innings for RGS (11) recording 3 not outs, 233 runs and a highest score of 53*.
 
Roy’s 15 innings in 1944 included 2 not outs and delivered 275 runs (second only to P.J. Whitcombe who achieved 276 off his 15 innings), and a highest score of 77*.
 
During his fourth season in the top team Roy really came into his own with a 105* forming part of his 563 runs from 20 innings. The next most accomplished performance was from P.J. Whitcombe who recorded 542 with a top score of 88*. This dynamic duo powered each other onto great knocks for the School.
 
However, Roy saved his most telling contribution for last. In 1946, during what was his final year gracing Flagge Meadow for the School he was the stand out player for his team. From 21 innings he was not out 5 times, he scored 475 runs and was agonisingly close to a second century recording 97*. 
 
Roy emigrated to New Zealand after school and only returned a few years ago following the death of his wife. In 2016, when celebrating 130 years of Cricket on Flagge Meadow, Mike Wilkinson had the pleasure of presenting Roy, the oldest RGS Captain present, with the scorecard from his 105* knock. Roy’s achievement is recorded on the batting honours board in the Pavilion along with numerous other RGS Cricketing luminaries such as Tim Curtis (1970-78), Imran Khan (1971-72) and more recently Ed Pollock (1999-11) of Warwickshire. 
 
Statistics can sometimes lack colour but reading of Roy’s achievements along with his RGS teammates has the power to transport even the casual reader to summer days long ago in Worcester.