The Douai Society Newsletter Summer 2009 - Douai Abbey

Tony Coombes (1913- 2006)
Tony Coombes, whose death was reported in our 2007 newsletter, was an accomplished cricketer as were
his two younger brothers Jerry and Michael who all played cricket for the Douai Society when the
opportunity offered. Before he came to Douai Tony’s education took place at St. Augustine’s Preparatory
School, Ramsgate, remarkable (among other things, no doubt) for the fact that it spawned an enthusiastic
Old Boys Cricket Club , the Old Augustinians, for which Tony, his two brothers and a number of other,
less qualified, Douai cricketing old boys played over the years until the “O.A.”s were integrated with the
Old Dowegians Cricket Club.
The following is an appreciation of Tony Coombes, written by his long-time friend Bryan Peers for the
O.A. newsletter, which may be of interest to O.A. and Douai cricketers who knew Tony :-
*****
Tony Coombes who died in July 2006 at the age of 93 was a prominent member of the O.A. Cricket Club
before the war and a prolific run-getter in Hong Kong where he pursued his medical career and
experienced internment under the Japanese. In his late sixties he hit a blithe half-century against the
Douai School XI captained by his son, John.
Tony was a widower for 25 years, having lost Phillipa, sister of another O.A., and he outlived his two
much younger brothers, prominent O.A. cricketers, who both lost their lives in air mishaps before the age
of 40.
The two stories that follow reached me from reliable sources, and I believe them to be true.
The O.A. cricketers being in Ramsgate to play the School, closing time at “The Paragon” public house
threatened, unsuccessfully, to foreclose a convivial evening, for the Monastic cellar was there to be raided
in just such an emergency. Mission complete, Tony raised a finger to his lips for silence, whereupon the
wine bottle under his arm obeyed the laws of gravity and smashed on the stone steps. Napkins from the
Monastic refectory were enlisted to mop up the evidence before being thrown into the harbour.
When the Police reported blood stained napkins in the water Abbot Adrian Taylor, M.C. wondered
whether the Old Boys might throw light on the mystery and, on receiving a full confession, requested that
the next time the name of the Abbey be removed from the linen before disposal.
As a young doctor playing cricket against Coney Hatch Asylum, Tony took a brilliant catch, throwing
himself full length in the deep. A lady sitting under a tree was heard by him to say to her companion -
“Not bad for a lunatic”.
Tony’s raid on the Monastic refectory at Ramsgate was re-enacted by his two younger brothers years
later, this time in a raid on the kitchen of the Monastic refectory at Douai during a Douai Cricket Week
with food as the target. Having filled the pockets of his sports jacket with eggs, his brother Michael
announced that he was going to enjoy a meal of boiled eggs. His brother Jerry, standing right behind him,
hit him smartly on each pocket saying “They’ll be much nicer scrambled”.
Bryan Peers (39/41)
* * * * * * * *