THE term Corinthian spirit might have been coined to describe former president and Kent County Cricket Club stalwart Don Beney.

Having just celbrated his 90th birthday some may describe him as a throwback, but the man universally known to generations of county players as 'Uncle Don' would probably take that as a compliment.

One thing can be fairly said, however, that in an era of director’s of cricket, players’ agents and PR firms running infrequent end-of-season club dinners, St Lawrence will never see his like again.

He is the fan who became one of the county's most diligent and longest serving administrators, never missing a general committee meeting in 18 years, and who, in 1993, became club president. He is one of two existing vice presidents.

Yet that barely scratches the surface of Mr Beney’s love affair with cricket in Kent.

He recalled: "I watched my first first-class game of cricket aged 10, when my father took me to Lord’s to see Duleepsinhji play in the Varsity match of 1925. Then I first went to see Kent play Surrey at Blackheath in 1926 with the likes of Woolley, Hardinge, Ashdown and for them Sandham, Fender and Hobbs.

"My second Kent game was at The Mote in 1927 when Percy Chapman scored 260 and Geoff Legg 101 against Lancashire, having come together at 70 for five they added 284 in two-and-a-half hours which I remember only too well.

"They were all household names of course and although I loved to watch Woolley it was all Les Ames by the time I got to school, I even had permission to be late for breakfast if they were broadcasting the Test on the radio from abroad."

Born in Beckenham in 1915, the cricketing romance started at the tender age of 11 when he took nine wickets for 11 runs for Clare House School against a Bromley preparatory school.

It blossomed in 1929 when he qualified for St Lawrence College in Ramsgate where he became the star of the school bowling attack, 100 and 220-yard sprint champion and victor ludorum in 1934.

That same year he joined Beckenham, was picked for the Young Amateurs of Kent against Surrey at The Oval and was invited to attend Kent nets. But with a first allegiance to the family’s textile machinery firm, White Child and Beney Ltd, he was destined to follow his father’s footsteps across Europe as a travelling salesman.

"I travelled a lot and went to Czechoslovakia to learn about flax spinning and pick up the German language, but by March 1939 things were hotting up a bit in terms of European politics," said Mr Beney.

"I had just seen a Jewish customer and taken an order for a couple of machines, I was driving my little Morris Eight out of the city when German outriders and a staff car passed me in the opposite direction - it was the very day Hitler marched into Prague.

"People with swastika armbands were controlling the traffic and although I had a little union jack flying on my bonnet they didn’t take the slightest bit of notice of me."

Mr Beney returned home to be called up to the RASC and, in rising to the rank of captain, saw active service in Northern Ireland, Normandy, Germany and Norway before demobilisation in 1946. It was in Ireland where he met and married his wife Pam at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh in 1941, a marriage that has spanned 64 years.

With cricket back on the agenda, Mr Beney became a member of Kent, started his own business and become a founder member and treasurer of the Kent County Cricket Supporters’ Club.

"I was recommended for co-option to Kent’s general committee by Stanley Glynn and Oliver Grace in March 1974 and went through to 1992 without missing a meeting," he added with a glint of pride in the eye.

"I remember my first visit to the committee room very well, there was barely room to get around that famous table, but my first meeting was held at the council chambers in Maidstone.

"They were interesting times, what with fund raising to improve the pavilion then build the Cowdrey stand, committee work and I also became chairman of the Kent Cricket Youth Trust and president of Chislehurst and West Kent Cricket Club.

"As I ran my own firm I wouldn’t arrange a business trip if there was a danger of it clashing with a committee meeting. There haven’t been a lot of summer holidays in this house either.

"It was a tremendous honour, obviously the most controversial period surrounded the Kerry Packer affair and that wasn’t a nice business particularly as I’d been on the benefit committee’s for Knott and Underwood.

"As an amateur cricketer myself I suppose I find it disappointing that so much of cricket is commercialised nowadays and in some ways that members are being bled."

In between times, Mr Beney started running annual golf matches at Chislehurst Golf Club and Royal Cinque Ports in Deal. From 1980 through to 2003 the Beney golf days helped raise £190,000 for various beneficiaries collecting almost £400 for David Nicholls to over 4,000 for the likes of Matthew Fleming and Mark Ealham.

After retiring in 2003 Mr Beney, from West Wickham, was presented with his own ‘This is Your Life’ album and said: “It was always a pleasure to do these things, anything to do with Kent cricket was never too much hard work as far as I was concerned.

"Alan Ealham was the first to receive over £1,000 from one of my days, I still remember the look of delight on his face when I handed him the cheque, those sort of things made it all worthwhile."

But news of his biggest accolade arrived in the post in September 1992 with a letter from David Kemp, inviting Mr Beney to become club president for 1993.

"I remember opening the letter and shouting over to Pam 'I’ve got it, I’ve got it!' Then I was on the phone straight away to thank David very much. In my view it’s the greatest honour one can get to be president of Kent, more especially so as I’d come up through the ranks.

"We had a marvellous time and I suppose the highlight of the year was Ladies Day at Canterbury Week in August when people were so kind and appreciative."