Remembering Conway Thorns

Conway Thorns (14.01.1940 – 14.12.2024)

On Saturday 14th December 2024 Conway Thorns, a stalwart of local cricket in the county, passed away peacefully at home after a short illness. Conway was the President of Henfield Cricket Club, the club where we he had had a lifelong connection.

Having been born in the village in 1941 he made his debut playing senior cricket for Henfield in 1954 at the age of 13. He became the 6th generation of Thorns’ to play at Henfield (dating back to 1838), and this family tradition continues to this day with both his son and his grandson Seb playing for Henfield Cricket Club.  

His playing career at Henfield spanned the period from 1954 through to 2008 and he was one of a very select group of players who played for the club in 6 different decades. 

Conway had a great interested in local history and had looked after the records for Henfield Cricket Club and had a large archive of information. 

He regularly interacted with the cricket museum at Sussex County Cricket club where he shared club information for their collection. 18 months ago he was delighted when he was invited to appear as a guest on the Sussex Cricket Museum podcast to share to a wider audience the club history dating back to the early 18th century.  

With Conway’s passing exactly 1 month short of his 84th birthday, he certainly had a long and eventful innings. The Sussex Cricket Family have lost another great supporter of the game and Henfield Cricket Club have lost one of the stalwarts of the club.