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Former Somerset player Eric Hill at the County Ground to renew his membership

Expectations for the new season is high among Somerset supporters and memberships continue to flood in at the County Ground in Taunton

SOMERSET
19-Mar-2003
Expectations for the new season is high among Somerset supporters and memberships continue to flood in at the County Ground in Taunton.
With the days until the new season slipping away quickly Cidermen fans are joining up in considerable numbers, despite their side being relegated in both the championship and the National League last season.
Recruiting Ian Botham to spearhead the 2003 membership campaign seems to have been a masterstroke by the new chairman Giles Clarke, judging by the number of postal and personal applications that were being dealt with by the office staff this morning.
Membership secretary Jo Arnold told me: "Membership applications keep on coming in which is very pleasing and if it carries on like this we could well end up with more members than we had last year."
One familiar face who called into the Colin Atkinson Pavilion to have his photograph taken and renew his membership today was former Somerset opening batsman Eric Hill.
Eric, who was born and brought up in Taunton, played in seventy two first class matches for the county between 1947 and 1951, and scored over 2000 runs before injury forced him to retire early. After he left the first class game he became a well known and respected journalist.
The former opening bat,who will become an octogenarian during the summer, was in good spirits when I spoke to him and he told me that he was in good health. He is a regular visitor to the ground in the season, and like everybody else is hoping to see Somerset regain their first division status in 2003.