While friends and associates of Mike Curtis thought he was relaxing and enjoying his retirement years, in actual fact he has been beavering away, writing a book on the art of Wicket Keeping.

At a function put together by the Mike Dormer and Ben Yock of “Willows Cricket Club” of Christchurch, Don Neely and Doug Catley, well known figures in Wellington cricket, and David Bain and Karori Cricket Club, and held at the Catley Curtis Nimmo Pavilion, Karori Park on 4 November 2008, some thirty fellow cricket friends and members of his family joined Mike to celebrate the launch of his book, “ The Art of Wicket Keeping“.

After reading the list of apologies from friends in Australia and around New Zealand, David Bain welcomed all present, and introduced Don Neely the MC, Mike Dormer and Ben Yock. Mike Dormer and Bruce Morrison, old friends of Mike’s presented interesting and different aspects of his career, and Don Neely made a very interesting comparison between painter Michelangelo and Mike Curtis, in the time spent fine tuning their respective skills, - in Mike’s case, his nimble and stylish wicket keeping.

Mike then signed books, that can be purchased by emailing: Mike Dormer (june.stanbury@indfish.co.nz), or Don Neely ( donneely@yahoo.com), or David Bain ( david.bain@paradise.net.nz).

All in all, a very enjoyable function, and a fitting recognition of Mike’s enormous contributions in a wide range of fields around the game of cricket.

Please click on this link to view photos of the book launch

By clicking on the first image you can view a larger image of all of the photos