Cup Match bade farewell to one of its most passionate overseas followers last week.

Lawrence Taggs, an English lawyer, journalist and later a University lecturer, died last Thursday in the UK following an eight year battle with cancer ? thus ending a 40 year relationship with the annual mid-summer classic which began in 1964.

The remains of Taggs, single, who played amateur cricket in his native Newcastle, will be interred following a brief funeral ceremony today. He was 60.

Taggs came to Bermuda in the summer of 64 and stayed at the former Buena Vista Guest House in Paget where he met then waitress Delmar Smith ? mother of former top cricketer Noel Gibbons.

What ensued would be a 40-year relationship bonded together by a common love and genuine passion for Cup Match.

For the next four decades Taggs would ?faithfully? fly to Bermuda to partake in the annual festivities and renew his friendship with Smith.

However due to his long ordeal with cancer, Taggs did not witness the superlative batting feats of Clay Smith or Saleem Mukuddem this summer ? the first match he had missed since 1964.

Taggs initially supported St.George?s ? perhaps influenced by Gibbons? involvement with the East Enders ? but later leaned toward Somerset.

Smith fondly recalled the ?good? old days with her overseas friend.

?This year I felt so lost without him (Taggs),? she said. ?He was getting ready to come this year but he took sick.

?He came here as a visitor (in 1964) around the time of Cup Match and at the time I was the only person at the guest house who had any knowledge of Cup Match. So I took him to Cup Match and after that we went together every year.?

She added: ?He would visit Bermuda every year around Cup Match for three weeks and this would have been his 40th year. He just loved the atmosphere (at the match) and the way people enjoyed the game . . . and that?s what kept him coming back every year. And he is definitely going to be a big miss.?