Cricket-loving Cockfosters and North Southgate minister Rabbi Yisroel Fine was bowled over by one of the gifts he received at reception marking his imminent retirement — a bat signed by this summer’s Australian touring team.

Listing some of the long-serving minister’s achievements, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis cited the establishment of the Wolfson-Hillel Primary School, the Hadley Wood community, the Cockfosters Learning Centre and the Southgate mikveh.

Responding, Rabbi Fine told the 450 guests that it was emotional for him and his family “to be leaving a community whose members have become more than close friends, but family themselves”.
The programme also featured songs and poems from the grandchildren of the rabbi and his wife Judy.