"FARNHAM has plenty going for it, and I certainly found there was enough to do when I was growing up here," said the Surrey and England cricketer Graham Thorpe when his name was added to the Famous Sons of Farnham display at a ceremony on Sunday.

The display, by Farnham in Bloom, is on Sainsbury's wall in South Street and Graham was invited to install a commemorative plaque.

Asked for his advice to today's youngsters growing up in the town, he said: "My parents were always interested in encouraging what my brothers and I were doing.

"I suggest youngsters are encouraged to take up a sport with friends. I played sport through school and did work experience at the Sports Centre."

Graham, who went to Weydon School and Farnham College, spoke of the importance of giving that extra bit of dedication to whatever a person is out to achieve.

Asked how he relaxed nowadays, he said his greatest enjoyment was in spending time with his two children.

Farnham in Bloom chairman Madge Green said Graham's name was being added to the ones already celebrated in the display.

The others, she said, were sadly all dead "so it is a special joy to find that their splendid tradition is still in fine working order and that you are here in person today."

She recalled that Graham was born in Farnham Hospital at 7-30 am on August 1, 1969 – "and we even know what you weighed!"

At the age of 13 he was playing for the Wrecclesham Cricket Club's first team and at 15 for the Farnham first team.

Joining Surrey County CC at the age of 16, he was awarded a county cap in 1991. He also played football in the England Under-18s side.

His first Test match was at Trent Bridge against Australia in 1993, when he scored 114 not out.

Said Mrs Green: "He has this year brought further honour to our country, playing a successful role in the tours to India and New Zealand, including scoring a double century in New Zealand. He is clearly a Farnham chap we can be proud to call our own.

"We are also honouring here today an 18th century Farnham man, the cricketer William (Silver Billy) Beldham. He was born at Wrecclesham in 1766 and died in 1862. He practised, I understand, on the very same Wrecclesham ground that you, Graham, played on.

"He played for the Surrey and All-England teams and was remarkable in that he played for 35 seasons in top-class cricket, appearing in his last match at Lord's, Gentlemen v Players, in 1821 at the age of 55. Wonderful!"

The other Famous Sons of Farnham remembered in the display include William Cobbett, writer and Parliamentarian; William Willett, originator of Daylight Saving; John Henry

Knight, builder of the first petrol driven motor car in Britain; George Sturt (George Bourne), author of "The Wheelwright's Shop"; Mike Hawthorn, Britain's first motor racing world champion; the Rev Augustus Toplady, who wrote the hymn "Rock of Ages"; and Sir Peter Pears, the famous tenor.

It is hoped that Jonny Wilkinson, the Newcastle and England rugby star, will shortly be available to add his plaque to the display.

Commented Mrs Green: "It is amazing that so much renowned talent was born and fostered here. Surely few if any other towns or cities can compare – there must be something in the air!"

Mrs Green specially thanked deputy chairman Audrey Jackman and design sub-committee chairman Pam Easey, Ken and Roberta Jones for their work on repositioning containers that had had to be so expensively replaced.

A basket of flowers was sent to Mrs Thorpe, Graham's mother, who was unable to