The History Of Charlbury Cricket Club

The cricket club in Charlbury was founded in 1874. The earliest existing written evidence is a poster in the Charlbury Museum advertising an August Bank Holiday sports day "on the new cricket ground" in 1880. We know that, while he was a teacher at Burford School, the illustrious England batsman Gilbert Jessop, affectionately known as "The Croucher", played at Charlbury (although we do not know for which visiting team) as we received a letter in 1974, at the time of the Club's centenary, from a 91-year-old former member who said that he had first played cricket at Charlbury in 1901, "the year in which Gilbert Jessop played there".

There is also a story that the great W. G. Grace may have played here. Again in 1974, we tracked down W. G.'s great niece, a Kathleen Grace who was living in Malvern, but she was unable to confirm this, although she did say that there had been family relatives living in Enstone whom he visited from time to time. The evidence for him coming to Charlbury was a photograph of him standing outside Laurie Milton's shop (now Fairfax) and so, possibly, as he was passing through Charlbury (perhaps in a trap after coming here by train?) he posed for a picture. In November 2007, concrete evidence emerged that the Grace family had ties with Charlbury going back to the early 1700s and that one family member was a former landlord of the Rose & Crown.

We also know that Susan Thomson, who subsequently became our Club President for some years, had, as a child, lived on her father's farm at Beckley where he had a private cricket ground on which W. G., an old family friend, played from time to time. She generously gave the Club an autographed photograph of W. G., a treasured Club possession.

The Club has a copy of a photograph of a line of cricket bats propped up outside Horniblow the printer's shop (now News and Things) in Sheep Street in ca. 1900.

By the early 20th century, if not before, the Club played on Nine Acres and we have a copy of a photograph of a young Walter Busby, in knickerbocker trousers, holding a cricket bat there in 1908.

The Club moved to its current ground in 1912, renting it from the Cornbury Estate, then owned by the Watney family and now by Lord Rotherwick. A player called Chris Hadland is reputed to have hit the first six to strike the old oak tree by the gate into our current carpark, a mighty blow! There is another story, told by Fred Thornett and Walter Busby, that in one match, Fred hit the ball into a rabbit warren and that 26 runs had been taken before the call of "dead ball" rang out. A further tale purports that Charlbury were once dismissed by Stonesfield for 0!

Bert Shayler, possibly playing on the field between the current ground and the railway line, once hit a six onto a passing goods train on its way to Worcester and earned the nickname "Bragger" because he asked so many people "Did I ever tell you 'ow I 'it the ball to Worcester?" It is alleged that the Charlbury station master, a Mr. Parsons, was playing that day and telephoned during the tea interval to his colleagues in Worcester who apparently found the ball and returned it on a subsequent up train. Sadly, if this is so, the ball has been lost.

After the Second World War, much work was done by the likes of Bill Parsons and Lawn Smith to get the ground back into useable condition. There was a very small and, by today's standards, primitive, "pavilion" in the top corner of the ground nearest to Walcot Farm. At teatime, the Charlbury players went home for a cuppa and a sandwich while the visiting XI were entertained at the White Hart, at that time run by Cathy Walker, a great friend of the Club. And it was to the White Hart that the teams would repair after play had ended.

In late 1968 the Club purchased a disused wooden pavilion from a club in Kidlington and erected it on the ground. For the first time electricity, running water, a loo and showers became possible and Cathy Walker made the Club a generous interest-free loan to establish a bar there. The pavilion is still in use today.

In 1974 we celebrated our centenary with a special all-day match versus MCC, in which Tom Graveney and other stars played. The Club managed to hold out for a draw when, with the last pair at the crease, a massive thunderstorm erupted and swamped the ground! One of the MCC team then organized a match a year later between the Club and the visiting Indian World Cup XI.

Five years later a special match was played between the Club and the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club at Charlbury in support of the Primary Club for blind cricketers.

In 1999, to commemorate the Club's 125th anniversary, the President's XI, for its annual fixture versus the Club, was captained by that great West Indian player Deryck Murray.

By the late 1970s the Club had established a youth section. It caters for both boys and girls and, since the 2007 season, there has been both a women's section of the Club and a pioneering "Tots" section for the very young ones.

The Club has three sides in the OCA League and a non-League Sunday team. It plays indoor cricket in a winter league in Banbury (which we won in 2008!) and takes part in a number of outdoor competitions in the summer. In 2007, in addition to the new women's section we had 55 senior playing members and almost 170 members in our thriving youth section.

With all this activity, the current pavilion is too small for our purposes and plans were already in place to build an extension when the pavilion was comprehensively flooded in July 2007. The Club immediately launched a fundraising appeal towards the cost of constructing a new pavilion above the redrawn floodplain. Planning permission was granted in December 2007 and the appeal has already brought in a substantial proportion of the money we need. At present, it is expected that building work on the ground will commence before the end of 2008.

It is intended that the new pavilion will provide the necessary facilities for disabled cricketers to play both on-field and off-field matches. With so much cricket being played, a second field has been leased by the Cornbury Estate and is now into its third year of operation.

Without doubt, the Club is now more active than ever before and plays a major role in the local community. We are proud of what has been achieved to date and are committed to extending it in every possible way.