A Brief History Of Fylde Cricket Club - Written by James
Mitchell (Club President) in 2001
When the executive of the Palace Shield asked
us to provide some background of the member club’s histories I
offered my services on behalf of Fylde.
Little did I realise how comprehensive that background was.
My mind went back to 1939 and my first visits to Moorland
Road as a boy with my father.
The family had moved North from London and my father, a
cricket fanatic, sought out the local club.
Now over 60 years later, having been a happy and grateful
member of the Fylde family, here is a brief resume of that story.
The
Early Years
It is generally assumed that Fylde Cricket Club
was formed way back in Napoleonic times.
Despite exhaustive research no documentary evidence has been
found to substantiate the fact, but the date 1810 has been handed
down over the years from generation to generation.
Early minute books have survived and, from these, it is
certainly possible to trace back to the 1850’s and before.
The minute book provides some fascinating vignettes of a
Victorian cricket club:
committee meetings being held in the local pubs such as The Thatched
House and The Bull taverns; a minimum of bureaucracy - the minutes
amounting to half a page of foolscap and written in copperplate.
One item caught my eye from 1875 which I have reproduced here
- note the price of bats:
The roller which still stands behind the garage
was purchased in 1891.
Concern was expressed that it might prove too heavy for the club
donkey to pull. At the
next meeting the sale was confirmed, the donkey to be sold and a
horse to be purchased for not more than £10.
The horse was disposed of at the end of the season.
Incidentally we have had a few donkeys since - but all with
two legs.
At times the club engaged professionals, some
to double up as groundsman.
In 1888 the position was advertised and out of twenty one
applicants Bray of Ripon was appointed.
Sadly, Bray of Ripon absented himself and went ‘on the spree’
three times, was dismissed and given his fare back to Ripon.
Fylde played their cricket far and wide possibly of a
competitive nature as ‘friendly fixtures’ are mentioned.
Fylde Wanderers played a game at Crewe, Gorton in Manchester
(home and away,) and
East Lancashire and Little Lever crop up in the minutes.
Interestingly, there were fixtures against Garstang and
Thornton so these clubs existed before the dates mentioned in the
handbook. They were to
fold and re-form at a later date.
Games were played against other long established clubs like
Great Eccleston and Kirkham and there were fixtures against St
Michaels and several regimental clubs - officers only it seems.
Cricket in those far-off days being of a more pastoral nature
- works teams coming later in the story.
The
Middle Years
The Plant family were very much to the
forefront of club affairs from the turn of the century.
Charles Plant was interviewed by the Evening Gazette in 1984
when he was a ripe old age of 91.
He was able to furnish us with much detail of those years
particularly regarding the club’s three grounds.
He was one of three brothers who played for Fylde, he himself
being club captain on our entry to the Shield in 1922.
His father had been president of the club and the name
‘Plant’ appears four times on the club’s Roll of Honour presumably
because these lives were lost on active service.
Charles Plant also told of Harold Edge scoring the first
century at Moorland Road, of Billy Jackson the local blacksmith, who
was the club’s finest player of those years and of Jimmy Ashton who
was a major player between the wars both as a batsman and bowler.
The first star name of my time was Jack
Winchester, a fine all-round sportsman who had played first class
football in his youth and was an outstanding batsman for Fylde up to
the Second World War with more than one century to his name.
Jack (Pop) Winchester, later to be president of the club, was
headmaster of Poulton C of E primary school (Sheaf Street) during
the war years owing to the incumbent head teacher, Peter Vause,
being away in the services.
Vause, incidentally, was also a Fylde stalwart later to
captain Leyland then in the Ribblesdale League.
Jack instilled in his pupils a love of sport and was in his
glory bowling to the boys in the playground.
He controlled a top class of over fifty pupils without
raising his voice and had a formidable right arm when administering
the cane - I remember it well.
One story comes to mind regarding Jack, long after he had
retried from serious cricket, when he was called back to face
Fleetwood (then in the Palace Shield.)
The legendary Dick Boothman was bowling and dropped one
short. With his team
mates fearing the worst, Jack stepped inside the line and deposited
the ball into the hedge.
For the first sixty years with the Shield Fylde
did not achieve much success winning friends rather than trophies.
Runners up twice in the league and in the cup being the
highlights. Fylde, for
many years, had a strong connection with Baines Grammar School.
In the 1950’s when I started playing for the club there were
at least six or seven members of staff on the strength - many of us
were former pupils.
This had its disadvantages as, with the school holidays, a large
proportion of the best players would disappear.
With the chairman of the club, John Watson, and
the secretary, Jack Willacy, being Methodists drinking and Sunday
cricket were not on the agenda - times have changed.
John Watson was a member of the club for over sixty years and
a score box was erected in his honour on his retirement from office.
Jack was a devoted secretary for many years and, on his
retirement, he was made a life member - nobody more deservedly.
Fylde, for a long time, was regarded as a trifle remote - a
cricket club in Poulton rather than Poulton’s cricket club.
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