Memories of Post War Appleford Cricket Club

In the winter of 1945, unknown to a small boy, the talk amongst villagers after the war years was how to return to peacetime normality. For some that normality meant the resumption of village sport. Before the war Appleford had football and cricket teams, apparently capable of giving a good account of themselves.

There would be difficulties, particularly for football which was not played again until the mid 1950's. The reason for this was the recreation ground, purchased before the war, had been ploughed up for the war effort and was still being used for agriculture.

However, for cricket the meadow next to the railway behind Meadow House was pressed into service with the blessing of the owner, Mr Bill Napper of Bridge Farm. In those days a row of cottages housing his workers stood where Meadow House now stands. Behind them adjacent to the boundary with Barnards in a small fenced-off garden stood a green wooden caravan. This was the home of Mr Taylor, the retired landlord of the Carpenter's Arms, who acted as the water bailiff on the stretch of the river fished by the London Angling Association. He was a kindly man. Fishing was a popular pastime for village boys, in summer along the river, and in winter the "Ballast Hole" over the railway line from the recreation ground. If Mr Taylor found you fishing without a permit on his regular patrols along the bank he would always remind you that this was illegal, whilst at the same time giving tuition on bait, tackle, and the best spots of fish.... "but not at weekends lad when the London fishermen come."

So here in this meadow from the summer of 1946 until 1951 Appleford Cricket Club made its home. There were no facilities, players and spectators sheltered under the Elm trees when it rained and the boundaries behind the wickets were very short due to the width of the field. Nevertheless, rudimentary cricket was played against local village teams, both home and away.

Early stalwarts, amongst others, were Roly Ayres, "General" Prior, Gordon Jennings, Bill Reynolds, Claude Biddle, Fred Nash and the Meadham brothers. Each summer weekend the would drive the cattle or sheep off the playing area down towards the river, brush and cut the pitch with small battered old hand lawn mower and mark out the wicket. The stumps were pretty ancient along with the rest of the team kit that obviously had been lovingly stored away at the outbreak of the war. There was not much of it, two or three bats, a couple of pairs of pads, and a pair of wicket keeping gloves. All of this had been much repaired and it was common practice to wear only one pad and no batting gloves. I suppose if nothing else it soon taught one that the object of the game was to hit the ball with the bat, before the ball hit you.

In that era cricket balls were like gold dust and two maybe three balls would be a club's most treasured possessions, with little possibility of replacing them if lost. At Appleford stoppages were frequent and lengthy to find a ball if hit over the boundary. The railway embankment and its rabbit holes were the greatest hazard. A major tragedy occurred early in the team's life when a ball hit for six landed in an empty coal truck going north along the railway line. That ball was probably used by a Colliery team in Staffordshire for years after. From that time play was suspended when bowling from that end of the ground if a goods train was passing.

Tea was a grand affair. It was a point of honour that the hospitality extended to visiting teams should be beyond criticism and the teal ladies, all related to the players, took great pride in their efforts. The tea ritual took place in Barnards Chapel which was situated at the end of School Lane.  The Chapel was used for a variety of village social events and would have been a long walk from the pitch had it not been for the generosity of the residents of Barnards. So it was on most summer weekends that twenty two motley, sweating, cricketers and sundry others would go through a little side gate from the meadow into Barnards' garden and trudge to and fro across the gravelled area at the front of the house. It all seemed perfectly normal at the time, just a facet of village life.

In 1950 the Ministry of Agriculture re-seeded the recreation ground and handed it back to the village. It was rough but the club moved back to its former home in 1951, two years before the Queen's Coronation which was marked by planting the Copper Beech tree still standing around the edge. There was no car park, the roadside hedge had only a small gate by Rose Cottages and a large gate opposite Sinodun Row.

At least in the meadow the grass had been cropped and fertilised by countless sheep and rabbits, resulting in a thick fine turf. The recreation ground had been sown with rough rye grass that did not and would not make a good wicket. Once again, there were no facilities, visiting players either arrived ready to play or changed behind the hedge. Tea was still provided in the Chapel but the tea break was extended due to the longer journey there and back.

I seem to recall that the club had a good first season on the new ground. Despite borrowing a road roller from Amey's Asphalt Company, where Les Budden the Managing Director was a cricket enthusiast, the pitch left much to be desired. It was heaven for a bowler, hell for a batsman, especially during hot spells when the ground dried out and the ball did unimaginable things. Visiting teams came, looked at the pitch, lost the toss and were put to bat but were psychologically beaten before a ball was bowled! I remember we dismissed a team, who shall be nameless, for eight run that season. It was rather embarrassing but we had a leisurely tea and they beat us in the ensuing beer match. In the Carpenter's Arms later, most of us wished it had been the other way round.

That winter, club members were rather busy. Under the guidance of Claude Biddle the rough turf at the two ends of the square was removed. On Sunday mornings a tractor and trailer was borrowed and turf dug up from the edge of the copse, long since gone, which was situated on Mr Napper's land on the right hand side of the road to Sutton Courtenay. This turf had also been cropped by rabbits for years and with the help of Amey's roller soon bedded down into a playable surface. The cricket square was fenced off and became a "no go area" except for players on match days and those who tended the ground.

Equipment was becoming more plentiful thanks to the efforts of those who ran winter Drives in the Chapel for the club. Apart from playing kit this enabled the purchase of a second-hand set of gang mowers. On match days the ground became very smart and on sunny afternoons quite a few spectators would turn up and sit around the boundary in deck chairs. Television, cars and distant holidays had not yet become the norm.

Club dinners were held at the end of each season in "The Big Room" of the Black Horse Pub where Mrs Harvey the landlord's wife catered in style. Ale was "de rigueur", served in large enamel pitchers, as wine was not yet fashionable. As the team's reputation grew so did the fixture list as teams from farther a field were added. This presented a problem for some, particularly the younger members. It was quite a cycle ride to the outskirts of Oxford and would have been even worse to Lambourne or Ilsley. However Bill Nash who farmed Radcot Farm, (the farm buildings were over the Level Crossing where offices now stand), had an open-backed Ford Lorry which his son Fred could borrow most Sundays. It was a bit draughty and bumpy up on the back but in retrospect that was a blessing in disguise. Bill Nash's passion was greyhounds.

He had kennels at the farm, raced them at all the local tracks, and trained them in his field by the Level Crossing. They must have taken some feeding, for the lorry was used to pick up offal and meat scraps from local butchers and abattoirs. Despite Fred hosing the lorry down, it could pong a bit on a hot day and deodorants were not as plentiful then as they are now!

After two or three years the club realised they should be offering changing facilities to players and visiting teams. In the mid 1950's building materials were still scarce and the club's resources would not stretch to anything more than a self-build job. Quite a bit of begging, borrowing, but no stealing went on to get the materials, much of it generously supplied by Amey's After gaining Parish Council permission, team members turned out on winter Sunday mornings, some with hangovers but fortified by hot drinks supplied by Mrs Reynolds and her daughter Vera, to commence building. The "professional" bits were carried out to the instructions of Ted Ballard who worked for a builder in Didcot.

So it was that we gained a "pavilion". It was not Lords or The Oval, in truth it was just a hut. Approximately 14' x 10', built with a single skin of concrete blocks and topped with a flat, sloping, corrugated asbestos roof. There was a door and two windows in the front. At the rear, tall players had difficulty in standing upright because of the slope of the roof. Inside on a concrete floor stood two wooden benches, one for the home team and one for the visitors. There was no electricity or water but we did build a men's latrine in the corner of the recreation ground with a few second hand sheets of corrugated iron. In summer the building was extremely hot and in winter very cold and damp. As far as I know no photographs of this magnificent structure exist and it was never entered for an architectural award! The photograph now in the village hall is not the original building. "Taffy" Spiller and Bill Lincoln enlarged it in the late 1960's for the village football team and this is shown in the photograph.

In 1959 mains water came to the village and the club had a metered supply installed to water the pitch. Things were really looking up but other factors were influencing outlooks. On the playing side league cricket was becoming fashionable but Appleford's players were rather conservative, preferring traditional club matches which became increasingly difficult to arrange. Team members began to acquire Ford Anglias and Austin Sevens. Their wives and girlfriends wanted to be out and about at weekends rather than watching grown men in white flannels chasing a cricket ball.

So the club suffered a lingering death in the 1960's, finally expiring around 1966, leaving the legacy of its "pavilion" to the village. The cricket square, so lovingly nurtured, has long since disappeared. The water supply and its meter now record the consumption of the Village Hall and Allotments but for years after the bill still arrived addressed to the Cricket Club. Nostalgically, the roller covered in grass sits rusting away by the railway line and the concrete practice wicket, once covered with matting and surrounded by a net, slowly crumbles.

Some players still live in and around Appleford. Sometimes I wonder if the score books, recording their names and deeds survive - like my trusty pads, which lie out of sight but not forgotten, in a dark corner of my loft.

By Alan Sharpe