Cricket Grounds

For which club did Dickie Bird OBE, Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Sir Michael Parkinson play? Surely, everybody – even me – knows the answer. Barnsley Cricket Club. After visiting Shaw Lane Sports Club, to watch a Viking Cup quarter-final against York, I know quite a bit more about the Barnsley club. The eventful history of […]

June 21: the summer solstice, midsummer’s eve, not a hint of rain. What to do? Stonehenge is a long drive, I cannot count any Druids amongst my circle of acquaintance, blood sacrifices are terribly messy (and likely to be illegal), and I am probably rather too near 60 for stripping naked and making love beneath […]

Despite it saying ‘Keighley’ on my birth certificate, I have only a tenuous connection with the town. My folks, from Sheffield, relocated to Keighley in the early Sixties when Dad was offered a post in its NatWest branch. The babes-in-arms Gallons (I have a twin sister) came along in 1965. By 1970, however, the family […]

After a Saturday drive up to County Durham, to watch a game in the North East Premier Cricket League First Division, at the splendid Philadelphia Cricket Club, overlooked by the Penshaw Monument, I fancied something closer to home the following afternoon. Forecasters indicating a continuation of the summer’s indifferent weather – cloudy and breezy albeit […]

Despite a lifelong sweet tooth, I’m not overly keen on rhubarb.  In common with gooseberries (unfortunately, the only edible thing that grew in our South Pennine childhood garden), its bitterness makes me shudder. Adding custard helps. Rhubarb – vegetable not fruit – was on my mind as, courtesy of a courtesy car, I trundled, west, […]

The long innings of my 2011 vintage Volkswagen Polo is over.  With 146,222 miles (note the Double Nelson element!) on the clock, the reliable old campaigner expired last week – albeit only a month before I’d planned to scrap it.  No way, without major expense, would it get through a mid-July full service and MOT. […]

Stockton & Hopgrove Cricket Club field one of just six First XIs contesting the three-division York Vale Cricket League. The others, on the off chance this crops up as an obscure question at your pub quiz, are Ben Johnson, Hirst Courtney, Melbourne, South Cave & Brantingham, and Thorpe Willoughby. Stockton & Hopgrove’s ground, part of […]

There is always a danger, with midweek cricket, one will arrive at a ground to discover a team – maybe both! – has scratched and the game been called off. Many clubs don’t seem to bother posting social media information about the activities of their midweek XIs, which adds an element of ‘wasted journey’ risk […]

The last time we visited Grassington, we’d stumbled upon their 1940s weekend. I thought something was a bit odd when an armoured car parked up; soldiers jumping down to queue for a 99 with a flake. Our return was all about cricket at Upper Wharfedale Cricket Club, whose 1st XI are moving up the divisions, […]