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A History of Sunbury Village Cricket Club
When Sunbury Village Cricket Club was established in 1947 few would have predicted that a club with such humble origins would be thriving into the next century.
Our early home at the Cedars Ground in Green Street may well have provided the players with a pleasant setting to enjoy an afternoons cricket, but the facilities available did little to enhance the players enjoyment. Early changing facilities where no more that a tent erected on the ground. The committee at the time, under the Chairmanship of Bill Booth and with Colonel Freeman as President, had the foresight to see that despite an enthusiastic playing membership the club could not survive with such basic facilities, even in austere post war times.
The arrival of a small, corrugated building was at least progress, but with only one small changing room, a kitchen area and no running water, which had to be obtained from an outlet on the outfield prior to the commencement of the match, facilities remained fairly rudimentary.
With no storage facilities available for club equipment, all the gear had to be manhandled from a nearby disused air raid shelter for each match.
Despite the lack of facilities, good players where attracted to the club via word of mouth, and enjoyed the friendly family atmosphere. Kent Monk was the outstanding batsman in the early years of the club; a job made more difficult for him by the quality of the wicket at the Cedars, but nevertheless became a prolific run maker through out his long association with the club. Whereas the batsman struggled, the bowlers thrived, and the attack of the day was as varied as it was successful. Jack Twitchen was for many years the club’s premier bowler, his playing days spanning three decades. Brian Rayner was a formidable left arm spinner, and Eddie Cooper, probably the club’s first genuine all rounder.
Towards the end of the 1950’s, we finally managed to house ourselves in a new purpose built pavilion, provided by the local council. The enhanced facilities of proper changing rooms, showers and tea area enabled the club to offer greater comfort to both it’s own players and those of the opposition. Whilst the first dozen years had not produced outstanding playing success, the club had established itself at a permanent home with adequate facilities, built a strong committee under the chairmanship of Reg Batchelor, and created a strong nucleus of players to take it forward.
As the club moved into the new decade, little did it know that some of its most difficult moments lay ahead. To begin with, the future looked rosy with the established players of prior years being supplemented by new and younger players. Brian Underhay established himself as a high quality bowling all rounder, taking a remarkable 123 wickets in, a feat almost beyond comprehension these days. Harold Turner had become the clubs most reliable and consistent run scorer, and Laurie Howell had begun a long association with the club as a spin bowling all rounder. But as the decade progressed the membership dwindled and as the older players either retired or moved away, the club was unable to recruit replacements. The effect of this was a dramatic decline in the playing standards, and the lack of members also impacted on the club financially. At this point the club’s future viability was very much in the balance, however with a hard core of long standing members determined to see the club survive, the committee, still under the Chairmanship of Reg Batchelor, made plans to revive the fortunes of the club.
Tentative plans where made to move to our own ground, fundraising events started being run and a determined effort was made to recruit new players. Various possible options were looked at with a view to relocating, but with finances very limited it was soon decided that we should remain at the Cedars. Although not known at the time, the experience gained now would prove invaluable many years later when our dream became a reality.
At the turn of the decade, the future was still unclear. The problems of previous years had not gone away, the playing membership was still too small and the team weak. The home ground at the Cedars, although basic was still adequate for our purpose, although dreams remained of us having a place of our own to entertain opposition after a match.
At about this point we were fortunate to attract a group of new, young players, many of whom had been to school together, who would directly influence the future of the club over the next thirty years. The arrival of Trevor Young, Bob Pullen, Doug Haslegrave, Dave Archer, Mick Flannigan and Peter Morgan heralded a new era for the club. Although none where outstanding players in their own right at this time, they steadily improved and built a strong base for the future and the Village moved into an era of renewed prosperity on the field. Off the field the same problems continued and the membership was becoming increasingly disenchanted with the lack of facilities it could call it’s own.
Dave Archer
By the mid 70’s two issues had come to the fore. Would we move from playing friendly cricket and join a league. The strength of the team indicated this would be possible, with all the above developing into good players and the emergence of young talent in the form of Trevor Warne and Lance Flannigan. The decision was not as simple as it would appear, as a small group of players were not in favour of moving away from playing purely friendly cricket. A decision did have to be made however, and with the increasing difficulty of arranging Saturday fixtures due to the prevalence of the league it was decided we should seek to join a league, a move that resulted in us applying to, and being accepted by the Wey Valley League. The second issue revolved around the future of the club, with facilities at the Cedars in decline it was felt that if the club was to continue to thrive and attract new players then a move to a new ground was essential. Paramount to this was the ability to have our own bar facilities to provide an additional income stream. The era of fundraising had arrived and in the next few years club members spent as much time raising urgently needed money for club funds as they did playing.
With a further increase in playing membership a Sunday 2nd XI was established in 1978 under the captaincy of club veteran Jimmy Warne, and touring had become an established item on the fixture card over the Whit sun Bank Holiday weekend. The club was now growing faster than at any time before, and behind the scenes the club committee was working on finding a new home that would meet our criteria.
The club entered the new decade in a very healthy state, with the ability to field some of the strongest sides in it’s history, a strong committee focussed on finding a new home for the club and a healthy amount in the bank generated by fundraising. Every club needs a little bit of luck every now and then and Sunbury Village was about to get it. With the assistance of a local arsonist who set fire to the clubhouse at the Cedars, the club was forced to seek the assistance of the council in providing us with a temporary home.
What was on offer did not seem particularly attractive, a pitch at Groveley Road, on a ground that had not been used for cricket in many years with basic changing rooms and no facilities for tea etc. It was a difficult time for the club, but the committee recognised that here was a ground where maybe we could develop the facilities we had craved for for so many years. Negotiation began with Spelthorne Council for the lease of a small parcel of land where we could build our own clubhouse and bar.
In the meantime the 2nd XI had been expanded to Saturday’s, but generally the levels of success of recent years began to fall away.
With the successful conclusion of the lease negotiations all that remained to do was to build a clubhouse from scratch with only limited funds available. Funding levels were raised by a Bond Share scheme for members, who basically loaned the club the money it needed to complete the project. Plans where drawn up for the building and with planning permission granted we were ready to go. Over the winter, virtually every club member put their life on hold to put in the hours to get the job done. It would be impossible to name everyone involved but without the expertise and enthusiasm of Richard Foyle and Richard Edwards the job would have been much more difficult.
Finally, for the start of the 1983 season we were able to open the doors of our new clubhouse and enjoy the facilities we had wanted for so many years. To be able to enjoy a post match drink with the opposition at our own bar was the fulfilment of a long-term ambition but with this came a whole new set of problems. The club was no longer just a cricket club with little need to long term financial planning, it had become a business and if it were to survive it would need to be run as one. Under the guidance of Chairman Trevor Young the committee entered a steep learning curve and the financial security that the club enjoys today owes a lot to the efforts of the committee at the time.
Trevor Young
The club enjoyed its new facilities to the full with new events such as a cricket week, annual Presidents Day match and a winter social programme. The pitch however continued to cause concern and the council’s inability to improve the playing surface was a major cause for concern. Despite a brief resurgence of form in the mid 80’s under the leadership of probably the clubs most influential captain, Peter Morgan the latter part of the decade saw a decline in success as the older players either retired or became less productive. With the 2nd XI now also playing league cricket the need for new talent was obvious but how to obtain it was not.
The early years of the decade were marked by a diversity of fortunes for the two elevens. The 1st XI suffered a lean time, in contrast to the 2nd XI, which was enjoying it’s most successful period since it’s inception over a decade earlier. Development of the club continued with the arrival of site screens, net facilities and a short-lived experiment with a colt’s team. Problems with the pitch had persisted and although improvements had been made it was decided to approach the council with a view to them allowing us to take over pitch preparation and maintenance. With agreement achieved the financial burden of ground equipment put the clubs finances under pressure, and a further extension to the clubhouse had to be erected to house the newly arrived mowers and motorised roller.
Dissatisfaction with the Wey Valley League had forced the club so seek a new league to play in and we found ourselves playing in the Slazenger Surrey League. The 1st XI certainly rose to the challenge and enjoyed a highly successful few years, rising through the divisional structure to a prized place in the 1st division, although only for one season. With a strong batting line up including Trevor Warne, Andy Williams and briefly the enigmatic Simon Sergeant enjoying the improved surfaces at the Groveley and a varied bowling attack spearheaded by Feraz Uddin and Jack Porter Sunbury Village had become a force to be reckoned with. Membership was however becoming an increasing problem and it was becoming more difficult to attract new players to the club. The committee recognised the problem but could do little to reverse the trend, as the problem was not confined to ourselves, indeed some longstanding opponents either merged or folded completely. Lack of players forced the cessation of the Sunday 2nd XI in 1996, whilst the Saturday 2nd XI endured a particularly lean period.
The club President through most of the decade was Terry Pullen, who was the clubs number one supporter who could always be found on the ground on match days. It was a tragic loss to the club when he passed away suddenly in 1997. His presence will always be missed and we are proud to know his favourite spot at the bar as Presidents Corner.
Terry Pullen
As the century drew to a close the playing strength of the club remained stretched, but the 1st XI managed to maintain a healthy league position. The clubhouse structure remained sound but was beginning to show it’s age and as we approached the end of our lease discussions revolved around the clubs future once more. Despite a sound financial backing declining membership was causing some concern, but with some new faces arriving plans began to renegotiate a new lease and continue our residence at the Groveley.
2000 - 2002
With the arrival of a new century the club achieved its greatest success in what was to be its final year of existence. With the structure of the club house building in need of serious attention and considerable financial outlay along with the deteriorating state of the environment the Groveley the renewal of the lease although viable became less attractive. It was decided that the club should examine alternative facilities in which to accommodate its increasing playing strength as the facilities currently on offer no longer matched the standard the club had reached on a playing level. This was apparent as the club 1st XI under the captaincy of Jack Porter gained its first ever league title by winning the Kookaburra Fordham Division 2 league. With first division cricket beckoning the need for better facilities in the area became more urgent. An initial discussion with near neighbours Richmond Town about using their facilities grew into a discussion which ultimately culminated in the unanimous decision for both clubs to merge under the new name of Kempton Cricket Club which would be based at Kempton Sports Ground.
Although it is always sad to see the passing of an old an respected local cricket club in reality the club has not died but merely joined forces with Richmond Town to offer improved cricket and facilities to its combined membership.