Brentwood CC XI vs Old England XI Match Day Programme

(This is a 'light' version of the programme designed to reduce download time. For a complete version of the original programme in PDF format see the link at the bottom of the page.)

A warm welcome to you, and thank you for your presence here today. I can promise you a day of rich entertainment provided for by a star-studded Old England XI against our very own Brentwood CC XI.

Brentwood Cricket Club is 125 years old this year, and today's game is intended to be a celebration of that century-and-a-quarter of cricket having been played here at the Old County Ground.

No doubt some of you will remember our Centenary in 1981. Personally, I wasn't a member of the Club at that time, but our current President, Malcolm Webb, was, and he has contributed a number of articles to this programme which give a potted history of the Club from its humble beginnings until the present day. Malcolm's inspiration and encouragement, along with the hard work of the Committee over recent years, are the reason why we have enjoyed so much success, both on and off the field of play, over the last decade, climaxing with our 1st XI being promoted to the Premier Division of the Shepherd Neame Essex League for 2006.

Our success at the top end of the Club is matched at the junior end too. We have over 100 colts learning their cricket from qualified coaches every Friday evening throughout the summer and at indoor nets through the winter. As you will read several times in this programme our Colts Section is a very important and successful conveyor belt towards our 1st team.

We are both proud and privileged to be associated with Little Havens Children's Hospice for this event. Proceeds from today's events will be shared between Little Havens and our Colts Section, which is currently producing some of the area's finest young cricketers as well as offering cricket to all youngsters in the local community, irrespective of ability, race, gender or background. It is events such as this that enable us to continue this support for the youth of Brentwood and district.

Thank you once again for your support here today. I look forward to meeting many of you in person during the course of the matches.

Little Havens, part of Havens Hospices, is really pleased to be working with Brentwood Cricket Club to bring you this event. It is our first Charity Cricket Match and we hope it will be a memorable day and raise much needed funds for the hospice and Cricket Club.

The Hospice, based in Thundersley offers care and support to those affected by life limiting and life threatening illnesses. We share a family's journey every step of the way from diagnosis, through to bereavement and beyond with continuous help and support. We offer a lifeline to families across the county of Essex with specialist services from our dedicated team.

Today Little Havens is supporting over a 100 families and with limited funding from the government we need the generosity of the public to help us raise £1.6 million every year. By supporting today's event you are helping us to continue offering our much needed services. We hope you have a great day, enjoy the cricket!!!

If you would like more information on how you can make a difference to the families of Little Havens please visit our website at www.littlehavens.org.uk or call us on 01702 220350.

We know that the Club was formed in 1881 because the 'Essex Weekly News' edition of Friday, 4 February 1881 reported that "On Monday evening last a public meeting was held at the town hall, for the purpose of considering the best steps to be taken for forming a Town Cricket Club". The outcome was the incorporation of a provisional committee charged with forming Brentwood CC and finding "a suitable ground".

Despite the essentially rural nature of the town at that time, this wasn't as easy as it may have seemed.

Although Brentwood had never had a town team, cricket had been played in and around the area for many years. The 'Chelmsford Chronicle', as far back as 1777 states that "a cricket match was played at the Chequers, Brentwood, in the forenoon, with a genteel dinner provided at one o'clock", and a poster was displayed in the High Street in 1857 promoting a match between teams drawn from Brentwood and Abridge to be played in the town on 18 June, with "refreshments provided by Mr Marten of the Lion and Lamb, Brentwood. Dinner on table at seven o'clock". Even at the inaugural meeting, a Dr J Earle was reported as saying "Many present will remember 25 years ago when Brentwood was noted for its cricket. Surely we all agree that the town should have a cricket club; all the villages around have got one!" All these village teams tended to play their games on a ground "through which Alfred Road was cut" and the only possibility appeared to be a piece of land "next to the Robin Hood public house", which wasn't greeted with much enthusiasm, apparently.

Incidentally, the afore-mentioned Dr Earle was generally regarded as being the first President of the Club, and the initial Committee contained three members of the Earle family: as well as the good doctor, one H Earle was the Hon. Secretary and the third member was "a regular attender of (Committee) meetings".

According to those early records, all three were also "no mean cricketers" themselves. Far be it for me to make any comparisons between then and now, but the French have quite an apt phrase: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose ..........!"

But I digress. There was of course one venue situated right in the centre of the town that was eminently suitable for the new Club. Unfortunately it was the headquarters of Essex County Cricket Club (themselves only founded in 1876), and nobody really imagined that the County would be inclined to allow this newly-formed, untried and untested bunch to violate their beautiful ground on the Shenfield Road. Then, all of a sudden, and with the start of the season looming, the Hon. Secretary announced at a Committee meeting on 24 March 1881 that an offer had been received from Essex CCC to allow Brentwood to play there - albeit an offer with a couple of pretty severe regulations: Brentwood players were forbidden to practice at the ground whilst the County were playing, but the County were free to practice on the outfield during any Brentwood match! Flushed with the enthusiasm that has been a necessary characteristic of his successors over the next century and a quarter, the Secretary went on to state that challenges had been received from the clubs at Ongar, Forest Gate, Barking and Ilford for the coming season. Membership was growing apace, and subscriptions already amounted to £100.

It was too good to last, of course, and the inevitable bombshell came barely a month later, when the County announced that the offer should never have been made in the first place, and that had the attendance at the general meeting held to validate such offer been higher, it wouldn't have been - implying that not all was above board at the meeting.

Predictably this didn't go down too well with the new club who promptly held a general meeting of their own resulting in the annulment of the agreement that had just been drawn up and a lengthy period of animosity towards the County, during which time the club had to revert to "another field kindly let by Mr Burgess". It was a further two years before the relationship with the County was repaired, but eventually a new agreement was set up and Brentwood CC moved to the Old County Ground (after further agreeing that a "portion be allocated for Lawn Tennis") in 1883, where it has played cricket to this day.

And just to put the final piece in this inaugural jigsaw, the first officially recorded match of Brentwood CC was played on Tuesday, 24 May, 1881, against Barking. We lost comfortably.

Of course, one could be forgiven for assuming that the ground was actually owned by the County throughout all this wrangling. In fact it wasn't! It was purchased from the Crown by a Mr Horne-Payne, a leading executive of the Canadian National Railway, along with Merrymeade, which became the country home for him and his wife, and its grounds. At that time, a great oak tree was situated inside the playing area, rather like the similarly large tree at Kent's headquarter at Canterbury (until it was felled in a storm last year), and it was only relatively recently that the size of the outfield was reduced so that the oak is now a part of the gardens of Merrymeade. But it still survives, as does Merrymeade itself, albeit in a somewhat dilapidated state internally. It is now the responsibility of the local council, with whom the County Ground Club are in regular communication to try to find a joint venture which would benefit the constituent clubs and the local community as a whole.

In a further quixotic twist, Mr Horne-Payne nearly didn't have the opportunity to acquire the ground. Before he arrived on the scene, the then headmaster of Brentwood School, Mr James Foster Hough, purchased much of the land in the vicinity of the School for playing fields - indeed, to this day the School owns the ground adjacent to ours, which they let to us for a peppercorn rent and where our 3rd and 4th XIs play their home games. For some unrecorded reason, though, the headmaster made no attempt to acquire what even then must have been one of the country's most attractive cricket grounds.

Over the years Mr and Mrs Horne-Payne became great patrons of Brentwood Cricket Club and could often be seen watching games from the idyllic surroundings of their gardens. Mrs Horne-Payne was President of the Club from 1929 - 1938, after the death of her husband, and in her later years she sold the entire Merrymeade estate, including the cricket ground, to Essex County Council, with two covenants - the first that she be allowed to continue to live there, rent free, until her death, and the second that Brentwood Cricket Club be allowed to play there in perpetuity. Both caveats were agreed to, although with the inevitable pressure that demand for town centre land for redevelopment brought to the County Council in recent years, the County Ground Club eventually felt it was only a matter of time before we were squeezed out, with the result that we successfully bid to them to purchase the freehold of the ground, and formally took ownership of it in 2003.

From 1883 until the Second World War, Brentwood Cricket Club actually incorporated a Tennis section. It was only thereafter that the Tennis section became independent and is now, of course, a completely separate club – albeit a fellow constituent member of the County Ground Club, founded in 1955, along with Brentwood Hockey Club who have had their home at the Old County Ground since 1910.

This is the first in a series of three articles submitted by the President of the Cricket Club, Malcolm Webb. The second and third instalments, "To The Present..." and "...And The Future" can be found further into this programme.

Welcome to the Old County Ground. I am writing this at the end of May when it seems that it has rained since April, so I hope that as you read it the sun is shining and our ground can be seen in its full glory.

It is now nearly nine years since I slung my knapsack over my shoulder and set off with my black cat in tow from the industrial landscape of Coventry to find fame and fortune in the South-East where I was told the streets were paved with gold. I soon realised that fame would be difficult to come by because I was living in Brentwood, fortune was also unlikely as I started to work as a teacher, but even my first venture into the nightlife of Essex showed that the inhabitants wore more than their share of gold.

It wasn't until around six months later that I had my first encounter with Brentwood Cricket Club when I was invited to the "Victoria Arms" for an evening of drinking and conversation with Nick Haste (ex-Cambridge University 'Blue', and therefore some time first-class cricketer). It is testament to my resilience that I still decided to join the club for that summer's season of 1998.

The 1st XI I joined was very different to the one you will see today and that is playing this season. The side had many excellent cricketers: Ian Coleman; Danny Hazle; Gary Jones; Richard Mee; Graeme Walker; the aforementioned Nick Haste to name but a few. It was captained by Micky 'Mouse' Davis who was an excellent tactician and a superb competitor. We narrowly missed out on inclusion to the Premier League for its inaugural season of 1999. Despite some near misses in '99 & 2000 we didn't achieve promotion and by 2001 many of the players mentioned had been forced to stop playing through injury or work and family commitments.

The season of 2001 was inevitably a watershed for the club. Under the leadership of Nigel Porter, a fellow West-Midlander, the side battled valiantly but was relegated to Division 2. This was despite some superb performances by Nigel who was a left-arm spinner of the highest quality. The season was a difficult one, defeat is never easy to take, but when as a club you feel you are performing significantly below your potential, changes have to be made. Ken Lingwood became Chairman of the club, where he remains and Graeme Walker returned as 1st XI Captain for 2002 and from whom I took over in 2003.

From 2002 the fortunes of the club and 1st XI have improved and continue to do so. The attitude of the club and the 1st XI is now far more professional. 1st XI Squad nets are attended conscientiously, warm-up routines are now a habit and most importantly young players are once again progressing from the colts section through the senior sides to the 1st team. Ben Cocklin & Ian Belchamber are now veterans of the 1st XI having played at the club since their early teens. Joe Fryd has developed in similar style and last season Tim Barbone at the age of 14 took well over 20 1st XI League wickets. As a team we have also benefited from the expertise of former professionals Jon Walford and Damian Brandy.

Overseas players have also played their part. Last season we were fortunate to play with ex-Indian test cricketer Hrishikesh Kanitkar. We learnt an enormous amount from him as well as profiting from his individual performances which included 1066 league runs and 6 hundreds. This year Paul Sutherland our Australian off-spinner has returned, having taken 164 League wickets in the three seasons 2002-04.

So to 2006 and our first year playing all-day cricket in the Essex Premier League. Whilst I am sure the early 'meet times' may be a shock to the system I believe we are now able to compete with the likes of Saffron Walden, Gidea Park and the other historically strong sides in the county.

I hope I have given you a flavour of Brentwood Cricket Club 1st XI over the last 9 years. Further I wish you an enjoyable day and thank-you for helping us to raise money for our colts system and the very worthy cause of Little Havens Children's Hospice.

Brentwood CC were founder members of the principal Essex League, currently sponsored by Shepherd Neame, in 1972. It's fair to say that until the Millennium our performances in that League were indifferent. We were mostly under-achievers, given our facilities and our position of prominence in the town. Sure, we had a few quality players from time to time - notably Nick Knight - but by and large we were also-rans.

Much of our membership was itinerant: people would move to the town because of their work and naturally want to join the best club in the area, play for a few years and then move on again with their job. It made it hard for the Club as a whole to put down deep roots. We did our best: we set up a Colts Section in the 1970s which has been probably THE success story of the whole 125 years; through the County Ground Club and with the assistance of our brewers, Greene King, we built a new pavilion complex shortly after our Centenary, and we had the square completely re-laid over a three-year period 1993-96. But we still lost far more games than we won. (Far more than most of the other teams in the League, actually).

We had our moments. The 1st XI finished third in Division 1 in 1975 and 1990. The 2nd XI won their Division 1 in 1976 and finished third in 1980 and 1991, and the 3rd XI won their Division 1 in 1990 and were third the following year, but this was not much return for a Club of our size. We were at best a sleeping giant, and by 1997 our 1st XI was back in Division 2.

Matters started to improve gradually. In 1997 we started a 4th XI for the first time, playing in the Morrant 3rd XI League under the captaincy and tutelage of Ken Hobbs whose name will always be synonymous with our the achievements of our colts. In 1997 too the 1st XI bounced back into Division 1 as runners-up which, whilst a relatively modest achievement in the greater scheme of things, did in fact set a ball rolling that has not stopped to the present day: it meant that we collected a pennant at the League's annual Awards Dinner - and we have collected at least one pennant or cup every year since! Indeed, since the League was restructured and Premier Divisions and 4th XI Divisions added in 1998 there has only been one year in which none of our sides has actually won its Division! (That year was 2001).

In 1998 our 4th XI were elected to the newly-formed 4th-team Division of the Essex League and by 2000 we were flirting with the idea of a 5th XI and had started a ladies' side. Things were definitely on the way up - or so we thought.

Then in 2001 it all imploded at the top end of the Club. Our 1st and 2nd XIs were both relegated to their respective Division 2. Senior playing membership was not great and availability even worse. We could - and continued - to attract any number of colts, but somehow the conveyor belt seemed to stall before these lads reached 1st or 2nd XI standard. Something was "not quite right" in the Club.

After a winter of soul-searching, we came up with far-reaching and radical plans to re-structure the Club, principally in the way it was run, with the mantra of getting things right off the field with a view to getting them right on it. We realised that so-called 'recreational cricket' was in fact becoming anything but. Professional (or semi-professional) players, whether 'overseas' or home-grown, were to be found in most clubs. Many clubs (not us, sadly) had lucrative sponsorship deals or wealthy benefactors connected with them. It was becoming a seriously expensive exercise, running a cricket club. And then there were the legislative issues to attend to. Not just the increasingly onerous requirements of the League but matters such as health and safety, child protection, and countless other issues that meant that the good old days of the Hon. Secretary devoting a couple of hours now and then after a hard day's slog in the City were of necessity a thing of the past.

So we set up a series of sub-committees to deal specifically with cricket matters, marketing and social issues, our colts, and the house and ground. And appointed a Club Administrator. All these sub-committees worked incredibly hard and single-mindedly. We knew it wouldn't change things overnight, but we set ourselves a 'five-year plan', by the end of which we expected our 1st XI - the side by which the Club is measured - to be in the Premier Division.

It is fair to say that there were a few sceptics amongst the membership, and the committee knew that a few feathers were likely to be ruffled. On the cricket side, we adopted the attitude that if you wanted to be a playing member, you played. The cancer of 'cry-offs' was removed - along with a few senior players from the top end of the Club who didn't seem to share that mantra. Paul Webb arranged a full programme of lucrative social events and gradually persuaded a number of local businesses to support us to the extent that whilst ten years ago "social income" was no more than about £1,000, in 2005 it was almost £20,000. The Colts Section continued to thrive under its dedicated committee to the point where we now have 100 junior members and run a week-long Coaching Clinic in the Whitsun half-term. And through the efforts of the house and ground committee we improved our facilities by laying a grass square on the 'back pitch', purchasing new sightscreens for that pitch, and acquiring an electronic scorebox for the main ground. In short, the Club was much better organised and operated. It was better disciplined and far more professional (note the small 'p') in its approach.

And the outcome? Our sides started to win their Divisions. We experienced a regular sequence of promotions to the point where our 3rd and 4th XIs were not only in their respective Premierships, but were winning them. The 2nd XI reached their Premier Division. The 5th XI, who had been competing in the 4th XI League since 2001, were joined by a 6th XI in 2003 - making us the first club to enter six sides in the League. And the final icing on the cake: the 1st XI were promoted to their Premier Division for the first time at the end of 2005. One year earlier than our original 'five-year plan' had budgeted, and, with the sublime timing that we hope our batsmen will display in that top division, coinciding with this - our 125th Anniversary.

Do you remember Brentwood
Where Essex used to play
On a sporting wicket
Every year in May?

Do you remember Silcock
And Round, and Green, and Pickett?
When Essex first played cricket
At Brentwood, years ago?
Players there were gentlemen
Except for one or two.
They whiled away the golden hours
Those Parsons, not a few
And soldiers, lawyers and the lucky ones
From Public Schools. Filling in their time
Until a generation of their sons
Fell victims of the Flanders guns,
And Shenfield Road was filled with trucks
On the way to Warley Barracks.

I remember Brentwood later
A pleasant tree-lined ground
Where we smoked our pipes
In peace, and sat around the boundary rope
And watched the first Cudmore and Pope,
Then Avery and Dodds
Open the innings.
Then Bailey with his forward prods
Saved matches all against the odds.
Massive scores and weary feet
For bowlers when the pitch played true.
With Michael Bear from "up the road"
And Gordon Barker small and neat
Essex fortunes ebbed and flowed.
Then the ghost of Kortright, buried near
Must have often shed a tear
And whispered to the ghost of Fane
"Essex have just lost again."

They do not play at Brentwood now.
The umpires in their long white coats, and players
All have gone.
Uneconomic, so they cried
Much too small..........
..........So Brentwood died.

Very little is known about the author, D A Williams. This poem originally appeared in the Autumn 1984 edition of the Journal of the Cricket Society.

The references to relatively unsung players like Michael Bear and Gordon Barker suggest that he was an Essex supporter, and mention of Warley Barracks might point to him being a local man.

Commendable though the poem undoubtedly is, we must take issue with the last section. Brentwood might have "died" so far as County cricket is concerned (although as a venue it is alive and well for the County's Over-50s and Over-60s), but as a place at which to play - or watch - cricket, Brentwood is of course still thriving. A straw poll was conducted during the course of last season amongst a number of ex-club cricketers who still follow their former clubs in the Premier Division of the Essex League to select an 'ideal' Division of clubs based on the quality and aesthetic appeal of their grounds rather than their current playing strength. None of the pollsters was connected with Brentwood: nonetheless, Brentwood finished very high up in the poll.

The Old County Ground might be too small for county cricket nowadays, but for sheer visual beauty, if nothing else, what would you rather watch - Essex vs Derby at the Garons Ground at Southend, or Brentwood vs anybody at the OCG......?

Never has a cricket ground been more a symbol of the team that plays on it than Brentwood's Old County Ground. Even with the great oak tree looming majestically over the picturesque setting, the ground would be nothing without the well-maintained grass pitches beneath.

And by the same token, the promotion of the star-studded first team to the Essex Premier League is merely the pinnacle feature of a club based on superb grass roots colts cricket.

As well as its League standings, the success of Brentwood Cricket Club can be measured by the fact so many of its junior members turn out for the League sides on a Saturday.

A club which is celebrating its 125th anniversary year could not have thrived as it has unless it had nurtured young talent, and on arriving at the Club, youngsters, whether blessed with raw ability or simply enthusiasm, are immediately immersed in a professional set up of coaches and training.

Opportunities are available to work on every aspect of the game, and with input from some of the top senior players, colts are inspired by the prospect of representing the Club above junior level.

When I arrived as an innocent 14-year-old, I was told that if I was good enough, I would get a game, and sure enough I couldn't help but be excited when the midweek phone call came through from the captain saying that I'd been picked for Saturday.

On the morning of a game, I would turn up on time all fresh faced. The taste for alcohol on a Friday night had not developed, and the body was not tainted as a result. I would already be in my whites, eager to impress whichever captain had shown faith in me or was just so desperate that he needed me to make up the numbers. Either way, I was just happy to be there and ready to represent the Club. What made it easier to assimilate into the teams was the fact that however hard us colts would try to keep ourselves to ourselves, every effort was made to include us in the conversation and banter. Even if we were the butt of all the jokes, at least we were being recognised and appreciated. There would never be a feeling that we weren't wanted. On the contrary, some of the older members were delighted to have us coming through the ranks, as it meant we could do all the running and bowling, and they could finally hang up their boots.

With every good performance came the chance to move through the teams. The fact that the selection process is so permeable enhances everyone's game. Playing well could easily lead to a promotion, and equally, senior players up their game to ensure they're not ousted by a youngster. Moving up the teams led to me representing the2nd XI on the OCG, which still remains an honour. As a youngster, it's a great feeling to be playing on such a prestigious ground, with spectators cheering you on in the early evening sun.

The camaraderie seen on the pitch is mirrored off it. Going back to the club house to socialise initially would seem a bit daunting, but the genuine feeling of inclusion only helped and continues to help bring the teams closer together.

The worst memory about being a colt, is the fact that it is now a memory. Growing up in the Club means that you soon have younger players breathing down your neck, trying to take your place. The desire to work to get into the team has been replaced by a selfish desire to try and keep the colts out! Every year a new batch of youngsters make the step up into the senior teams, and pressure for places starts to work its way up. With more success comes more young players and they are the seeds of success for future years.

Few teams can boast the youth structure of Brentwood Cricket Club, and the continued harvesting of budding talent will ensure the club can blossom and build on its already ripe history.

I was both delighted and honoured to be asked to write a history of colts cricket at Brentwood Cricket Club as part of the Club's 125th Anniversary Brochure. As I have been a member of the Club for the past 40 years - and regularly involved in colts cricket during that time – I guess that I was the logical choice.

What I have concluded during my time with the Club is that it can never afford to do without colts cricket and that when the whole club gets behind colts cricket the adult section will enjoy success of its own.

I have decided to break my 40 years at the club in to 4 periods and during each of those periods I shall mention many of the characters involved in colts cricket during that the period and some of the highlights. Please excuse any historical inaccuracies. It will be because my memory has let me down.

I joined Brentwood Cricket Club in 1967 when I was fifteen. When I joined the club did not have a colts section. Most youth cricket then was played at school and youngsters joining a club was often the result of a school teacher having some involvement with a club and inviting one of his promising cricketers along. Brian Goodwin was my history teacher and also captain of Brentwood 1st XI. He asked me to play in a game for Brentwood 3rd XI and the rest as they say is history.

In my first season with Brentwood I only played adult cricket and it was not until the following year - 1968 - that there was any sort of colts cricket. In that year we played in the Trevor Bailey Shield, an under 17 competition for Essex clubs. Under the captaincy of Nigel Hilliard we reached the final of the competition. Nigel went on to become one of the most successful bowlers in Essex League history ( sadly for Colchester rather than Brentwood) and he is now chairman of Essex County cricket Club.

The following season under my captaincy we went one better and beat Ilford in the final at the County Ground, Chelmsford. We had a good side mainly comprising boys from Brentwood School and from my old school, Shenfield. Charlie Bean was one of our best batsman. He is now Chief Economist at The Bank of England. Richard Baker was our wicket keeper and went on to play first class cricket for Cambridge University and Essex. Phil Dunn's another of our batters was the grandson of the founder of the Brentwood Gazette. Two good friends of mine, Keith Pullen and Dave Lee were also mainstays of our batting. Keith's son, James, played for the Club in later years before giving up cricket to concentrate on career in professional football. Ken Hobbs was also in the side and as many of you will know no one has done more for youth development at Brentwood Cricket Club than Ken.

After 1970 I was not aware of much in the way of youth cricket at the club until my return from college in 1974. This could explain why the club was in the doldrums during that period. Certainly I cannot recall there being a regular Saturday 3rd XI. However in 1975 there was evidence that the club was starting to realise the importance of colts cricket. The fixture card of that year refers to an annual sub for Under 15s (50p!) and I know that Bernard Potter was very keen to involve young cricketers in the Club. With two young boys of his own he did have a vested interest. At about the same time Martin Pether joined the club and so did my brother, Rob. Keith Goodman, who was a PE teacher at Hedley Walter School also ensured that we had a regular flow of young cricketers from that school. Dave Cantor, Tim Potter, John 'Spud' Hayto and our web site administrator, Phil Lattimore, all joined at about that time.

This influx of young players during the mid 70's coincided with a period of some success for the main club with the 1st XI finishing 3rd in the top Essex League in 1975 and the 2nd XI winning the league in 1976. Bernard Potter had also reintroduced 3rd XI cricket at Brentwood and many of the young players played in that side.

However it was not until 1979 that the fixture card refers to the club having a Colts Manager. The first incumbent was Roy Marshall. Roy lived in Brentwood but his own son played for Chelmsford so I'm not sure how he ended up as our first official Colts Manager. The colts annual sub in 1979 was £2.

It was in the second half of the 1970s that I first became involved in managing a colts side. As I re-call it was the U14 side and members of it that many of you will know were Gary Jones, Steve Hawke, Stuart Murray, Ian McCann and David 'Pubic' Eyres. I can't re-call the side having many fixtures but it was a decent side and Gary Jones's talent stood out even at that tender age. Talent is usually easy to spot at a young age.

Other youngsters that I can recall cutting their cricket teeth at Brentwood in the late 70s were Trevor Coote, Stuart Fordham and Barry Davis. All three were classic examples of the saying show me the boy at 7 ( well in their case it was probably 11/12) and I'll show you the man. For those of you that know the 3 named individuals you will know what I mean. One of the greatest talents to emerge from this period was a young off spinner called Graham Nicholls who sadly died in a tragic accident at the age of 17.

Paul Adams took over as Colts Manager I 1980 and between then and 1986 John Hayto, Stuart Mee and John Davey all had a turn as colts managers. I was mainly working away Mondays to Fridays during that period so my re-collection of colts cricket during that period is somewhat hazy. However, I do know from talking to Stuart Mee that there was very little support for Colts Managers during that period hence, I guess, the rapid turnover of managers. I do re-call that Stuart was very popular with the colts' mothers! If there was a lack of continuity in Colts Managers during the first half of the 1980s this was not the case with colts subs which remained unchanged at £3. The players I most remember emerging from this period were Danny Cocklin and Paul Lattimore. Real characters even at the age of thirteen.

In fact Paul became our Colts Manager in 1986 a post he held until 1989 and this period of continuity had real benefits for the colts section. I was Club Chairman during these years and I did my best to ensure that Paul had the support he needed. Paul assembled a talented bunch of young cricketers including Ben Cocklin, Tom Davey, Paul Collier and Danny Hazle all future first team players. So good was the team Latts put together that in the 1989 they deservedly won the prestigious Matchplay competition for the first and only time in the Club's history.

The benefits of Paul's efforts were evident in 1990 when the Club enjoyed one of its best ever seasons with the 1st XI finishing a point or so away from the Premier Essex League title, the 2nd XI finishing 6th and the 3rd XI easily winning the title.

Unfortunately the club was unable to find a long term successor to Latts and between 1990 and 1994 we had 3 Colts Managers: Micky Davis, Graham Walker and Mark Severn. Colt's subs increased from £10 in 1990 to £25 in 1994.

Players to emerge from this period included Gavin 'the Artful Dodger' Todd, Ian Belchamber, Shane Surujbally, Roger Mahadeo, Nick Farmer and Dave Murphy. The last five all played in an Under 16 side that reached the quarter final of the Matchplay competition.

The modern era of Colts cricket started in 1996 when Ken Hobbs took over as Colts Manager. For many years Ken had been a great disciple of youth development and if ever the Club needed a skipper for one of its lower elevens in which to blood the colts it was normally Ken that stepped in to the breach. He always did it with great patience, understanding and tolerance.

He brought all of these qualities to the role of Colts Manager and he was fortunate to find a number of parents that were keen to get involved. I am thinking here of Andy Fryd, Keith Lennon, Graham Tomlinson and Alan Apicella. In 1996 there was league and cup cricket for all of the youth age groups and for the first time ever colts fixtures were published in the Club's fixture card. It was in that same year that I started to get involved with the colts again as my 9 year old son joined the Club.

By 1997 colts numbers were around 45 and the Colts Committee of the day decided that we should open our own bank accounts and publish our own Income & Expenditure Account. Annual Income in that year was £1220 and £200 was spent on coaching. The annual sub was £30. All of the coaching was provided voluntarily by club members – some qualified coaches, some not. Most of the coaching was undertaken during the summer months.

Over the next 9 years colts numbers grew to around 90, coaching was routinely provided both winter and summer, more and more professional coaching was provided and by 2005 annual revenue had grown to £6415 of which nearly £4000 was spent on coaching. During the period the colts have enjoyed a number of successes with at least two cup final wins and two league championships. By 2006 the annual sub had increased to between £50 and £60 dependant upon age.

The expansion of colts cricket at the Club in recent years resulted in the Club being the first in Essex to have 6 league sides and this strength in depth has had a knock on effect for the main club. It started with the 4th XI starting to win its league on a regular basis and this success gradually filtered up through the higher elevens culminating in the success of the 1st XI last season. Joe Fryd, Ian Belchamber and Tim Barbone and Ben Cocklin from last years 1st XI are all products of the Club's colts system.

David Barbone took responsibility for the Colts last year and together with Phil Crook he started to take colts cricket at Brentwood to a new level, one that will involve greater involvement of colts' parents and more individual, professional coaching.

The future looks bright but only if the Colts section continues to re-invent itself and continues to receive the support of the membership of the main Club.

Anyone wishing to join the colts or wanting more details should contact David Barbone on 01277 211424. Similarly anyone wishing to offer their assistance with regard to training and coaching should also contact David. Any help at any level is always greatly appreciated. We can also assist volunteers in gaining coaching qualifications.

The links between Brentwood Cricket Club and Brentwood School go back many years, and there are very many instances of exceptionally good Club cricketers who cut their cricketing teeth at the School.

But those links really began to be forged in earnest in the late seventies, just before the Club celebrated its Centenary, when our then Secretary (now President), Malcolm Webb, persuaded the Master in Charge of cricket at the School at the time, John Whitcombe, (another ex-Brentwood player) to allow us to lay an artificial 'strip' on the School's Shenfield Road ground adjacent to the Old County Ground for the development of our Colts Section and for our 3rd XI to play its home games. That arrangement continues to this day – and, we hope, for many years to come – and is now 'home' to our 3rd and 4th XIs since we obtained the School's agreement to create a small 'square' next to the artificial wicket some four years ago.

And now that we are able to field no less than six sides in the Shepherd Neame Essex League, the 5ths and 6ths are able to play a number of their home games on the School's Heseltine pitch in Middleton Hall Lane. These two sides generally comprise by and large the more senior of our colts, many of whom are pupils at Brentwood School, so the links between us are getting even stronger.

We are indebted to the present Cricket Master, Brian Hardie, for his support since he took up his position at the School, and also to Phil Rees who somehow manages to find the time outside his commitments at the School to help coach our Colts on Friday evenings. That in itself is one reason why we get a steady stream of good young cricketers from that source, and we in return hope that by exposing those youngsters to the rigours of adult club cricket we are helping to mould them into mature young men of whom their School can be proud.

During the recent Easter holidays, and after a year of fundraising, 15 Brentwood School cricketers made the tour of a lifetime to Barbados. All the boys play at Under-15 or Under-14 level for the School and are members of the School's new Cricket Academy. Many of them are members of Brentwood C.C. as well. In particular Tim Barbone and Aaron West, both of whom have already played for our 1st XI, and the School's, at the age of 15 as well as representing Essex County Cricket Club at their age group (and, in Aaron's case, the South of England).

Many of the boys' families and a number of members of School staff accompanied the lads and the Headmaster and Mrs Davies arranged their holiday to coincide with the tour and managed to see many of the games.

The boys didn't have much time to acclimatise after arriving late on a Thursday evening: they were practicing the following day at the famous Wanderers Cricket Club and had their first match on the Saturday and their introduction to the sort of exceptionally fast bowling for which West Indian teams are famous. Nonetheless they managed to win to start the tour off on a positive note.

The tour was not just about playing cricket, though, and the party had plenty of opportunities to examine the local culture, make a number of sightseeing visits and sample the local cuisine. And the adults were not left out of things either, with a "Coaches and Parents XI" taking on the Wanderers 1st XI - and losing narrowly (although since the Wanderers hadn't lost to a visiting side for over two years that was not entirely unexpected).

Ex-Brentwood C.C. 1st team captain and current Life Vice-president, Graeme Walker, who now lives for part of the year in Barbados helped with the tour arrangements. Ian Davies said “The School would like to thank Graeme for the essential role that he played in arranging fixtures and organizing a wonderful tour for us”.

And the final word goes to Phil Rees, Tour Leader and Cricket Coach at the School: “The tour was an outstanding success. The team bonded very quickly against high quality opposition. They raised the level of their game dramatically as the tour progressed, showing both resilience and excellent sportsmanship. They made many friends along the way and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”

From the Club's point of view it is good to know that so many good cricketers continue to come out of Brentwood School, and we hope that the ties between them and us remain strong, friendly, and to our mutual benefit for many years to come.

Two things are certain in life. You pay taxes and you die. In a cricket club such as ours a third certainty can be added: if you stand still you go backwards.

Having reached this position, we have no intention of allowing things to 'go backwards'.

Our immediate objective, on the pitch, is for the 1st XI to establish themselves in the Premier Division. This will not be easy - but nor was getting there in the first place. We have the players, and we have the reputation now of being a good club with excellent facilities: in other words, the sort of set-up that encourages people to want to join us. Allied to that objective is the desire to get the 2nd XI back into the top flight at the first opportunity. Their relegation from the Premiership last year was, hopefully, just a blip, and our overriding playing ambition now is to reach the end of our 'five-year plan' with all our top four sides in their respective Premier Divisions as well as 5th and 6th XIs continuing to compete in the 4th XI League.

So how can we achieve that ambition? Fundamentally our membership has to continue to grow, at both the senior and junior end. Currently we have 100 senior playing members and 100 colts. More members means more competition for places which means an inevitable raising of standards. More colts ensures the future of the Club.

Along with more members we - inevitably - need more money. Earlier in this programme mention was made of the fact that cricket at our level is becoming ever more costly, both to play and to administer. Running six sides in the League is all well and good, but it means that we have three home games most weeks. We are very fortunate indeed that our links with Brentwood School are so strong that we can use one of their pitches, prepared by them, for our 5th and 6th teams. But we still have to prepare two pitches every week as well as maintain the outfields. We have had to purchase a new set of covers this year at a cost of £5,000. We have had to spend £1,000 on improving the outfield, and then borrow £6,000 from the County Ground to buy a new mower to keep the outfield in good condition. We really need two new sightscreens (cost £2,000), but simply don't have the funds at present. These are not luxuries; they are all essentials, and in the absence of a benefactor the money has to be found from within the Club. And we have a principle, to which we religiously adhere, that we shall not increase annual subscriptions to pay for these items. Annual subs are traditionally pitched at the level needed for the Club to break even on its yearly running costs. Everything else has to be found by money-raising social events and begging.

We are a "CASC" - a Community Amateur Sports Club. This shows a statement of intent that we shall provide cricket for the whole of the local community, irrespective of age, gender, creed, ability or disability. We have also obtained our Clubmark accreditation, which is nationally recognised, and our ClubSX accreditation, which is bestowed by Essex County Council. We are also one of Essex CCC's "Focus Clubs".

All these accreditations major on the ability of the club concerned to develop cricket amongst the youth of the community. That is why we have such a flourishing colts set-up of which we are justifiably proud. It is also why we have such strong connections with all the local schools.

Continuing to provide these facilities for local youngsters is just as important to Brentwood Cricket Club as success on the field. If you support what we are trying to do, please help us by a donation or, if you are in a position so to do, by corporate sponsorship of our Club. With your help we can ensure that cricket continues to be played at the Old County Ground for another 125 years.

The Brentwood County Ground is the home of the Brentwood Cricket Club, the Brentwood Tennis Club, and the Brentwood Hockey Club and is managed by the County Ground Committee with equal representation from each of the three clubs.

Sport has been played at The Old County Ground for 125 years, hence our celebration today, and all of the clubs are themselves over 100 years old. In 1876 Essex County Cricket Club was formed and the ground at Brentwood was rented from Countess Tasker at £4 an acre as the home of Essex County Cricket Club. In 1881 the County agreed that the newly formed Brentwood Cricket Club could make the ground its home whilst tennis started at the ground on or around the start of the 20th Century and in 1910 Brentwood Hockey Club made the ground its home.

The County Ground Club was formed in 1955 when the cricket, tennis, and hockey clubs agreed to amalgamate whilst retaining their separate identities. Since that time there has been a substantial investment in the facilities and The Old County Ground can rightly be regarded as one of the finest sporting arenas in Essex offering a range of sporting, social and other facilities to the people of Brentwood. It is a community sports club offering sport for all and has a long-standing commitment to the development of youth sport.

The ground has great natural beauty with Trevor Bailey the former Essex and England cricketer likening it to 'a Barbie Doll, pretty, but petite', and Robin Hobbs, another of Essex's England players, thinking Brentwood was 'a lovely place to play, so peaceful.'

The ground was featured in The 1969 Wisden Cricketers Almanac which concluded that, "Of all the Essex grounds the tree surrounded acres of Brentwood are one of the most beautiful ... to play at Brentwood is to feel that one is playing in the grounds of some vast country mansion." This is, of course, virtually true as over 90 years ago a leading executive of the Canadian National Railway, Mr. Horne-Payne, brought his bride to Brentwood and purchased 80 acres of land including the Old County Ground where he built Merrymeade, a magnificent country house. Mr. And Mrs. Horne-Payne were great supporters of the cricket club and used to watch games under the shade of a great oak tree which was once part of the playing area in the same way as its more famous counterpart at the county ground in Canterbury.

Across the three clubs the County Ground now has over 1,000 members including 350 junior members. Key investments in the club that you can see today are the club bar built in 1975, the tennis club pavilion (1976), new changing rooms (1986), and the floodlit all weather tennis courts completed in 2002. In 1996 the cricket club re-laid it's square and added 2 new artificial nets in 2002 and in 1998 the hockey club secured a lottery grant of £387,000 in conjunction with the nearby Sawyers Hall College and the Great Danes Youth Football Club to build an astroturf pitch.

However, the biggest achievement of recent years has been the purchase of the ground from Essex County Council in 2003. All three clubs worked closely together in conjunction with the Brentwood Borough Council to gain ownership of the ground and secure its future as a sports ground. Since then all three clubs have been registered as Community Amateur Sports Clubs and have worked hard to complete repayment of the loans secured for the original purchase.

Above is a letter received from Doug Insole, who played for Essex many times at Brentwood in the 1950s, for some of the time as captain.

Doug Insole played 450 first-class matches for Essex and a further nine tests for England. He was a somewhat unorthodox batsman - but still managed to score over 25,000 runs, and he also bowled a bit and, just to complete matters, occasionally kept wicket. Indeed, an extract from the Essex v Lancashire game at Brentwood in 1952 reads:

Doug Insole is the current President of Essex, having been elected in 1995, and he is the President-elect of the M.C.C., and will be sworn into office in September this year.

Elsewhere in this programme you will have read about how Essex developed Brentwood as their headquarters in the late nineteenth century - and of course to this day the ground is known as "The Old County Ground" - but in fact Essex actually moved their headquarters to Leyton in 1886, mainly due to "poor attendances" at Brentwood, and with the exception of one match in 1922, didn't play here again until 1934.

Between the reinstatement of "Brentwood Week" and the outbreak of World War 2, twelve three-day county matches were played here, none of which ended in a draw! Probably the most famous of those games was the very first one, where the visitors, Kent, amassed 803-4 dec. This is the fifth highest score in the history of the County Championship and, not surprisingly, remains Kent's highest ever total. Kent did, in fairness, have an extremely strong batting line-up - Les Ames scored 202* and Frank Woolley 172. But it was one of their lesser-known players, Willie Ashdown, who stole the headlines with 332, the highest score ever made by a Kent player. In those days, Brentwood's groundsman was in the habit of rolling wet cow-dung into the wicket, presumably to harden it up, and in later years when Ashdown was asked for his memories of his innings, he said "the smell!" It certainly wasn't a good idea for bowlers to lick their fingers!

It goes without saying that Essex lost that game - by the small matter of an innings and 192 runs, which coincidentally was exactly the same margin by which they beat Surrey (Jack Hobbs et al) in the second match of the Week when Jack O'Connor made 248, a score only surpassed seven times in Essex's history. So in less than five days' cricket, 2,363 runs were scored for 52 wickets!

After the War, Essex continued at Brentwood until 1969, and lest you think that the pitch was always a bowlers' graveyard, the last game to be played here saw Essex skittled for their second-lowest score ever: 34 against, would you believe, Kent!

Indeed, bowlers often held sway here, which might seem odd to present-day players - and despite the relatively short straight boundary at the far end, which apparently always used to annoy Trevor Bailey for some reason. Leicestershire were shot out for 45 in an hour and a quarter in 1957, chasing 227 to win (TE Bailey 6-28, so no complaints about the boundaries then, we assume); Keith Boyce took 9-61 (13-108 in the match) against Cambridge University in 1966, and Len Coldwell of Worcestershire took the only county cricket hat-trick at Brentwood, in 1965 (Keith Fletcher, Geoff Smith and Brian Taylor). Worcestershire won the County Championship that year, but Essex actually won that game by 48 runs, despite 163 from Basil D'Oliviera.

Just to even things up, Essex's current record 6th wicket partnership of 206 between Barry Knight and Roger Luckin occurred at Brentwood against Middlesex in 1962. Knight made 165 to go with his first-innings bowling figures of 6-50.

And finally, one of only six tied matches in Essex's history took place at Brentwood in 1952 when Lancashire were the visitors - and when Doug Insole essayed one of his rare stumpings!

On the following page is part of the scorecard from the game against Kent played in 1934 and a photograph of Kent's heroes posing in front of the old Brentwood scorebox after the declaration of their innings. Willie Ashdown is on the left, Frank Woolley in the centre and Leslie Ames on the right. In fact the scoreboard is slightly misleading: Ashdown was the last man out for 332, and Woolley was 172 not out.

Interestingly, Essex won the return fixture that season. Ashdown scored 0 and 4! Just goes to show what a great leveler cricket can be!

Essex first innings 408 all out (DF Pope 100; J O'Connor 105*; AP Freeman 5-116)

We would like to express our thanks to everyone that has helped make today possible and to everyone who has contributed to this programme, be it by purchasing advertising or submitting articles for inclusion.

Our appreciation goes to Malcolm Webb, President of the Cricket Club, for his three outstanding articles spanning the past, present and future of Brentwood Cricket Club. No-one knows the Club better than Malcolm and his contribution has painted a fascinating picture of a fabulous Club.

Thanks also to Jon Coote whose contribution regarding the history of the colts is a small insight into just how far the Club has come in the past 20 or 30 years from the perspective of the colts. Thanks to Kevin Bradford and to Club Captain Richard Whitehall for their articles which show two players' points of view and what it means to be a part of this great Club. Thanks to Simon Hughes, Chairman of the County Ground Club, for his behind-the-scenes account of the relationship between the three clubs. Thanks to Brentwood School for their contribution and their continued support of the Club. The relationship between the School and the Club grows ever stronger. Long may it continue.

A big thank you also to all the organizations and businesses whose support within these pages has helped cover the substantial costs that today has incurred and helped us raise funds for the Cricket Club in this its 125th Anniversary season and for the very worthy cause of Little Havens Children's Hospice.

Finally, in addition to the individuals and organisations mentioned above, we are also particularly grateful to Judy Grocott and Lauretta Fox of Little Havens, and Peter Lowman and, again, Malcolm Webb of Brentwood CC who have been deeply involved in the planning and fruition of today's event for the past six months. But chiefly, both the Club and Little Havens owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Paul Webb who has worked tirelessly for very many hours to produce this programme and to ensure the success of the day. Without Paul's endeavours the event would never have got off the ground, and because of his energy and enthusiasm both the Charity and the Club will be demonstrably better off, financially.

The Official Match Day Programme for the Brentwood CC XI vs Old England XI game can be downloaded here (file size approximately 3.06MB). It is in PDF format so you will therefore need Adobe Acrobat to view it. If you don't have a copy, Acrobat can be downloaded for free from the Adobe download site.