IN THIS ISSuE Glamorgan Gloucestershire Harrogate ... - Cricket Club

Horspath | The Village Hall
horsPath
the village hall
Oxford Road, Horspath, Oxfordshire OX33 1RT
T: 07767 613 322 E: max@horspathcricket.com W: www.horspathcricket.com
All images courtesy of Flickr images
Horspath are a
friendly village
club set in the beautiful
South Oxfordshire
countryside, 5 miles south
east of Oxford. Cricket has
been played in the area
since the mid 1890’s when it
is known that a match was
played against Garsington.
The clubs first home at the
Village Recreation Ground
was acquired by the Parish
Council in 1924. At the time,
the grandfather of current
Club President, Bob Walker,
levelled the square and
fenced off the field.
It was then replaced by
the current Village Hall in
the 1960’s which was
extended to add the
modern changing rooms
with the assistance of Sport
England lottery funding in
1996. All weather nets were
then added in 2000 and
small improvements to the
pitch and facilities have
taken place every winter
since.
The modern day side are
MP Sports Cherwell League
Division 1 Champions.
Along with their fantastic
first team’s performance
the clubs other teams have
performed exceptionally
and have won their
respective Division 1,
Division 6, Division 7 and
Division 10 divisions.
Impressively, the club was
also Radio Oxford
Memorial Trophy Winners.
Much of their recent
success must be put down
to the opening of a second
new ground in 2009 which
was available for the 2010
season. Installed to the
north east of the Village
Hall, it has allowed for the
expansion of youth cricket
at the club meaning they
now have an ever
expanding and vibrant
youth section which caters
for youngsters aged 7-17.
Interestingly, the club is
an all-volunteer amateur
establishment and does not
pay people to play or coach
cricket. The club has an
informal but growing
relationship with Riverside
Cricket Club and Tasmania
University Cricket Club in
Launceston and Hobart,
Tasmania, respectively
where it exchanges players
now and again. The hugely
welcoming and open club
provides opportunities for
players, youth players and
social members alike.
Closed season
events
Saturday September 25th,
1.30pm Horspath v Oxford
Caribbean’s
Sunday September 26th,
1.30pm Horspath v Jehan’s
Asian XI
Thursday evenings: Adult
& U17’s training
Cricket is
a pressure
game, and
when it comes
to an India-
Pakistan
match the
pressure is
doubled.
IMRAN KHAN
Formed in 1960 after
the joining of two
Clubs, Belhus Park CC and
Belhus Association CC it’s
the Essex clubs 50th year
Anniversary this year. The
occasion was marked with a
cricket week from the 29th
of August until September
3rd as several fixtures took
place including a match
with Essex over 50’s. Also,
on the weekend of the 7th of
August several founder
members were invited to
attend a special buffet in
their honour at the ground
when a 1st XI fixture took
place. The clubs Chairman
is Brian Edwards. He spoke
to Cricket Club Magazine
last month about his
involvement and hopes for
the future.
“I Joined the Club in
1983… and initially assisted
with running the youth
teams as well as playing on
both Saturday and Sundays.
I then went on to Captain
various sides and had
several roles within the
Club until 2000 when I took
over as Chairman. I also
became joint trustee of the
lease at our home ground in
2004 when we took it over
at North Stifford.”
“We have always had
good links… with the other
local sides although sadly
over the past years the
number of clubs has slowly
dwindled away from
somewhere near 30 clubs
down to just 8. We have run
several joint ventures with
other clubs especially at
youth level where we have
held coaching sessions in
schools and disability
cricket in the local area
supported by the County
Board. We also give over
the village green once a
year to hold the summer
fete and are also active
members of the Local
Community Forum Group.”
“We have always…
received very favourable
comments on the playing
conditions and wickets
provided by our dedicated
members who prepare the
wickets in their spare time
completely voluntarily. We
have a first class
scoreboard facility and our
big aim is to replace the
wooden Clubhouse that,
although does its job, could
do with replacing with a
purpose built pavilion to
stage the kind of cricket our
wickets deserve. We have
practice nets and roll on
covers that have been
provided by various
funding partners as well a 4
Belhus | The Village Green
belhus
the village green(north stifford green)
High Road, North Stifford, Grays, Essex RM16 5UG
T: 01375 385505 W:belhuscc.cricketclubwebsite.co.uk
All images courtesy of Denis Read, Belhus
Game at Belhus
All images courtesy of Denis Read, Belhus
B.C.C.
All images courtesy of Denis Read, Belhus
1st XI June 09
All images courtesy of Denis Read, Belhus
Match
All images courtesy of Denis Read, Belhus
Coin toss at the green
big sightscreens and
boundary rope.”
“Although we don’t...
Specifically run a ladies/
girls team from the Club we
are founder members of the
current Thurrock Ladies
Team which enjoys the
membership of other ladies
and girls from local clubs.
Like us, they do not have
enough to form their own
team.”
“We feel the
development… of younger
players is paramount to the
future stability and growth
of the Club. Added to that,
quite simply, we want to
continue to grow as we
have done over the past 6
years and to hopefully one
day have a pavilion to
match our playing surface
and facilities, after all
“Romford wasn’t built in a
day.”
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