LEY HILL CRICKET CLUB�

The Cricketing Memoirs of Stan Channer�(played early 30s-1989)�

For as long as I can remember there has been a Cricket Club at Ley Hill, and the ground has always been at its�present location, but the present playing surface and outfield bear no comparison to the ground in those far off�days.� Just after the First World War (1919) the ground was used in winter by the village football club,�

although this club did not survive for many years.� But the playing of football had its effects on the playing surface, but perhaps�compensated for this damage by keeping the outfield grass a little shorter.� The outfield in those days consisted of grass intermingled with ant hills which�could be as much as 6-8 inches high and on the north east side of the ground, a goodly�crop of heather and harebells were everywhere.�

Beyond the boundaries there were few trees, but a profusion of gorse – a lovely�sight when in flower. Almost every season we lost a few cricket balls in this dense undergrowth.�

With a little good fortune, the outfield would be cut once a year, around June time, when Mr J Brown�(a local farmer) would be using a mower drawn by a horse to cut his meadow grass, and he would then get his�employees to cut the outfield as well.�

Skylarks were another problem. They would nest in the tufts of grass and in the heather�in the outfield and when a nest was found it would be marked so that its location was avoided as�far as possible during a game.�

From these facts it is easy to realise that scoring runs was a difficult task. The road was�not the boundary line and any hits crossing the road had to be run. On this side of the field the�only boundary was the village smithy� and the far side of the road from�the pubs to Latimer. This entitled 6 runs to be added to the batsman’s score.� At the end of the innings a score of 35-40 was usually a winner. A scorer very rarely had the trouble�of adding a 6. The other boundaries were the same as at present, although extras counted only as 2. But there�were batsmen who could hit. The late Horace Brown once hit a leg side delivery across the golf fairway and ran�7, whilst the late Jesse Rogers could easily clear the road to Bovingdon.�

It was not until the mid-1930’s that the club had a pavilion and that was just a�large wooden shed which would just about take 22 players and 2 umpires if it rained.�Prior to this outstanding event a table and two chairs were carried from the village�hall for the scorers.� At this time LHCC were members of the Chesham & District Cricket League,�which consisted of two divisions of 8 clubs per division. The championship was arrived�at by the winners of both leagues playing each other. I know that Ley Hill won this�in 1923 and I believe they also won it on another occasion, somewhere�

around World War 1 time (give or take a few years). They were also league champions in 1950 and�1952 but by those dates the league had shrunk to one division.� From the oldest date mentioned, the club is at least 65 years old, but I think that it is much�older than this, probably 100 years old. I base this fact on information passed on to me as a child.�One gentleman – Dennie Glenister – told me that he used to play cricket for Ley Hill, but he didn’t�bother with a cricket bat, he used a rick peg (a piece of wood used for securing the thatching on a�corn rick). At this time he was an old age pensioner, but other people told me that he did play for Ley Hill.�Information was also given to me about other senior citizens who had also played for Ley Hill.� In 1932 or 1933 there was quite a number of youngsters interested in the Club and a second team was�formed. I still recall the first game we played against Bovingdon 2�nd� XI. We all met outside the Crown with our�bicycles on a wet and dreary day. We all had lengths of string or leather straps with which we tied bats and�batting pads to our crossbars and away we went to Bovingdon. I think we lost our first game, but even though�we were all wet through from head to heel, we rode home very happy. This team lasted a few seasons, but as�its members were called for first team duty and replacements could not be found, it had to be disbanded.�

The club carried on with more people living in Chesham joining the club until the outbreak of war in 1939�when a temporary halt to cricket had to be called.� I think the club was not reformed until 1948. By this time the ant hills were�larger than ever, as were tufts of grass, but probably the worst aspect was the fact�that gorse had spread almost to the edge of the table on the eastern side of the�ground.� I well remember arriving at the ground on a Saturday morning armed with a 5�gallon can and a supply of sodium chlorate. I filled the can from a tap outside the two�cottages that are now part of the Swan, added sodium chlorate and poured it on the�offending gorse. After a large number of visits the gorse was killed off but so too�was the grass around the gorse.� On another Saturday in autumn, I thought I would reduce the grass so I lit�the grass in the south-west corner of the outfield and before I could turn round the�

fire was racing along between the road and the table, but�I was able to stop it before it reached the gorse at the southern end of the ground.� On another occasion I lit the area between the table and the eastern boundary�but with more success, although a stroll round the ground on the following Sunday�evening revealed the fire was still burning below the surface, but this was soon�extinguished.� One important event occurred on a Good Friday morning in the early 50’s when a�number of us had turned up to do pitch repairs etc. Cyril Glenister of Glensands soon�

appeared pushing a machine called a Hayter, which was a rotary grass cutting machine.�After a demonstration, it was agreed at the next committee meeting to purchase one (I�think it cost £54). From now on the outfield grass was cut to a reasonable length, but�perhaps the most effective cutting was on the ant hills and ultimately these disappeared.� Prior to this, we found a gentleman to cut the outfield with an Allen scythe at�£4 a time and after this gentleman dropped out, a firm at Buckland Common cut the�outfield a few times but soon came to the conclusion that the outfield was too bumpy�for them to risk their machinery!� After winning the League championship in 1950, the captain Bill Dwight sug-�gested we held a Social as a reward for the tea ladies who had served us so well. It fell to me to organise the�event and with much trepidation we went ahead. But it turned out to be more work for our tea ladies in preparing�

food for a large gathering, so in some ways it backfired.�On the credit side, although admission was free and open to all villagers, everyone�

seemed to enjoy the evening and to defray expenses a draw was made which resulted in�around £8 going into the club coffers. This amount would roughly have purchased a couple�of bats. Times and costs have changed!�

The Socials continued each year and after a time we persuaded a Mr�Gordon Ayres to put on a show with his Youth Keep Fit youngsters. Their�display ended with a pyramid of youngsters and at the very top of the�pyramid was Keith Richardson!�

A collection box was taken round the ground and we usually ended up with around £2 per�game, an amount comprised mainly of a few coppers per person. But many villagers turned up to�support us and the cheering made the occasion more like football than cricket! The following�evening many people were around to discuss the game and of course give advice as to who should�have bowled etc. etc.�

Ultimately the Cricket League collapsed as more teams either played “friendly” cricket or�themselves disappeared due to lack of membership, and Ley Hill had to turn to playing “friendly”�cricket. Certainly this meant a full programme and more players joined the Club which led to the�formation of a 2�nd� XI.�

I think the next significant event in the club was the purchase of the�present� pavilion. It was a WAAF’s barrack room and we�went to Ampthill in Bedfordshire to dismantle it and returned home late�afternoon with the new pavilion piled high on a lorry. It rained all day�and after the roof had been removed we were at the mercy of the�elements. We were all soaked to the skin.� The pavilion was eventually erected on the present site but being�of wood it was repeatedly broken into, and so an outer skin of bricks and�metal doors were added with the desired effect.� But I think the next milestone was the best that ever occurred�in the club – THE FETE. At quite a late date it was decided to have an�

August Monday Fete and August Monday in those days was of course at� the beginning of the month.�

Keith Richardson, Ron Bourike (Captain) and myself met frequently to discuss and plan the fete, although�none of us had any previous experience of what was required. However August Monday arrived bright and sunny�and work started. Two people scurried off to Hemel Hempstead to collect a lorry that we had hired to collect�stalls etc from Hyde Heath Village Hall.� At Hemel Hempstead the wrong fuel was put in�the vehicle’s tank (ie petrol in a diesel engine) and that�meant the tank had to be removed and drained – a waste�of precious time. Eventually at a late hour, the vehicle�arrived at the ground laden with stalls etc and a mar-�quee tent.� No-one knew how to erect it, but eventually we�succeeded, but the time was past 1 pm and the fete�started at 2 pm. It meant no lunch for some of us, but�it was all worth while. We made a profit on the venture�and the fete has taken place every year since and of�course profits have increased.�

WRITTEN BY STAN CHANNER�1989�