CONGRATULATIONS TO BRIGG SCHOOL CRICKET CHAMPIONS

House cricket champions Lardelli were pictured in a Twitter message from the Sir John Nelthorpe School, Brigg, PE ‏department today.

How pleased we were to see that the great summer sport is still being played competitively at this local seat of learning.
During our time at Brigg Grammar School (1967-74) house cricket was played on the field now used by SJN.
The first three years contested junior matches, while the senior games were on the main square, lovingly tended by that great groundsman, Stan Beedham.
The spacious wooden pavilion (now demolished) had changing rooms and a scorers' loft, reached by ladder.
BGS house matches were contested by Ancholme, Nelthorpe, Sheffield, Yarborough and School House (boarders). They usually began straight after school. But during the final week or term, if there was a backlog due to bad weather, they could be played in the morning, allowing those selected for duty to escape a few lessons.
Pupils living in Brigg were all members of Ancholme House. 
Cricket matches against other schools were played on Saturday afternoons.
Transport to away games was by mini-bus or, if you were unlucky, an elderly school bus, handed down to BGS, which was very slow and unreliable.
We played against fellow grammar schools like Caistor, DeAston, Barton, Lincoln City, Clee and Boston.
Teas when we played at home were provided in the Refectory - a  brick-built canteen from the Victorian area, located on the school field, beside the cricket pavilion. We think the sandwiches were cut in the boarding house, which was just a short walk away. 
Although the boarding house building remains - no longer providing pupil accommodation - the old Refectory has gone. 
Stan Beedham, who lived in Wrawby, could be found in a brick-built hut on the boundary of the cricket field if he was not out tending to the turf, in all weathers.
There used to be a Cricket Week in late July or early August, involving the 1st X1 and sometimes the 2nds. There would be one or two matches against teams involving Old Boys.
Three or four decent cricket nets were dotted around the edges of the extensive school field. 
They had artificial "strips" as the nets saw such heavy use that even Stan would have been unable to keep grass pitches in useable condition.