A HISTORY OF BRIGG TOWN CRICKET CLUB INSPIRED BY NEW BOOK

Brigg Town Cricket Club's original team from 1974, pictured at the Recreation Ground. Still in Brigg today are Allan Kemshell (front, extreme left) and Coun Brian Parker, front - second left. Quick bowler 'Wes' Allison (second from right - back row) lives in Caistor.

It has long been an ambition of ours to write the history of Brigg Town Cricket Club.

Perhaps one day we'll find the time!

The club was founded in Victorian times  - exact date unknown - but probably after Brigg Town Football Club and Ancholme Rowing Club, which both came into being in the 1860s.

Our 19th and early 20th century cricketers played near the railway station, on what's now Holland Park, adjoining today's North Lincolnshire Council Hewson House staff car park.

Many teachers from Brigg Grammar School were involved with the club in its early days, including headmaster Richmond Flowers.

Also involved were members of the Smith family from the town centre ironmongers.

The club fell by the wayside just before, or during, the Second World War and did not re-form after the hostilities when men returned home from serving in the Forces.

This may have been due, in part, to the strength of other local clubs, notably Elsham, Scawby (playing in the park) and Brigg Sugar Factory.

Brigg Town CC was relaunched at a meeting held in autumn 1973 and the following season started life in the Grimsby League, when notable players included Brian Parker (now a Brigg Town Councillor) and David Foster, who was to become chief environmental health officer with Glanford Borough Council.

We played a couple of friendlies that season but became a regular when the club added a second team in 1975.

That influx of players helped in a successful application for membership to the Lincolnshire County Cricket League for the 1976 season, Broughton also gaining election at the same time.

Various ups and downs followed but the club is still going today, and next season will be back at Brigg Recreation Ground, following major refurbishment of playing and changing facilities.

That will be 45 years after the club played its initial home league game at Brigg Rec during May 1974.

We were reminded of our quest to write the history of Brigg Town CC by an interesting email received over the weekend from Ann Boulton, a fellow long-serving North Lincolnshire journalist and cricket league official.

Ann has written a book about the history of Grantham Cricket Club (see below).

We recall going to watch a game at Grantham not many years ago when former Brigg Town team-mate Duncan Heath was making his Minor Counties debut for Lincolnshire.

Duncan attended Sir John Nelthorpe School and is the son of Judge Michael Heath (recently retired), who lived in Brigg for a time and also played over several seasons for Brigg Town.

There are bound to be many similarities between the history of Grantham Cricket Club and Brigg Town CC.

In 1817, in the small Lincolnshire village of Billingborough, a simple game of cricket took place. The visitors were Grantham Cricket Club and this was their first recorded match.

A new book traces the progress of the visiting club and records how it developed into the major player in Lincolnshire cricket that it is today.

The First 200 Years : A History of Grantham Cricket Club 1817-2017 features the scorecard and report on this first match as published in the Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury and goes on to record notable events such as:

• Reports of games involving W G Grace who played at Grantham on three occasions

• How the club folded - then rose again less than two years later

• How Grantham CC survived two wars thanks to the military

• Notable names throughout the club’s history

• The formation of leagues in Lincolnshire

This the first book for cricket enthusiast Ann Boulton who has been involved in local leagues for more than 25 years, and its 154 pages are a comprehensive record of Grantham CC through the years.

"Doing all the research into the history, it became obvious that in the 1800s clubs experienced the same problems as they do today," she said. 

"These range from financial difficulties to shortage of players and people willing to join the committee.

"I didn't want a boring book full of statistics though, so there are some lighthearted observations on other aspects of the cricket played around Grantham.

"One big difference is that in the 1800s, even local games used to attract hundreds of spectators. They would have a band playing and marquees and food on the field and for big matches, a printer would have his press in a tent and at the fall of each wicket, would print off the state of play!"

The First 200 Years is available on Amazon and Ebay, £10+p&p, ISBN: 978-1-9997327-0-7 or by sending a cheque payable to Ann Boulton for £12 (£10 plus £2 p&p), with name and address for delivery, to 21 Hallam Close, Barrow on Humber DN19 7FD.

For details of BACS payment, cash purchase at Grantham outlets or further information,

e-mail manorashgroup@btinternet.com or telephone 01469 531280.