LEE FIELDEN'S EBAY 'FINDS' BRING BRIGG CRICKET MEMORIES FLOODING BACK

 

Nostalgic reminders of Brigg Town Cricket Club's very early days are contained in online ebay purchases made recently by a former player.
Lee Fielden, from Barnetby, who played for the club as a wicketkeeper/batsman of note some years ago while he was a pupil at Sir John Nelthorpe School and after he left Brigg Sixth Form College, has obtained a copy of the Grimsby & District Cricket League Handbook published in 1976.
Reviewing the previous season, it shows that Brigg Town had first and second teams in different divisions, while opening batsman Bob Elwood finished the 1975 campaign as the leading batsman in the top flight. Bob was a very reliable opener who accumulated his runs in steady fashion. A former club captain, he later became a league umpire after moving to the Alford area.
Although Brigg Town received a number of mentions in the 1976 Handbook, our local club had already resigned by the time it was published.
A successful application was made during the close season to step up a level to the Lincolnshire County Cricket League.
So May 1976 saw Brigg playing its first games in the Lincs competition, to which it sill belongs today.
Neighbouring Broughton CC also made its Lincolnshire League debut at the same time, having previously played in the North Lindsey competition (then mainly a Saturday competition).
Some Brigg Town players from 1975 are still living locally today and will remember the Grimsby League era.
We are among them and recall playing in what turned out to be the last Grimsby League home game (at Brigg Rec) when the first team lost to champions North Thoresby - a very talented side - in late August.
We also played in the club's final Grimsby League fixture - a second team match a couple of weeks later when Town lost narrowly away to East Halton, then based at a quaint ground on Townside Farm where the players changed and took tea in a wooden hut which had once been the booking office/waiting room at the village railway station!
This match saw Brigg 2nds' veteran vice-captain Roy Hunt play in the same team as his sons Graham, Keith and Martin. This was a proude moment for Roy and his boys. He lived at Scawby Brook and was senior employment officer at Appleby-Frodingham steelworks, Scunthorpe. We think this was Roy's last appearance before retiring.
Brigg Town Cricket Club's annual presentation evening for the 1975 season was held in what the Angel Hotel Ballroom (now the Angel Suite community venue). It included a 50/50 disco (remember them?) and a buffet.
Our thanks go to Lee for sharing his ebay purchases which have brought back many happy cricketing memories for us, and probably will do likewise for Brian Parker, Martin Hunt, Allan Kemshell, Simon Fisher and Pete Kerridge who are all still living in the town. Some other members of the squad now reside elsewhere in North Lincolnshire.
Club cricket in the mid-1970s was very different to today's game. Generally speaking, playing squares were not as good back then, resulting in much lower average team totals.
During summer 1975 we remember visiting Grimsby with Brigg 2nds to take on eventually Division Three champions Alpine-Findus when our side was skittled for either 16 or 18. We think Brigg were captained that day by Brian Parker who is currently Deputy Town Mayor of Brigg. We await his confirmation with interest!
We also recall keeping wicket that season away to South Kelsey, on the village's very small ground at Skipworth Ridge.
In very fine weather, across the rolling agricultural fields to the south, they used to reckon you could see the tall spires of Lincoln Cathedral in the far distance.
Happy days... 46 years ago!