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Looking back to the golden age of village cricket
HARKING back to the days when even the smallest village in the Upper Calder Valley had its own cricket team, and towns such as Hebden Bridge boasted 30 to 40, Peter Davis repealed the importance the sport had played in the life of local communities at the recent meeting of Hebden Bridge Local History Society, writes Issy Shannon.
Any preconceptions that, apart from dedicated fans, cricket can be a somewhat boring subject were completely dispelled by Peter, whose enthusiasm for the game resulted in a most unusual and entertaining evening thoroughly enjoyed by members. Encouraged to form their own "teams,” competition between church, pub and factory sides was fierce and highly illuminating!
Dismissing statistics and scores, Peter focused on the social side of cricket, disclosing some surprising facts garnered during a project he and fellow enthusiasts undertook three years ago, which resulted in exhibitions and initiatives all over West Yorkshire. The Cricket Heritage for Calderdale and Kirklees was funded by a 50,000 Lottery grant, he explained, and is still on-going.
Over 100 clubs produced their own histories, between 15,000 and 20,000 images are now in an electronic archive and items such as club records, bats and balls, and other memorabilia are bring stored for posterity. Two fascinating booklets on the history of local cricket clubs have also been published and there are plans to establish Heritage Cricket Trails throughout the area.
Peter was thanked by chairman John Billingsley, who admitted that until that evening, his interest in cricket had been minimal but was now inspired. “Medicine and Magic” is the subject at the next meeting on January 24, when Peter Watson examines traditional doctoring and remedies in and around the Pennines.
Following the success of their first series of lectures on the Evolution of the Pennine Landscape, the society's second course - Understanding Pennine Buildings, by Alan Petford and David Cant, is now fully booked.
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Weather for Halifax
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
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Light sleet showers
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