Like all children at school in the 1950s, I was introduced to cricket. My father had played when he was at school and when he returned to Axminster from the Air Force, he played for Axminster Cricket Club.

As a young boy I was taken down to North Street to watch the cricket. I understand that my first entrance onto the field of play was when, as about two or three years old. I chased out to my father when he was fielding, crying out "Wee Wee Daddy - Wee-Wee", somewhat embarrassing for my father!

School cricket

At primary school, I developed a love for the game, which continued at Colyton Grammar School where I played for the school team when I reached the fourth form.

The teacher in charge of cricket was Sid Bradbeer, a cricket fanatic, who arranged a series of trips to the County Ground at Taunton, where we received coaching from cricket legends, including the great Somerset batsman, the West Indian Peter Wight.

I played about three or four immaculate forward defensive shots to the first few balls I received, when the response came from Peter Wight – "You must hit de ball!"

In the school team at Colyton, we had my good friends Tony Kent, Roger Hurrell and Terry Newbery, who played at Axminster, plus Terry Denslow, who played for Chard and Richard Pound, who played for Kilmington.

Scoring for Axminster

My interest in cricket had also taken me to Axminster Town Cricket Club where I became scorer in 1959. At that time Axminster had an extremely strong team with Gerald and Michael Marsh, wicketkeeper Martin Leach, the hard-hitting Tony Rockett and all-rounder Philip Spong. What a side that was.

Gerald and Martin opened the batting, Michael Marsh came in at three, Tony Rockett at four and Phil Spong at five. Phil and Tony opened the bowling, Michael and Gerald bowled spin and Martin kept wicket. That was a team in itself, but when you add a combination of Donald Goff, Peter Parker, Dick Sturch, Ray Youens, Dicky Bird and some talented younger players, it was a startling team.

The captain was Bill Sweetland, who was decidedly rotund at the time. However, when Martin Leach wasn't available behind the stumps, Bill kept wicket, keeping right up to the wickets – no mean feat to the swift, but thankfully accurate, bowling of Tony Rockett, Phil Spong and Dick Sturch. Bill Sweetland would usually bat at 9 or 10, mostly scoring in singles, fours or sixes, to minimise his running between the wickets.

The North Street Ground

The North Street ground was an archetypal rural cricket ground, with a pavilion of timber structure and roman tiled roof, nestling amongst a group of lime trees. The changing rooms were small, the kitchen was small and the toilets at the rear of the pavilion were primitive in the extreme.

For many years and on a weekly basis, the indefatigable Les Haynes trudged around the boundary to the far corner of the field, where he emptied the contents of the Elsan toilet buckets. Les thus adopted the nickname Elsan Haynes!

I would imagine that the residents of the house on the Cricketers estate, whose garden is now located in that corner of the old cricket field, must be able to grow the most stupendous leeks or rhubarb.

The North Street venue was not as picturesque as some cricket grounds, but had a distant vista over the East Devon countryside towards Cloakham and Westwater and was bounded by the Exeter to Waterloo railway line to the west, open fields to the south, Axe Vale Laundry to the east and Mr Cawley's bungalow to the north.

The Cawley family were our generous landlords until they needed to maximise the value of the site in the 1980s. However, there was nothing better than being seated on the laundry steps, watching the cricket, with the sun setting over the railway line.

There were no proper nets in those days, but the laundry wall acted as a good long-stop when practice nights took place.

Axminster 2nd XI

I started playing for Axminster in the 2nd XI, aged about 14 or 15, when I seem to remember Les Thresher being captain. My good friends Robert Harris, Peter Manley and Graham Bartlett were in the side, together with elder statesmen such as my father, Cecil Sansom, John Enticott and others.

The second X1 was soon to be captained by the delightful Bill Carr and I also remember Geoff Enticott, John Lambert, Alan Carter and Gerald Copp – who all mainly played second team cricket.

Axminster 1st XI in the 1970s and 1980

After returning to Axminster from working away, I rekindled my interest in cricket and resumed playing for Axminster, in friendly matches in the 1970s, until Axminster Cricket Club ventured into league cricket in 1982.

When I reappeared in 1971 the 1st X1 was captained by Phil Spong and included some excellent players such as Roger Hurrell, who played a number of minor county matches for Dorset. In 1970 – the year before I returned to the club - Roger Hurrell became the first Axminster player to score 1,000 runs. while Phil Spong became the first Axminster bowler to take 100 wickets.

Other up-and-coming players in those seasons were Ronnie Seward (a fine young batsman) and opening bowler Terry Guppy, who I remember playing against at primary school, when he was a fearsome bowler for Uplyme Primary School.

The side also included players who gave great service to Axminster Town Cricket Club over many years, such as Dave Capon, Roy Thresher, Dave Pike, Harry Hawkins and Alan Jones.

By the time we reached the 1980s, we saw the development of other fine players: wicketkeepers Neville Pritchard, who went on to keep wicket for Buckinghamshire and Howard Midworth, all-rounders Pete Scotchford and Paul Manley, batsmen Chris Oakland, Andy Cross, Ian Macdonald and John Betteridge, together with bowlers Pete Garner, John Cloke and Richard Shopland.

Umpires, scorers and tea ladies

The club has been blessed over many years by superb umpires and scorers, sometimes taking a bit of flak, but always loyal to the club.

When I first played for Axminster, the umpires were either Bill Gillingham, John Kent or Tom Vowden - but then a gentleman arrived to live in Membury, who transformed the standard of umpiring and the standards set by the club.

This was George Mills, who together with his wife Betty, became an integral part of the club. George was a stickler for getting things right. He was an experienced umpire and strove to make the right decisions and explain the laws to the players.

The appearance of players was paramount. Woe betide you if you wore black socks, your boots were grubby, your shirt wasn't tucked in, or you wore a tee shirt – rather than a shirt with a collar.

Before George Mills arrived at Axminster, another character had arrived at the club, who featured in the fortunes of Axminster for the next 50 years – this was Les Haynes – player, Elsan bucket emptier, umpire, fixtures secretary and arch fund-raiser.

Les would be the first to admit that he wasn't the greatest cricketer. I believe his first seven or eight scores were all ducks. However, George took Les under his wing, taught him the rudiments of the game and transformed him into one of the best umpires in Devon.

Les was proud that he eventually went onto the minor counties reserve umpires list and for several years he stood in minor county matches.

George Mills and Les Haynes also instigated the first Axminster Colts teams, arranging matches with youth sides from far and near.

Other umpires providing great service for Axminster Cricket Club included Bill Carr, current president Percy Downton, Brian Perry and Stuart Lee.

We have also been fortunate with scorers. Following my short stint as a young scorer, others followed, whilst I was a player, including Di Vowden, Angela Burrough, Gill Spong and Jenny Allsopp. However, the scorer I remember particularly wel and held in great respect was the late Ian Pitman. I believe Ian had suffered from spina bifida as a child and used two sticks or a wheelchair all the time I knew him.

As a young man in the 1970s, Ian appeared at the ground with his father to watch the cricket at North Street. One of our players had the idea of asking Ian if he would like to consider doing the scoring.

Ian looked at the player, wearing his Axminster cricket cap and said "as long as I can wear one of those caps, I'll do the scoring" – which he continued to do, in immaculate style for the next 20 years.

Ian joined in everything. He loved the after-cricket drinking sessions in the Red Lion or the Cavalier, and often joined the Axminster Rugby Supporters Emporium (ARSE) in watching the international rugby.

The tea ladies have been brilliant at Axminster Cricket Club – with the teas being exalted and enjoyed by all our visiting teams. The conditions for tea-making at North Street were awful – but these fabulous teas still arrived at the table, on time and scoffed down with delight by the hungry cricketers. I remember Gill Spong, Vera Carr, Betty Mills, Liz Haynes, my mother Beryl and a host of others.

The task of a cricket tea lady prompted my mother to write a poem, which featured in the Cricketer Magazine in May 1979, as follows:

The trees are a'budding, down there by the fence

It's England. It's April. Oh what is the sense?

Back once again to my summer residence,

(The cricket pavilion)

The season has started in full swing again

Black clouds a'scudding, will someone explain

When my chilblains are itching, I know it will rain –

(We could do with central heating in here!)

Like the flowers that bloom in the spring, Tra-la

We arrive every weekend to bring, Tra-la

Food that is fit for a king, Tra-la

(No! You can't have six lumps of sugar!)

Never a pullover, and never a hat

Never a bowl and never a bat,

Never even a chance to say 'Howzat!'

(I'm only here for the teas!)

Cucumber, lettuce, tomato and paste,

Hurrying, scurrying, always in haste,

And nothing – but nothing- is going to waste,

(Not round here it isn't!)

Batsman padded, boot-studs clattering,

Eyes aglow and stomachs rattling,

The scene is hushed, the wicket's shattering,

(Of course he wasn't out – I could see that from here!)

Sponges, gingerbread, just taking stock,

Fruit cake that's solid, bought by the block,

Tarts made of jam and cakes made of rock,

(What do you mean – you want tea early?)

What's the matter? You in pain?

Not that blessed zip gone again?

OK, I'll mend it, just take the strain -

(Honestly, the things I do for England!)

Umpires. Scorers. I'm in a fix,

Add two teams and that's twenty-six,

A coach load of visitors, licking their lips?

(Well – nobody informed me!)

Phew! But it's hot, watch out for the butter,

Good luck, son, their bowler's a nutter!

I never realised you spoke with a stutter,

(Oh, well hit! Never mind the pavilion roof!)

Leaves now descending, branches are bared,

The laughter – the aggro- the jokes that we shared,

'Bye, see you next year if we're living and spared,

(No! I will not do the teas next year!

I most emphatically will not be doing …..

Oh – all right then …)

Captaincy and benefit matches

I was privileged and proud to captain Axminster 1st XI for four seasons from 1974 to 1977, during which time the club celebrated its 125th anniversary and hosted benefit matches for Somerset beneficiaries Peter Robinson and Tom Cartwright. These matches featured most of the Somerset stars, including Sir Ian Botham (now Lord Botham) and Sir Vivian Richards.

Ian Botham had previously played at Axminster for Yeovil Old Boys Brigade as a young teenager and when he played in Peter Robinson's benefit match in 1974, he was still a rising star, establishing his position in the Somerset first team. Terry Guppy claimed the important scalp of Ian Botham, bowled for just 13 runs.

A year later Viv Richards had made his debut for Somerset and was not universally well-known. In Tom Cartwright's benefit match against Axminster, a very young and talented Neville Pritchard caught and bowled Richards for just seven runs, a feat which I'm sure Neville has related to many ardent listeners in the years to follow.

The Somerset team appearing at North Street in those two matches also included Budgie Burgess, Dennis Breakwell, Peter Denning, Alan Jones, Hallam Moseley and other well-known cricketers who played for Somerset in the "glory years".

In my time as captain it was great to see young players emerge for Axminster, including Peter Scotchford, Chris Oakland, Pete Garner, Steve Harris and others.

Phil Spong

Before my four-year stint as captain and for decades following, the captain and talisman for Axminster was Philip Spong. Phil was a great all-rounder, a tremendous opening bowler and an excellent batsman, who could score runs quickly if required, or bat tenaciously as the match situation demanded, ensuring that the team performed to the utmost of its ability.

I well remember a match in 1973 at Budleigh Salterton – one of our strongest opponents. Budleigh put us in and after some dreadful batting by Axminster, we were 45-9. In came Terry Guppy – our regular last man in. Philip kept encouraging Terry and between them they put on 111 runs, declaring at 156-9. Budleigh were deflated and we rolled them over for 110 – Philip and Terry taking most of the wickets between them.

Most Axminster players would consider that Phil Spong had a huge influence on their cricket development and their love for the game. I don't have access to all the club records, but I would hazard a guess that Phil scored in excess of 30,000 runs and took over 3,000 wickets for Axminster.

Phil Spong was a one-club man, who I believe played in seven decades for Axminster, starting as a young lad, home from school, in the late 1950s and finishing his career in the early 2010s. That must almost be a record. But Philip was not just a great cricketer, but a lovely man, looked up to by all his contemporaries and held in high esteem by his opponents.

Behind the scenes

As countless people have stated on numerous occasions, not just within the cricket fraternity, but throughout all voluntary organisations, things just don't happen by chance. There are countless individuals working behind the scenes. This is certainly the case at Axminster Town Cricket Club.

I have already mentioned umpires, scorers and tea ladies. However, behind the scenes, we have the club president, chairman, secretary, trreasurer, fixtures secretary, numerous committee members – and of course, the groundsman.

When I first played for Axminster Cricket Club, the president was Harry Dutfield, followed by Jack Gill, Frank Rowe, my father Tim Moulding, Les Haynes and current president, Percy Downton.

The chairman in the early sixties was Bill Sweetland, followed briefly by John Kent, Frank Rowe for 10 years and myself for about 25 years.

Frank Rowe taught me the ropes, reminding me that you can only give up a job, if you have someone ready to take over the role. It obviously took me a long time to find someone, although I was eventually followed by John Isles, Chris Friend, Peter Kiy and current chairman Alex Wraight.

Dicky Bird

The secretary in my early years was Dicky Bird, who held this important position for 15 years. Dicky was a kindly man and an extremely efficient secretary.

However, during a 2nd XI home match at North Street in 1978, Dicky Bird was brought on to bowl. He keeled over during his run-up and despite life-saving attempts, he died on the field of pla.

At the same time, the first team were playing at Kilmington against our old rivals. Axminster were fielding at the time and we were interrupted by a distraught Les Haynes, rushing on the field to tell us of this staggering news.

We had a break from play, to consider what action we should take – and in my view quite correctly, we all felt that Dicky would have wanted us to carry on playing cricket against our rivals and friends from Kilmington.

However, it was a sombre group of cricketers who carried on with the game. At its presentation evening, the club still selects the outstanding Clubman of the Year to be awarded the Dick Bird Cup.

Geoff Enticott

The person who came forward to continue with the role of secretary was my old friend Geoff Enticott – and he has been our secretary from then (1979) to the present day – 42 years – amazing!

What a fantastic job Geoff makes of his position as club secretary and with a few tales to tell – not least that whenever the club used to award club caps, they always seemed to appear from underneath Geoff's bed!

There was also a reference in the club's minutes regarding a certain individual and whether he should be selected to play? When Geoff read out the minutes, he had recorded the following: "He can't bat, he can't bowl, he can't field, he won't use his car for away games, and his missus won't do the teas – what b….y good is he"!

Fixtures Secretary – Les Haynes

As mentioned previously, since Les Haynes joined the club, he has been player, Elsan bucket emptier, umpire, fixtures secretary and club president. I'm sure he would still be our fixtures secretary – but the digital age has overtaken him.

Les carried out all his negotiations regarding fixtures by letter and phone call – no e-mails or internet access for him. However, the work was done brilliantly – and all the other fixtures secretaries knew Les as a personal friend.

Les had a particular repartee with the fixtures secretaries from our wide number of touring teams – Spar Ramblers, Brighton Cryptics, Winchmore Hill, etc. He started as fixtures secretary in 1965 and only finished a few years ago – a job he carried out for well over 50 years.

Treasurer

The treasurer in my early days was Dennis Davis – a cricket fanatic. Dennis worked for R&C Snell – and so whilst Frank Rowe was chairman of Axminster Cricket Club, he made sure that Dennis was taking care of the club finances, as Dennis was also the financial manager for R&C Snell.

Dennis had previously played cricket for Perry Street; but on joining Axminster, together with his wife Iris, Dennis joined in all aspects of Axminster Town Cricket Club.

The club had a strong team in those days, but Dennis (in advancing years) still thought he should be in the side – and opening the batting. He particularly looked forward to playing in our annual match at St Marychurch in Torquay and we were subjected to the ardent plea from Dennis – "but I always play against St Marychurch".

Against the selection committee's better judgement, on this one particular occasion, Dennis was in the team to travel to Torquay. We travelled by coach and always arrived in good time – at least, we were there early enough for Dennis to sink two or three pints of best bitter in one of our favourite hostelries.

We were put in to bat by St Marychurch, who had exceptionally quick opening bowlers – and the St Marychurch pitch was like concrete – the ball was flying up around our ears.

Dennis still insisted that he should open the batting – and he was swaying around under the influence of his two or three swift pints. In he went – and it was carnage.

I'm sure Dennis didn't see a single ball – but he wafted his bat connecting with everything – and scored a 50 in next to no time! You can imagine the celebrations and singing on the coach on the way home – something to treasure from the treasurer!

Ian Pitman followed Dennis Davis as treasurer for a short while – but then our treasurer for more than 20 years was Mrs Vera Carr – and what a great job she made of it, followed similarly by Sue Murnane, another stalwart of the club.

Groundsman

The person who stands out as the Axminster Cricket Club groundsman is Phil Spong. However, in my early days at North Street, I seem to remember that everybody "mucked in".

I affectionately remember the heavy roller. There was no mechanical roller in those days, but there were work-parties and after each match, everyone would pull the heavy roller, where jokes were shared and reminiscences of the game just played were discussed.

I seem to recall that if you dropped an easy catch or were out for a duck, you were made to pull the heavy roller for one length of the wicket by yourself.

There was a particular occasion when a young Ray Self had kindly volunteered to treat the cricket square with weed-killer prior to the start of the season. The mixture was sprayed on and we hoped it would do the trick, but Ray had not mixed the solution with the correct amount of water – by about 100 times too little.

It certainly killed the weeds – but it also killed ALL the grass! The pitch looked like a desert - brown and devoid of grass! It looked dreadful – but amazingly it played quite well, despite the shock it gave to every opposing team on their arrival at North Street.

When Phil took over at North Street, he was ably assisted by Bert Pike, father of Axminster Cricket Club stalwart, Dave Pike. Phil developed his groundsmanship skills and became known as one of the best groundsmen in Devon.

His prowess was soon to be challenged during the relocation of the cricket club to Cloakham Lawns, where Philip and Bert created a new pitch and outfield, which became one of the best in the county.

Following the development of the new cricket ground, the Cricket World magazine in Association with Charterhouse Turf Machinery Limited chose Phil Spong as national Cricket Groundsman of the month for March 1995. The presentation of the award was made at Lord's Cricket Ground.

Phil eventually retired and passed on his skills to Brian Prior, who continued to produce excellent pitches, with volunteers assisting with work on the outfield. Under Brian Prior's tutoring, these volunteers, including Peter Kiy, Alfie Wraight and Andy Harris, are now undertaking the work on the ground, with Brian still keeping a watchful eye on things.

The next edition of "Moulding's Memories" will be Part Two of a Lifetime in Cricket. This will include memorable opponents, the commencement of League Cricket, the move from North Street to Cloakham Lawns and the wacky fund-raising and drinking habits of Axminster Town Cricket Club.

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