A Lifetime In Cricket (Part 7)

When I arrived back to live and work in my home town in 1970, Axminster Cricket Club was in good spirit, with excellent officials involved in the club.

Frank Rowe was chairman, Dicky Bird was secretary, followed by Geoff Enticott after the sad death of Dicky Bird whilst playing cricket at North Street.

Dennis Davis was Treasurer, Les Haynes became Fixtures Secretary, Dave Swarbrick was our 'do anything' man – not always with flawless outcomes, my mother, together with Liz Haynes, Betty Mills and others did the teas, George Mills and Tom Vowden were umpires, Pearl Marsh, Di Vowden, Gill Spong and ultimately Ian Pitman were the scorers, Bill Sweetland was first team captain, followed by Phil Spong and Bill Carr looked after the seconds. Indeed - they were a good team.

Social functions and fund-raising events took place every year. There was always an annual dinner/ dance at the George Hotel Adam Room or Gills Café and a popular cheese and wine party, which was either held at Gills Cafe or the Legion Club.

Benefit matches

However, once Les Haynes started to weave his magic, we became more ambitious, particularly with regard to benefit matches. In the 1970s we held benefit matches for Somerset's Peter Robinson and Tom Cartwright, when we had our first glimpse of Viv Richards and Ian Botham.

In 1989, we welcomed Gloucestershire's Phil Bainbridge, followed in the early nineties by England fast bowler Sid Lawrence, with the great Courtney Walsh also in attendance.

New Year's Eve Ball

Les Haynes also decided that we needed something more enterprising than the regular cheese and wine parties, particularly in 1975, which was the club's 125th anniversary Year. He embarked on a New Year's Eve Ball at the Guildhall.

For three further years we had a full-house at the Guildhall, with over 300 people dancing the night away, whilst our marvellous wives provided food for those attending, together with Monica's Kitchen.

Les really did things in style with masses of balloons in a net strung from the ceiling, which released the balloons at mid-night.

The Donkey Derby

Another popular event was the annual donkey derby, started in 1972 and running for a few years. This was held at the Tea Field off Lyme Road and coincided with the annual Sheep Fair which took place in the same field, the week before our event.

This enabled us to use the sheep fair hurdles for defining our course for donkey racing.

The donkey derbies were great fun, although it probably wouldn't be permitted in these enlightened times. The jockeys were young children – so the animals weren't mistreated, although the finale was a sulky race with donkeys pulling a trailer and trap, one driven by my father and the other by Frank Rowe, the pair of them usually dressed up in ladies clothing!

I note that in one donkey derby programme, the donkey driven by Frank Rowe was called 'Littered', whilst the one driven by my father was named 'Plastered'. Animal protectionists would also be unhappy at the goldfish prize stall, run by Terry Guppy – "Guppy's Goldfish" was the inevitable title.

Frank Rowe was clerk of the course, of course. Dave Swarbrick was chief steward, the finishing judge was a keen punter on the horses - my Uncle Edgar, and the commentator was Dennis Davis.

Dennis loved the donkey derbies. He would commentate from an elevated chair – stationed well above course level. Unfortunately, the more cider Dennis drank, the more he laughed, nearly falling out of the chair – and nobody had a clue who was leading the race.

Alongside the donkey racing were a number of sideshows and competitions. In one year we had a grand baby show and in another year we became a bit more raunchy and had a 'Miss Axminster Hot-pants Contest' – which I believe was won by Angela MacDonald. To avoid being too sexist, the next year we ran a 'Knobbly Knees' competition, although I suppose that was open to both men and women.

Treasure Hunts

We ran summer treasure hunts in our cars, which always ended up in a village hostelry, with our beloved scorer Ian Pitman playing guitar and singing folk music. The problem was that half of us got so lost that we never found the pub, nor listened to the music – some may say that was on purpose.

Cabaret evenings

Les Haynes enjoyed promoting cabaret evenings, which were held at the Guildhall and were well attended. The Guildhall would be decked out in whatever theme the cabaret evening took.

I remember one particular event which was set on a desert island. We had made palm trees, using cardboard tubes from the carpet factory which acted as first class trunks for the palm trees. I can't remember how we created the leaves of the palm trees – but I do remember they looked superb.

Apart from music for dancing, there was always a comedian/compere and a novelty act. Les was particularly intrigued by 'Lorelei' who was a fire-eater, and would be dressed in scanty clothing. However, there was some doubt about how and when she would arrive and whether indeed she would actually turn-up?

Poor old Les – I think in the back of his mind, he imagined getting into drag himself and performing as Lorelei. However, she arrived and all was well.

We also had a knife-thrower as the star attraction at one of our cabaret evenings – but poor old Les had palpitations once more, when his wife Liz volunteered to help by standing in front of the target whilst a native American-style knife-thrower hurled 12 inch knives at Liz.

I also note that in 1980 the annual dinner and dance was held at the Guildhall. The cabaret after the meal included comedian-compere Mike Swan, Maureen Gardner (speciality act?) and dancing to Silhouette.

Vicar's Team v Churchwarden's Team - 1977

This was a Silver Jubilee cricket match, played at the secondary school field and it involved the Vicar's team, captained by the Reverend Harold Lockyear, and the churchwarden's team, captained by Frank Rowe.

The vicar's team were mainly 'real' cricketers, whilst the churchwarden's team included Chalky White (well past his prime), Les Haynes, Dennis Davis, Jack Gill (who must have been about 70 at the time), Jim Rowe and Andy Middleton, who were in charge of the barrel of beer, and brothers Brian and Geoff Enticott, who weren't far away from the beer!.

Cow Pat Tossing competition

In the early 1980s we embarked on some even more wacky events. I had noticed in the press that in America they had held a 'cow-chip' tossing competition – and realised that in this country – for 'cow-chip' read 'cow-pancake'. So, we thought about it and decided to give it a go.

Somehow, I was responsible for collecting the cow pancakes and storing them in my builders' yard. I had seen Mervyn Symes and he said that I could come out to his farm and collect the cow pancakes in one of our lorries.

Some cow-pats were relatively dry but some were definitely not. They looked dry on top, but when you lifted them up, they were oozing from underneath – so not a pleasant job.

The cow pats were taken back to headquarters and covered in a tarpaulin, in case of rain. I had picked them up about a fortnight before the big day and fortunately during that two weeks, we had no rain. As you can imagine, I wasn't that popular with my workforce - with a smelly lorry and a smelly builders' yard.

Then I would have the next job of taking the cow-pats down to the cricket-field at North Street on the day of the event.

In the meantime, we were keen to advertise this great 'Cow Pat Hurling Competition' on posters, fliers and in the press. The next thing we knew was that West Country Television and BBC Radio had got hold of it. So when I had transported the cow-pats to Nort Street cricket ground on the day of the event, West Country TV had arranged to meet me and do an interview about the 'Cow Pat Hurling Competition'.

I explained to the TV reporter that you had to throw the cow-pats like a discus – but first you had to try to select a nice dry, easy to handle cow-pat. Easier said than done – they often fell apart or had a nice juicy bottom to them. However, the reporter had a go, which was filmed by his cameraman.

The reporter had collected a cow pat and the TV show started with a cow pancake being thrown onto the news-reader's table. They then showed a film of some of our cricketers making a good job of throwing these cow pats, discus-style. It was a good job that the reporter had collected a dry, crispy cow-pat to throw on the news-reader's table.

Where there's muck – there's brass!

On somewhat the same theme as the cow-pancake tossing competition, we ran a day at Cloakham, where we marked out Harry's Field into 1000 squares. Punters were able to bet on which square the cow would do its stuff. We called it 'Daisy Dumps' – Daisy being a cow, which Scott Burrough had brought along, whilst the punters watched in anticipation to see where Daisy was going to dump.

Sure enough, she was soon performing, enabling a winner to pocket the first prize, whilst runner-up prizes were awarded to the next four squares in which Daisy dumped.

We were then involved with a clean-up operation, inevitably led by Elsan Haynes, who was familiar with this kind of activity.

Duck Racing

Duck Racing on the River Axe was always a popular event. Punters could buy plastic ducks and see if their numbered duck could generate a prize. The River Axe was perfect for this event which we held whilst based at North Street and then again when we had relocated to Cloakham Lawns.

It's a Knockout

Dave Pike came up with the great idea of "It's a Knockout" in the 1980s. This took its rise from the lengthy and popular television series, which ran from 1966 to 1988. Dave came up with a whole range of wacky games – obstacle races, inflatable games, ball games, water features, etc., ideal games for the whole family

The Village Greenies

Thanks to another initiative by fixtures secretary Les Haynes, The Village Greenies visited us in 1982. They were a team from the Cayman Islands who were touring the UK. This was a prestigious match for us as the team included former West Indian fast bowler Charlie Griffith and West Indian batsman George Reifer.

I was fortunate in this match to score 72 not out against Charlie Griffith (well past his best) and his Cayman Islands team-mates.

We had an excellent match with the Greenies and concluded as ever in tThe Cavalier pub (now Le Pisani). Strangely, when we arrived, there were a bevy of Axminster girls in the pub – far more than ever before.

Apparently, it had been advertised that a team of West Indian cricketers were visiting the cricket club and would be at the Cavalier after the game – talk about bees around a honey-pot. Not only that – once it was dark, they were pairing- up and disappearing onto the church green. I can't imagine what the attraction was!

Representative Cricket

Once the move to Cloakham Lawns in 1987 had taken place, and the playing pitch had bedded in, there was more scope for representative cricket to be considered.

Les Haynes and Phil Spong had an excellent relationship with Martin Webb, a key member of the Devon Youth Cricket administration. Martin recognised that as Axminster Town Cricket Club was situated on the border with Somerset and Dorset, the club was geographically well-placed to host County Youth Cricket matches at all levels from Under 11 to Under 17.

County teams from east of Devon played in beautiful surroundings at Cloakham, with excellent facilities and less travelling for young cricketers.

These matches were well-received by local players and supporters who had the opportunity to watch aspiring young players at Axminster.

Axminster Town CC hosted county cup finals, such as the Corinthian Cup in 1997, when the Axminster team had reached the final through their exploits in the early knock-out rounds in the East Devon area.

The Devon Cricket Association held matches at Cloakham with Philip Spong captaining the team for several years. Phil was also captain of League X1s in the 1990s.

In the year 2000, which was the club's 150th anniversary year, Axminster Town Cricket Club had five players playing county representative cricket:

Mark Richards was playing for the full Devon County team. Phil Spong was playing for the Devon Over 50s. Jack Willow, Danny Larcombe and Gary Larcombe were playing for various county age group teams.

In 2009, Axminster 1st XI played against Devon County Cricket Club to celebrate the opening of Harry's Field – a great occasion.

We had excellent connections with the organisers of Women's Cricket in Devon and the club hosted several matches. I particularly remember a game between Devon Women and MCC Women and a Devon Women's match against Ireland. When these matches were played we had excellent support from the Lady Taverners, led by Wendy Hayden and her able assistants.

Big Breakfast - Dawn till Dusk

In order to kick-start our 150th anniversary year and to mark the millennium, Les Haynes arranged an early cricket match (on NewYear's Day) and served breakfast.

On another occasion, Axminster played a "Dawn till Dusk" match on mid-summer's day. This involved virtually every player in the club, on a rota basis. The game started at about 4am.

We stopped for breakfast, stopped for lunch, stopped for tea and finished the game at about 10.30pm in the evening as the sun went down and cricketers had supped several pints of beer. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day – everyone had a great time, the result being of no consequence whatsoever.

In the year 2000, we also played our match against the Lord's Taverners, which was reported in a previous edition of Moulding's Memories.

Axminster Town CC playing at Lords?

In 2006, thanks to the organisational skills of Les Haynes, the club were able to travel up to Lord's – the home of cricket, where they were due to play on the Lord's Nursery Ground against the famous Cross Arrows.

Two coach-loads of players and supporters left in the early hours of the allotted day but unfortunately heavy rain ruined the occasion – and there was no chance of the game taking place.

However, they had a guided tour of the ancient pavilion, the England team's changing rooms, the Long Room and the Media Centre

Support from Somerset County Cricket Club

We have been fortunate over the years to have been well supported by Somerset and Gloucestershire County Cricket Clubs with regard to benefit matches mentioned previously. We have also been supported by Somerset players.

Peter Trego visited us on two occasions, once for an annual prize-giving and once on a sponsored cycle ride with Marcus Trescothick and others.

Marcus also visited us with Andy Caddick for an excellent Q&A evening which raised considerable funds for Axminster Cricket Club.

Events linked with Cloakham Lawns

The move to Cloakham Lawn Sports Centre enabled the club to benefit from joint functions with the other clubs – the Bowls Club and latterly Millwey Rise Football Club.

Cloakham Lawns ran a number of fashion shows, with excellent support from Trinity House fashions. Members of the club assisted as models. I particularly remember sisters Angie Prior and Maggie Wynn as attractive models, with the less attractive Ron Bicknell and Colin Leadbetter as male models.

In 2007, the club ran a James Bond evening, with ladies looking very glamorous and the men in their inner jackets and dicky-bow ties looking equally smart, as they enjoyed excellent food, bar service, entertainment and the gambling tables, roulette wheels, etc.

Other events included race-nights of various guises – not least an evening of pig racing, with betting on the best trotter!

Urban Lawns

The most ambitious fund-raising activity at Cloakham was Urban Lawns, a music festival for all ages which we ran in 2006 and 2007. The concept of Urban Lawns was taken from the Beautiful Days Festival at Escot, near Ottery St Mary, which had previously been visited by some of our supporters.

There was no doubt that the countryside and scenery at Cloakham Lawns made a fabulous back-drop to the event and there was also plenty of room for visitors to camp adjacent to the site.

In each year more 30 aspiring bands from all over the UK performed at Urban Lawns, together with a wealth of other attractions, including circus and art workshops, fire shows, a paintball gallery and various food and drink stalls. All we needed was good weather.

In each year the event was run in the last week in May. In 2006, the weather was gloomy over the whole weekend. We had very little sunshine and it rained for most of the second day – not heavy rain, but enough to keep people away.

Even so, we had over 1,000 visitors over the two days. In 2007, it was a disaster. It rained for virtually the whole weekend, with very heavy rain on the second day.

Unfortunately, we lost a considerable amount of money which, with all the work that our team had put in, was a dreadful shame.

Concerts

A number of tribute band concerts were held at Cloakham Lawns, generally promoted by former bar manager, Ron Bicknell. These included Abba, Queen and other tribute performances.

These were generally well-supported, although the weather intervened on one or two occasions. However, we were able to forget the weather, when we promoted a concert given by the Treorchy Male Voice Choir at the Guildhall and were able to entertain the choir and feed them back at Cloakham Lawns.

Dog Shows

In more recent years, the cricket club has run Novelty Dog Shows, which have proved to be popular, although even these events can be affected by the weather, either too cold, too wet, or even when we last ran the Dog Show, it was too hot for the dogs.

However, they were good fun, with side shows involving a Bouncy Castle, Tombola, Cake Stall, Barbecue and a performance by the local Majorettes.

The Dog Show has been well-supported over the years by our lovely friends from The Lady Taverners. There were prizes for various classes including 'The Waggiest Tail', 'The Dog that most looks like its owner' and 'The Fastest Bonio Eater'.

This event may continue in future years.

The next edition of 'Moulding's Memories' will be Part Eight of a Lifetime in Cricket. This will include 'The Line Book' and the drinking habits of Axminster Town Cricket Club.