Pigeons and Pasta

Posted by Peter Davies

Saturday 1 May

A Halifax League afternoon. First up Stainland v Luddendenfoot at the Memorial Ground. It was a murky kind of day and the visitors were building the foundations for a decent total. We parked at wide third man and my Dad spent the first half hour tidying his car. I sat on a bench at deep point and admired the view out over Halifax town centre. I had a wander and bought a couple of mugs of tea at 30p each – surely the cheapest in the league? – and also left some project flyers in the pavilion. The tea room was actually pretty busy with various players and spectators on the lookout for an early tea.

Stainland’s ground is next door to a pub – the Red Lion – and what looks like an extremely expensive and posh restaurant, called something like ‘1832’ or ‘1857’. It’s the kind of place I would probably walk in and walk out of in quick time. It’s a lovely little village though. A very narrow main road runs through the middle of it. I remember an SCC official telling me that lots of new houses had been built in the village in recent years, but this hadn’t netted the club any new players. Unlucky.

Then down the road to Greetland. Always a very atmospheric ground on account of the mill buildings that tower over it and the pigeon coops – on the opposite side of the ground – which are, I would suggest, unique in local league cricket. Dad continued his car-tidying and I found a perch directly opposite the coops. I did some reading and admired the views.

The pavilion was virtually empty except for the barmaid. The club noticeboard is always interesting to peruse because, often, there is more pigeon-racing news than cricket news. And this was the case today. There were quite a few spectators sat in front of the pavilion and round the corner in front of the new changing rooms. I did a lap of the ground, passed by the Andy Thornton factory and the stream that is situated at the far end of the ground, and then paid my respects to the pigeons as I neared the car park.

Thirdly, Copley. We timed our arrival to coincide with tea being taken because we know that Copley can always be relied upon for good food, but we were 12 overs out! We asked whether, as spectators, we could have an early tea but this was not possible. This always surprises me. We could quite easily have moved on and taken our 2 x £3 elsewhere. There was lots of food on display so why not cash in on two mega-hungry spectators? It was getting very cold and when we eventually dined it proved to be very much worth the wait: some cute beef, ham, egg mayo and cheese sandwiches plus a tuna and sweetcorn pasta dish and salad accessories. The egg mayo was actually a cheesy egg mayo delicacy and was absolutely gorgeous. We had a cup of tea outside on the decking – a pleasant moment which was disturbed by a little kid throwing a ball onto our table and knocking one of our mugs onto the floor. It smashed into 100 pieces and his dad wasn’t very happy with him.

Copley were playing Greetland. Lots of interesting chatter among the locals including one comment to the effect that the visitors’ spin bowler ‘was a born winner’. This is one of my least favourite sporting phrases. Does this mean that he wins every match he plays in? No. The majority of them? Doubtful? So what does it mean? Very little, I’d say. I remember the same phrase being used about Darren Ferguson, son of Sir Alex, who played for my football team, Wrexham, in the 1990s. He was a good central midfielder but he was playing in the third and fourth tiers of the Football League. Everyone said he was a ‘born winner’ but it didn’t seem to have much effect. The reality was that he was an intelligent player, with little pace, who was often to be seen shouting at his teammates and losing his temper. ‘Born winner’? Don’t think so.

We headed to Elland but were disappointed to find out that the game had already ended. Lots of cars still in the car park and covers on the wicket. So we made for Blackley for their game against Booth. It was now extremely cold, with bits of drizzle, and the light getting poorer and poorer. I darted into the newly renovated clubhouse and said hello to club secretary – and senior tea lady – Julie Pearson. She is also secretary of the Calderdale Cricket Development Group and it is now a fact that 21 out of the 30-odd Calderdale clubs have successfully applied for the ECB’s Clubmark accreditation. This is testimony to Julie’s hard work – and she said she was also pleased that the body now has a smart website courtesy of Lee Booth (the man who also designed the Calderdale & Kirklees project website).

I purchased a cup of tea - and was relieved to discover that it cost 50p given that, for some reason, I only had 51p in cash on me. Julie and her very friendly fellow tea lady were preparing their own teas after preparing and then serving the cricketers’ teas. They did this with great care and attention – I think it was beef salad. They both looked like real professionals. It was dark and damp outside, Booth were looking odds-on to win the game after posting a good total, but Blackley’s beautiful ground was looking in fine fettle. We stayed for a few overs and then headed home. Blackley always seems to be on our route back from visits to other Halifax clubs, so it is a convenient ‘last stop’ on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. But having seen the BCC catering operation at work, I think it is high time we arrived there in time for tea. The heavens opened as we left the ground.