A rewarding day

posted by John Winn

Wednesday morning saw me driving up a foggy A1 to Richmond to call on a stalwart of Gilling West CC, Doug Deighton.

Doug began playing for Gilling during WWII as an eleven year old in junior cricket and on finishing playing he coached the club's juniors as well as running The White Swan, one of the village's two pubs.  Gilling were members of The Swaledale League and Doug remembers it as a league of small grounds, decent wickets but rough outfields and small pavilions. Opponents included Richmond II, Scorton, Arkengarthdale, Brompton on Swale, Barningham and Hutton Magna. In the immediate post war period the team always included a number of farmers and  transport was not a problem and when Doug entered the fruit and vegetable business his van (AKU 4543 he readily remembered) could accommodate the full XI at a pinch!

Doug has a fine collection of memorobilia relating to his time as a player and junior cricket coach and I enjoyed looking at press cuttings. photographs and most of all, old scorebooks. The oldest of these produced from his loft  began in 1932 when in addition to the clubs mentioned above matches were played against the likes of United Bus Company, Richmond Post Office, Skeeby and Wensley. Unfortunately it was not possible to distinguish between league, cup and friendly fixtures, but low scores were characteristic of the period. The unpredictably of the wickets is illustrated by a match taken from the 1958 book.It showed what Doug called a 'score draw' with Gilling 27 all out and home team Hutton Magna dismissed for the same score on what he described as a 'desperate' wicket. The following week on the Gilling ground Barningham were cleaned up for 18, a total which suggests that the Hutton Magna had not cornered the market in desperation.

When the Swaledale League folded circa 1965 Gilling also packed up, only to restart some years later as members of the Darlington and District League. The league tables show them as members of that league in 1996 but that may have been their last season for on the village website in 2010 reference was made to 'the return of cricket ...after an absence of 14/15 years'. This was not however Gilling's third coming but related to the use of the Gilling ground by Richmond IV team.

On leaving Doug's house in Richmond I drove the few miles to Gilling and going through the village found the ground behind a high stone wall on the left as I drove out of the village. (Gilling had previously played on another ground in a field across the road from the existing ground). This area suffered particularly badly in the floods at the end of last month and much of the ground is still under water and while it has drained from the wicket it has left behind a muddy mess such that, even at this time of the year, it is very difficult to imagine cricket being played there next season.

My afternoon call was in the village of Scruton, near Northallerton where I was welcomed by their chairman Trevor Howe who had laid out a display of the club's history in his conservatory with more scorebooks, press cuttings etc,. Scruton's past is rather like Gilling's in that they had a long period of inaction but revived as members of the Wensleydale League and Trevor has a fixture card for the 1957 season fot this competition. On the closure of The Wensleydale league Scruton took advantage of a vacancy in the Langbaurgh League and they remain members of that competition. After taking me through the history of the club we went to the other end of the village to see Trevor's pride and joy, the club's splendid pavilion, which was opened in 2000. I had previously visited the ground in 2010 when Scruton were playing Chop Gate and been invited to view the museum which is housed in the attic of the building. This time I had a guided tour by its inspiration and curator, club chairman, village historian and parish councillor, Mr Trevor Howe, a great character.

Leaving Scruton I made the short journey to the county archive at Northallerton where I looked at a collection of letters on microfilm to and by the secretary of Reeth CC in the late nineteenth century. Letters written to arrange fixtures, no telephones of course but there is a photocopy of a telegram sent from a team in Richmond, reluctantly cancelling a fixture. The letters give a clear picture of Reeth's opponents at that time, many of whom at a later date they would face in The Swaledale League. Amongst others there are letters from the secretaries of Redmire, Bedale, Middleham, Leyburn and Kirby Stephen. One is struck by the clear handwriting and the formality, (I remain, sir, your servant) of the letters. A far cry  from the language of email, text and twitter.