On Saturday August 19th 1972, I played in a Darlington and District A Division game for Cockerton at Vere Road, Barnard Castle against Barnard Castle II. The match in itself was of no great significance. I think Cockerton won, I think I took two wickets and probably didn't bat. What I do remember about it was that it was my last match for Cockerton, a club for whom I had played for five seasons, acted as secretary for two years and for whose result I look every week. In the days following that rather uneventful Saturday I moved over 300 miles to Bexhill on Sea to take up a new job and on arrival in that gentile East Sussex resort, left a message for the secretary of Bexhill CC giving a temporary address in St Leonard's where I might be contacted and indicating my availability to play cricket the following Saturday.
About 11:00 on that Saturday the doorbell of the temporary accommodation was rung by the aforesaid secretary who remains a friend to this day and very much Mr Bexhill when it comes to the running of the cricket club, Michael Waghorn, asking me if I could play that afternoon, all of which is a story for another day. The point of this blog is that until Wednesday last I had not visited the Vere Road ground in 'Barnie' since August 1972. Having spent a couple of days in Upper Teesdale this week my wife and I, on a busy market day, could not park in our usual spot and instead left the car in a street immediately adjacent to the cricket ground. In the intervening 43 years Barnard Castle CC have gone up in the world and this afternoon their first XI will face Marton CC in the NYSD ECB Premier Division while the seconds will host Whitby 2nd XI in Division 2 of that league. Meanwhile Cockerton have slipped a little for their Saturday will be taken up by what is probably their longest trip of the season, just 15 or so miles further up Teesdale to the ground of Middleton in Teesdale CC in a D and D Div B game.
It is a measure of Barnard Castle's standing in North Eastern cricket that not only have they a relatively new pavilion but that it was opened by a knight of the realm. The old pavilion is now used by the groundsman. Otherwise the ground does not seem to have changed that much. Not surprisingly there was no cricket being played at lunch time on Wednesday but there was a list of evening matches and coaching posted which indicated what a vibrant club it is. Next time I call I must make sure there is a game to watch.
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