A wet trip down memory lane

posted by John Winn

My wife and I have just returned from a couple of wet days in Upper Teesdale, indeed when we pulled back the curtains of our hotel room this morning it was the first glimpse we had had of the sun since early Sunday.

 After a visit to Bowes Museum yesterday morning we passed the afternoon going round Raby Castle near Staindrop in County Durham. Some followers of the blog may be familiar with a book published about three years ago, 'From The Boundary's Edge' by photographer Laurence Griffiths gracing the cover of which is an iconic picture of cricket being played in the castle grounds with the splendid fourteenth century castle, home today of the 11th Lord Barnard in the background. This is how it looked yesterday, alas with no cricket.

I remember going with my father as he neared the end of his cricket playing days in about 1951 to watch him play for Haughton le Skerne against Raby. Good to see that both clubs thrive more than sixty years on in the A division of the Darlington and District League with Haughton second and Raby third. Continuing the family tradition I played at the lovely ground in the early seventies, not for my father's team but for Cockerton without much success as I recall but my father's experience of playing there goes back at least as far as 1932 for in his fixture card for that year which is still in my possession the entry for June 25th is Raby (a). For most of that season Dad has entered his scores in pencil against each fixture and next to that Saturday the entry is 0. Things don't get much better for the following week the same score is recorded but his form has improved by the time of the return match on August 6th when he made 10. To be fair this was an era of low scores and he had had a run in July when he scored 132 in 3 knocks.

 

This splendid heavy roller looks old enough to have been used in 1932 but without kneeling down on sodden grass I was unable to make out the maker's name. It stands beside much more modern equipment with a 'new' pavilion opened by Lord Barnard* in 1980. Through the pavilion window I could see some photographs and for those who like their cricket teas a sign saying Raby Castle CC teas £2:00. Regular bus service from Darlington to Staindrop and a short walk to the castle for those thinking that sounds a bargain.

 

Back to my father's 1932 fixture card (below) and I note that the second XI had home and away matches with Rounton, a village near Northallerton. Rounton were members of the Langbaurgh league between the two wars and were champions five times between 1924 and 1934 but seem not to have resurfaced when the league resumed in 1947. The two matches with Haughton II in 1932  would have been friendlies and it may have been that they were with Rounton II.

*the present incumbent's father I imagine