I was not at all surprised to read in my newspaper yesterday that last month was the sunniest April on record but close to incredulous to see that it was only as recently as 2015 that the previous record was set.. I certainly had no memory of anything like the day after day of sunshine that we have just experienced. Let's look and see what the blog was saying.
It was going full steam ahead with 39 postings in the month from its then four contributors. Peter Davies the founder, who has not posted recently, made a number of contributions towards the end of the month beginning on April 24th with a trip to Derby to see his beloved Lancashire. In typical style Peter tells us very little about the cricket other than that Lancashire were recovering from a bad start (this must have been day 3). There is however much of interest on off the field activities including sausage sandwiches, bargains at the book store, a grumpy tea lady and a walk by River Derwent back to the station. And April sun gets a mention.
Peter's other excursion that month not surprisingly was to Old Trafford where he stayed overnight and met up with his dad. There is much detail about his hotel (the Old Trafford Lodge) but in a quite lengthy account only a brief reference to the cricket, Lancs were playing Kent, but in Part Two we learn about the choice cuts of meat available at a Brazilian restaurant in Deansgate with the final two sentences devoted to the cricket. Wisden tells me that the greatest threat to a Lancashire win were hailstorms on the last day by which time Peter was safely back in Huddersfield.
As we might expect Brian had a busy month staring with a trip to an auction followed by several days at Headingley including second team cricket against Glamorgan under the heading 'Freezing Headingley. The key reference to the weather is contained in the sentence, that 'while I was wearing gloves and three layers of clothing, people were sun bathing on the south coast.' That was the 15th of April. Later in the month Brian was back at HQ watching a championship match from the warmth of the Long Room while on the opening day hail forced an early lunch. Things seem to improve by the last day when the game fizzled out to a draw and Brian had to move into the shade.
As often was the case Tony and I went to the same match but of different days for on April 15th he reported from Richmond in optimistic mood about the 'talent in Yorkshire's Academy pipeline' (cue for a posting there Tony?) and I reported from the same ground on the following day. Tony sticks strictly to matters cricket but 'I was joined in lovely sunshine by Eddie Marshall and Our Hartlepool Correspondent'. On a 'beautiful day' we enjoyed an 'alfresco lunch sitting in the market place'.
Earlier that week but unbeknown to each other Tony and I had been at a league match at Sheriff Hutton Bridge where 'a very strong wind' kept Tony 'ensconced in the warmth of (his) car' and he also visited Worcester and Old Trafford that week and on both occasions the strength of the wind gets a mention. I had watched from the club house at SHB for 'despite bright sunshine temperatures were chilled by a biting wind'.
This theme of a cold wind crops up in many of our early season reports but in previewing the start of league cricket on the third Saturday I reported that 'the weather forecast is for it to continue dry'. Rain did come later in the month for my excursion to Pontefract League grounds on the last Saturday was cut short by rain although the players did not leave the field and the same situation occurred at Undercliffe where Brian was watching and he commented that he was surprised when visitors Farsley took cold drinks 'in the cold temperature'.
I ended the month at The Riverside watching Durham ease to a six wicket win over Sussex with Borthwick finishing on 97 not out. Forecast overnight rain had cleared the North East by breakfast to give sunny weather and 'in front of the leisure centre it was pleasantly warm'. The highlight of my month however was a trip to Derby, two days before Peter. I do not need to look back to my posting to remember it as a bitterly cold day, a couple next to me had taken the sensible precaution of bringing blankets but this extract will give readers a flavour of the day. 'The County Ground has always featured prominently in the competition to be judged England's coldest cricket ground and yesterday it threw down an early marker for 2015. The two teams meet again in May at Southport and I have it mind to make the trip. Please let it be warmer'. I did and it was.
It looks then that April in the north in 2015 was often quite sunny, but that frequently temperatures were tempered by very cold winds. Certainly there do not appear to have been any complete washouts, at least not where the four of us were watching. And on the south coast people were sunbathing and at Bournemouth basking in their football team's promotion to the Premier League something Peter mentioned in his posting from Old Trafford.
Opening Day at Whixley 2015, their first game in The Nidderdale League.i
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