75 th Northern Cricket Anniversary

 By Brian Sanderson

        On Tuesday evening at the Sandmoor Golf Club ,there will

be pie and pea dinner together with a talk my Steven Patterson

ex Yorkshire captain.

This a celebration of the establishment of the Northern Cricket

Society on the 31 January 1948 at the Queens Hotel Leeds.

The photograph above on the left is Norman Yardley who

was one of the first patrons of the Society. In the middle

is Ron Yeoman who was the first Secretary who helped

to establish the Society. On the right is Sir William

Worsley another Patron.

The photograph of the Bramhope side coming out

at the start of a Boxing Day match in the 1950's.

The Society was famous for holding dinners for

visiting International sides . The first being in 1948

on the 26 July when the Australians were playing

at Headingley. Two of the speakers were Neville Cardus

and A.E.R.Gilligan who captain England in 1920's.

The photograph above is of the South African dinner 

of 1955 which took place on the 20 July.

Northern Cricket Society

 By Brian Sanderson

Myself and Richard Griffiths are talking on a Zoom meeting this

 Thursday 19th 0f January at 7.30 pm

 It is  about the history of The Northern Cricket Society

and The Wombwell Cricket Society.

The Northern was founded on the 31 January 1948 at the Queens 

Hotel Leeds 

 The Wombwell was founded in September 1951.The cup

was given by George Featherstone to be given to the winner

of the Boxing Day game. The first match was 1949 when 

Billy Sutcliffe took five wickets for two runs.

Also a bottle of Whisky is given to the winning team. The games

are now played at North Leeds ground 

They have played at Collingham, Whitkirk,Bramhope

Alwoodley and Thorp  Arch.

This year's game was won by the Northern easily.

I will be putting more blogs during he coming months

in memory of Tony Hutton who's funeral is  this Wednesday.

 

Sad News

 posted by John Winn

Regular readers will know that the blog has not been in operation for the last three months. The main reason for this is that both Tony Hutton and I have had serious illnesses and it is with great sadness that I must let you know that Tony died in hospital in Leeds just a few days ago. Tributes to him have appeared on social media but given that he was one of the founders of the blog in 2010 it would be very remiss of me not to pay my respects through this medium.

I first met Tony about twelve years ago on a train journey back from The Riverside at Chester le Street, needless to say after a day at the cricket. We did not get off to a good start, he thought I was an umpire from Lancashire, not guilty on both counts, and shortly afterwards when I became a contributor to the blog, in a posting headed 'A case of mistaken identity' Tony apologised for this mistake (published 11/04/2011). We have remained firm friends ever since. I last saw him at The Riverside in September when Durham played Sussex. Strangely neither of us reported on Durham's overwhelming victory. 

Tony's last posting on Cricket from The North appeared the day before the Sussex match and appropriately featured a match from Headingley: not, however, a championship match but the final of the Yorkshire Premier Cup between Woodlands and Appleby Frodingham. Tony took the opportunity to mention a couple of his gripes about the modern game, especially at first class level in that on that September Saturday there was free parking, no bag searches and free admission, all plus points but on the downside 'spectators, .....were corralled into the area inside or in front of the Long Room, with no access to the more attractive viewpoints'. Worst of all for such a meticulous record keeper, there were no score cards. 

To find Tony's first posting we need to scroll back to Monday April 12th 2010 and enjoy 'A day in the Lancashire sun', a report on a two day friendly at Old Trafford between Lancashire and Durham, an example of cricket's hidden agenda that Tony was so adept at finding. Playing for Durham was 'newcomer Ben Stokes' (who) 'looks a considerable asset to the Durham squad.' Wow. 

                                                                          

I took this photo at Weetwood, a ground close to Tony's home, in 2015. I love it because it shows him with Jennifer and a few other 'professional cricket watchers'. Characteristically Tony (in the white cap) has his clipboard to hand on which no doubt were recorded the two teams probably gleaned from the scorers. Weetwood is not one of my favourite grounds but so often I have made the 45 minute journey from home pretty sure in the knowledge that Tony would be there able to fill me in the names of the players. Without him grounds like Weetwood and Arthington will never be the same. 

Tony's funeral is at Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds on Wednesday January 18th at 9:15.