Cricket
Today the Village can boast the existence of an enthusiastic Cricket
Club. This was started in 1947 and the 10th season has just
opened. Mr Cyril Seath kindly granted the club the use of part of his
meadow opposite the Church. The pitch is cordoned off and kept in good
condition by club members.
The present officers are:-
President - Mr George McCarthy.
Captain - Mr Cecil Jenner.
Secretary - Mr Stanley Anstiss.
Treasurer - Mr. Arthur Storer
The story Mr George Orpin of The Forge had to tell
regarding cricket before the 1939-45 war is very different. He said
regretfully that numerous attempts to establish a cricket club in the
Village had all failed. His regret was deep, for all his life he had
been a keen cricketer, and he played until he was over 50 years of
age. He has played for Southfleet and Stansted but he would have liked
to have had the opportunity of playing for his own village. Cricket
had been played in years gone by, Mr Orpin can remember the annual
match with Fawkham played in the field opposite "The White
Swan" on a Whit Monday. It was rough and ready cricket he said.
The pitch was scarcely up to Test standard and there were no white
flannels to be seen, but |
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the rivalry was deadly, and the enthusiasm alike of
players and spectators, terrific. And when the game had been won and
lost everyone adjourned to "The White Swan" to celebrate and
commiserate. The nearest the Village came to possessing a regular side
was immediately after the 1914-18 war, when a team was assembled and
managed to maintain its integrity until the end of the season but that
season was its last as well as its first.
Football
Although Football Clubs have been formed from time to time they have
never had a very long life. After the First World War W.J. Francis
Snow late of Hartley gave a silver cup for inter-village football. The
winning teams were as follows:-
1920 – 21 Hartley
1921 – 22 Kingsdown
1922 – 23 Stansted
1923 – 24 Ash
Money collected at these games went to the finances of
the Nursing Association. After these four seasons the clubs ceased to
exist, and Ash being the last winner of the cup, it remains in the
Village and is in the custody of the licensee of "The White
Swan". |