History - History 1
Cutthorpe Cricket Club - A Brief History
The story of our cricket club is certainly worth telling and the heights reached are a testimony to all who have been involved with our club from its humble beginnings to the start of the next chapter. This begins with us commencing the 2009 season in the Derbyshire League. The club is enjoying a real purple patch with no fewer than six weekend teams being fielded, a midweek team, junior teams and a strong social side enjoyed by players, partners and friends alike. Hopefully the forefathers of the club will look on with pride at the current Cutthorpe Cricket Club and all it stands for. The old club Minute Books provide us with a real insight into the clubs rich history, the current crop of players certainly owe our cricketing ancestors a huge debt of gratitude. The dedication and hard work of a few old stalwarts turned an unkempt piece of ground into the present playing surface that has been graced by amateur, professional and international players on many a sunny afternoon. Without their efforts, cricket at Cutthorpe could have died.
The ground certainly had humble begins and the real improvements began during of all things the 1926 General Strike. During the strike the Butcher Family allowed opencast mining on what is now the Recreation Ground, and on the reclaimed land a cricket pitch was made, certainly an interesting beginning for the ground we all hold so dear. The early players appear to have been mainly miners, and the rivalry between those from Monkwood and Nesfield was undoubtedly fuelled by the long pubs opening hours, some things never change.
In 1934 The Recreation Ground was given as a gift to the village from the Butcher family.
The club minutes provide a rare insight into cricket of a different era. In the days of everyone having their own kit and players bags now reaching the size of the old team kit bag, it perhaps shows how much the game has changed. While even as late as 1958, it was considered worthy of note that a stump required repair and sodium chlorate should be purchased to kill nettles. The debt owed to the many servants of the club particularly the un-sung heroes such as the tea ladies is immeasurable and the club began providing teas in 1957 using the Cutthorpe Hotel (presently the Three Merry Lads), although 36 half pint mugs had been purchased in 1948. How times have changed, our current captains may well frown on such a thing as a 'beer before the game'.
The club has a rich playing history and began awarding caps in 1953 this provides us with the names of some of our bygone players, the first recipients were Mr J. Armstrong, Mr K. Webster, Mr H.Millward, Mr T.Woodward and Mr G. Booker.
Improvement of the club as a whole has always been a priority and at some time in the early 1950's a tackle shed was acquired, and later a room at the back of the Cutthorpe Hotel (Three Merry Lads) was cleaned out and used as a changing room a 'players provided pegs'. The current facilities enjoyed by us are a far cry from these relative hardships and 2008/2009 again saw improvements being made to our facilities by a hardy band of club spirited individuals, this shows the club spirit alive and well and is certainly in keeping with our club ancestors.
The 1960's saw perhaps the biggest changes with improvements being made such as the ground being levelled free of charge by Mullan Brothers. Once again the members of the club showed their desire to provide the best ground possible by laying the drains and the wicket, the following year saw the club move out of the back room of the Cutthorpe Hotel with the purchase of the now 'old' pavilion through the good offices of George Pope.
Although hazy, evidence points to formal cricket being played in Cutthorpe since the early 1900's, possibly on a field higher up the village than the present Recreation ground. For example, Herbert Needham's Obituary in the Derbyshire Times in March 1935 read;
"Another great interest of the deceased's was cricket. He was an excellent batsman in his day and captained the Cutthorpe eleven for several seasons, winning the batting prize a number of times."
He was born in 1848 so he could have been playing cricket at around 1868. This indicates that the club being substantially older than available records.
The earliest definite facts available on our club are from 1918, the year widely accepted as the year our current club was born. In these bygone days subscriptions were 5/-, in the days when a bat cost £1.6s. 0d. and a ball 5/-. In 1979 the subscriptions had risen to £6, with social members paying just £1. A bat at this time could be purchased for £1.6s. 0d, (one pound and six shillings) or in today's monetary terms £1.30, a ball cost 5/- (5 shillings) or twenty-five pence today's prices.
The first known club President was Rev. E. C. McKenzie in 1920. The known presidents that followed were;
- Rev E. C. McKenzie
- Mr H. Hulley
- Mr T. Goodlad
- Mr T. H. Smith
- Alderman F. Hadfield
- Mr J. B. Needham
- Mr A. W. Hadfield
- Mr M. Booker
- Mr R. Naylor
- Mr J. T. Combe
Mr Richard Naylor (far better known as Dick Naylor) was the club secretary in 1979 and later became the President until 2005, when his untimely death robbed the club of a great servant. In recognition of the his dedication and love of Cutthorpe Cricket Club, an annually presented award - The Dick Naylor Bowl - is presented to one member of the club who has, during the season made a significant contribution to the running of the club.
Mr J. T. Combe more commonly known as 'Hon Boss' took over the roll and is the current Cutthorpe Cricket Club President and is steering the club into the next chapter.
During the third quarter of the twentieth century the name of Armstrong was synonymous with Cutthorpe Cricket Club with Bill, Bill's son John (more commonly known as Jack) and his wife, Mary Armstrong (scorer) all playing an active role in the club. Mr Bill Armstrong, maintained the ground and set the standards to which we aspire today, where a hardy band of volunteers still spend a great deal of time, mowing the outfield and preparing the ground to ensure it is fit to host a game of cricket. To honour Bill's memory the Bill Armstrong Award is presented as and when deserved in recognition for service to the club over a number of years
Records for the early years are patchy but clearly show the Club reforming in 1948 with Mr. H. Hulley as President. The subscription still being 5/-! The club now played league matches and was a member of the Chesterfield and District League. The club enjoyed its fair share of success, notably winning the Robinson Cup in 1953, major league honours followed with Cutthorpe being crowned Division A Champions in 1960.
The following year the Club joined the Derbyshire League with which it remained until joining the Sheffield League in 1968. Progress was rapid from Division F to Division B, from which the 1st XI was unfortunately relegated in 1978. The clubs years in the Sheffield league provided many highs culminating in the winning of the leagues top division in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
Along the way the club won the Billy Oates Trophy in 1990 under the captaincy of Kevin Smith. These years also saw the club win various divisional titles.
The 1995 season saw the club move into the Bassetlaw League, success was instant with the 1st XI winning Division 1C in the first year under the leadership of Mark Barlow. The 1st XI captaincy was then passed on to Steven Chapman and then Andy Knowles and on the playing front the club endured a relatively quiet period. The clubs playing fortunes however reached their peak during Mark Barlow's and Andy Knowles second stint as 1st XI captains. Winning Division 1 of the Bassetlaw League in 2002 under Mark Barlow and The Tomlin Trophy in 2003 under Andy Knowles.
The baton has now been passed to Nigel Kingham who will skipper the 1st XI and club into the new challenge of the 2009 season in the Derbyshire League.
Sadly it is worth noting that it was only down to league politics and ground size (the short corner towards the Merry Lads) that the club was not allowed to take up the place that it had rightly won at the top table of club cricket in the Nottinghamshire Premier League.
During our time in the Bassetlaw League the 2nd XI enjoyed various promotions and relegations and managed to win divisional titles in it's own right.
The Bassetlaw years saw the club enjoy a period of expansion, this is most pleasing in a time when so many cricket clubs have ceased to exist, surely testimony to the Cutthorpe spirit. The clubs first expansion saw a team entered into the Mansfield and District Sunday League where the team rose through the divisions to play in the Mansfield League Premier Division. The club also fielded a regular friendly XI that also plays on Sunday's making Cutthorpe one of the few clubs that regularly turns out two teams on a Sunday. The most notable expansion however was the creation of the 3rd XI in 2007 this was mainly down to the vision of John McCollum and meant that three league teams were being fielded every summer Saturday. It also meant that the club now had two 'homes' with the 3rd XI playing it's home games on Eastwood Park (Hasland).
The influx of players and helpers has certainly added to the fabric of the club and has certainly served as a reminder as to the reason why we play the game and what our club is all about.
Cutthorpe Cricket Club have had a love affair with various cup competitions throughout its history. The Club have won the Butcher Cup on numerous occasions and 2008 saw the club retain the trophy for a second year in a row. The main love affair in recent years however has been with the Harry Tomlin Trophy, sadly despite numerous appearances in the final the club only managed to win the trophy once but enjoyed many great days and received unwavering support from the various club members, illustrating what a club we are and simply not just a team.
Cutthorpe's current clubhouse was opened on 28th May 1979. The opening was to be celebrated by a fixture of Cutthorpe President's XI against a Ladies International XI. However, in keeping with recent summers the game had to be cancelled due to the weather, proving that some things never change.
At that time Mr R. G. S. Smith was the club chairman and he is quoted as saying
"I hope your reward will be to see a successful and vibrant club with social activities helping to mould friendships which extend beyond the cricket field. Whatever we do as amateur sportsmen (and women) we should do for enjoyment. What better way to enjoy a weekend than playing cricket and enjoying the after match convivialities with friends and opponents. That is what a clubhouse is for."
I hope that Mr Smith would feel that we, as current custodians of the club, have carried out his wishes faithfully. The facilities have been further improved with the addition of showers and changing rooms to the clubhouse, the 'old' pavilion now used by the scorers and the umpires.
Over the years, many well known cricketers have trod the turf at Cutthorpe either with the visiting team or as Cutthorpe Cricket Club members. Some notable performers are;
-Geoff Miller (who started at Cutthorpe Cricket Club, joined Derbyshire Cricket Club in 1972 and enjoyed a successful playing career which spanned almost two decades and earned him 34 England caps between 1976 and 1982. Current England Test Selector and former Derbyshire skipper Geoff Miller began his cricketing career at Cutthorpe and wore the Heathcote badge proudly on his sweater.)
-George Pope (Derbyshire County Cricketer (1933-48) and later went on to play for England in Test matches including the Victory Tests and a tour of India with Lord Tennyson.),
-Edwin Smith (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1951-71),
-Harold Rhodes (Derbyshire County Cricketer, who took all 10 wickets and all bowled and gained two England caps in the 60’s),
-Ashley Harvey-Walker (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1971-1978, who cleared the Hotel twice on consecutive balls),
-Chris Marples (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1985-1986)
-Ian Blackwell (Somerset and Derbyshire County Cricketer 1997-1999 and represented England in the One Day game)
-Ian O'Brien (Current New Zealand bowler)
-Paul Franks (Nottinghamshire and England all rounder)
-Steve Goldsmith (Kent and Derbyshire County Cricketer - He made two centuries in County cricket, but suffered an injury in 1992, which effectively ended his career. Upon leaving Derbyshire in 1992, he moved to Norfolk where he lasted nearly a decade, playing in the Minor Counties Championship finals of 1996 and 2002. He was also Cutthorpe’s star player and dominated in the Bassetlaw League with both bat and ball.)
It is a notable achievement that two former Cutthorpe players went on to represent their country at cricket, these being Mr Geoff Miller (who is the current England head selector) and Mr Ian Blackwell.
In recent times Cutthorpe has been the home to various overseas players. Most notably Asadullah Butt, who in his time at Cutthorpe, established himself as a true legend of the Bassetlaw League achieving the magnificent performance of gaining 50 wickets and 500 runs in the top division on numerous occasions.
Asadullah Butt
The clubs amateur players have also received their fair share of recognition, club players to receive league representative honours while playing for Cutthorpe are Nigel Kingham, Kevin Letherday both Bassetlaw League XI and Steven Chapman, Matthew Cluer and John Combe (Jnr) who have represented the Mansfield League XI.
In recent years first class players have graced the Recreation ground a plenty. The club has run three successful benefit matches against Derbyshire County Cricket Club XI. The most notable opponent being the Australian World Cup Winner Ian Harvey.
The story of our cricket club is certainly worth telling and the heights reached are a testimony to all who have been involved with our club from its humble beginnings to the start of the next chapter. This begins with us commencing the 2009 season in the Derbyshire League. The club is enjoying a real purple patch with no fewer than six weekend teams being fielded, a midweek team, junior teams and a strong social side enjoyed by players, partners and friends alike. Hopefully the forefathers of the club will look on with pride at the current Cutthorpe Cricket Club and all it stands for. The old club Minute Books provide us with a real insight into the clubs rich history, the current crop of players certainly owe our cricketing ancestors a huge debt of gratitude. The dedication and hard work of a few old stalwarts turned an unkempt piece of ground into the present playing surface that has been graced by amateur, professional and international players on many a sunny afternoon. Without their efforts, cricket at Cutthorpe could have died.
The ground certainly had humble begins and the real improvements began during of all things the 1926 General Strike. During the strike the Butcher Family allowed opencast mining on what is now the Recreation Ground, and on the reclaimed land a cricket pitch was made, certainly an interesting beginning for the ground we all hold so dear. The early players appear to have been mainly miners, and the rivalry between those from Monkwood and Nesfield was undoubtedly fuelled by the long pubs opening hours, some things never change.
In 1934 The Recreation Ground was given as a gift to the village from the Butcher family.
The club minutes provide a rare insight into cricket of a different era. In the days of everyone having their own kit and players bags now reaching the size of the old team kit bag, it perhaps shows how much the game has changed. While even as late as 1958, it was considered worthy of note that a stump required repair and sodium chlorate should be purchased to kill nettles. The debt owed to the many servants of the club particularly the un-sung heroes such as the tea ladies is immeasurable and the club began providing teas in 1957 using the Cutthorpe Hotel (presently the Three Merry Lads), although 36 half pint mugs had been purchased in 1948. How times have changed, our current captains may well frown on such a thing as a 'beer before the game'.
The club has a rich playing history and began awarding caps in 1953 this provides us with the names of some of our bygone players, the first recipients were Mr J. Armstrong, Mr K. Webster, Mr H.Millward, Mr T.Woodward and Mr G. Booker.
Improvement of the club as a whole has always been a priority and at some time in the early 1950's a tackle shed was acquired, and later a room at the back of the Cutthorpe Hotel (Three Merry Lads) was cleaned out and used as a changing room a 'players provided pegs'. The current facilities enjoyed by us are a far cry from these relative hardships and 2008/2009 again saw improvements being made to our facilities by a hardy band of club spirited individuals, this shows the club spirit alive and well and is certainly in keeping with our club ancestors.
The 1960's saw perhaps the biggest changes with improvements being made such as the ground being levelled free of charge by Mullan Brothers. Once again the members of the club showed their desire to provide the best ground possible by laying the drains and the wicket, the following year saw the club move out of the back room of the Cutthorpe Hotel with the purchase of the now 'old' pavilion through the good offices of George Pope.
Although hazy, evidence points to formal cricket being played in Cutthorpe since the early 1900's, possibly on a field higher up the village than the present Recreation ground. For example, Herbert Needham's Obituary in the Derbyshire Times in March 1935 read;
"Another great interest of the deceased's was cricket. He was an excellent batsman in his day and captained the Cutthorpe eleven for several seasons, winning the batting prize a number of times."
He was born in 1848 so he could have been playing cricket at around 1868. This indicates that the club being substantially older than available records.
The earliest definite facts available on our club are from 1918, the year widely accepted as the year our current club was born. In these bygone days subscriptions were 5/-, in the days when a bat cost £1.6s. 0d. and a ball 5/-. In 1979 the subscriptions had risen to £6, with social members paying just £1. A bat at this time could be purchased for £1.6s. 0d, (one pound and six shillings) or in today's monetary terms £1.30, a ball cost 5/- (5 shillings) or twenty-five pence today's prices.
The first known club President was Rev. E. C. McKenzie in 1920. The known presidents that followed were;
- Rev E. C. McKenzie
- Mr H. Hulley
- Mr T. Goodlad
- Mr T. H. Smith
- Alderman F. Hadfield
- Mr J. B. Needham
- Mr A. W. Hadfield
- Mr M. Booker
- Mr R. Naylor
- Mr J. T. Combe
Mr Richard Naylor (far better known as Dick Naylor) was the club secretary in 1979 and later became the President until 2005, when his untimely death robbed the club of a great servant. In recognition of the his dedication and love of Cutthorpe Cricket Club, an annually presented award - The Dick Naylor Bowl - is presented to one member of the club who has, during the season made a significant contribution to the running of the club.
Mr J. T. Combe more commonly known as 'Hon Boss' took over the roll and is the current Cutthorpe Cricket Club President and is steering the club into the next chapter.
During the third quarter of the twentieth century the name of Armstrong was synonymous with Cutthorpe Cricket Club with Bill, Bill's son John (more commonly known as Jack) and his wife, Mary Armstrong (scorer) all playing an active role in the club. Mr Bill Armstrong, maintained the ground and set the standards to which we aspire today, where a hardy band of volunteers still spend a great deal of time, mowing the outfield and preparing the ground to ensure it is fit to host a game of cricket. To honour Bill's memory the Bill Armstrong Award is presented as and when deserved in recognition for service to the club over a number of years
Records for the early years are patchy but clearly show the Club reforming in 1948 with Mr. H. Hulley as President. The subscription still being 5/-! The club now played league matches and was a member of the Chesterfield and District League. The club enjoyed its fair share of success, notably winning the Robinson Cup in 1953, major league honours followed with Cutthorpe being crowned Division A Champions in 1960.
The following year the Club joined the Derbyshire League with which it remained until joining the Sheffield League in 1968. Progress was rapid from Division F to Division B, from which the 1st XI was unfortunately relegated in 1978. The clubs years in the Sheffield league provided many highs culminating in the winning of the leagues top division in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
Along the way the club won the Billy Oates Trophy in 1990 under the captaincy of Kevin Smith. These years also saw the club win various divisional titles.
The 1995 season saw the club move into the Bassetlaw League, success was instant with the 1st XI winning Division 1C in the first year under the leadership of Mark Barlow. The 1st XI captaincy was then passed on to Steven Chapman and then Andy Knowles and on the playing front the club endured a relatively quiet period. The clubs playing fortunes however reached their peak during Mark Barlow's and Andy Knowles second stint as 1st XI captains. Winning Division 1 of the Bassetlaw League in 2002 under Mark Barlow and The Tomlin Trophy in 2003 under Andy Knowles.
The baton has now been passed to Nigel Kingham who will skipper the 1st XI and club into the new challenge of the 2009 season in the Derbyshire League.
Sadly it is worth noting that it was only down to league politics and ground size (the short corner towards the Merry Lads) that the club was not allowed to take up the place that it had rightly won at the top table of club cricket in the Nottinghamshire Premier League.
During our time in the Bassetlaw League the 2nd XI enjoyed various promotions and relegations and managed to win divisional titles in it's own right.
The Bassetlaw years saw the club enjoy a period of expansion, this is most pleasing in a time when so many cricket clubs have ceased to exist, surely testimony to the Cutthorpe spirit. The clubs first expansion saw a team entered into the Mansfield and District Sunday League where the team rose through the divisions to play in the Mansfield League Premier Division. The club also fielded a regular friendly XI that also plays on Sunday's making Cutthorpe one of the few clubs that regularly turns out two teams on a Sunday. The most notable expansion however was the creation of the 3rd XI in 2007 this was mainly down to the vision of John McCollum and meant that three league teams were being fielded every summer Saturday. It also meant that the club now had two 'homes' with the 3rd XI playing it's home games on Eastwood Park (Hasland).
The influx of players and helpers has certainly added to the fabric of the club and has certainly served as a reminder as to the reason why we play the game and what our club is all about.
Cutthorpe Cricket Club have had a love affair with various cup competitions throughout its history. The Club have won the Butcher Cup on numerous occasions and 2008 saw the club retain the trophy for a second year in a row. The main love affair in recent years however has been with the Harry Tomlin Trophy, sadly despite numerous appearances in the final the club only managed to win the trophy once but enjoyed many great days and received unwavering support from the various club members, illustrating what a club we are and simply not just a team.
Cutthorpe's current clubhouse was opened on 28th May 1979. The opening was to be celebrated by a fixture of Cutthorpe President's XI against a Ladies International XI. However, in keeping with recent summers the game had to be cancelled due to the weather, proving that some things never change.
At that time Mr R. G. S. Smith was the club chairman and he is quoted as saying
"I hope your reward will be to see a successful and vibrant club with social activities helping to mould friendships which extend beyond the cricket field. Whatever we do as amateur sportsmen (and women) we should do for enjoyment. What better way to enjoy a weekend than playing cricket and enjoying the after match convivialities with friends and opponents. That is what a clubhouse is for."
I hope that Mr Smith would feel that we, as current custodians of the club, have carried out his wishes faithfully. The facilities have been further improved with the addition of showers and changing rooms to the clubhouse, the 'old' pavilion now used by the scorers and the umpires.
Over the years, many well known cricketers have trod the turf at Cutthorpe either with the visiting team or as Cutthorpe Cricket Club members. Some notable performers are;
-Geoff Miller (who started at Cutthorpe Cricket Club, joined Derbyshire Cricket Club in 1972 and enjoyed a successful playing career which spanned almost two decades and earned him 34 England caps between 1976 and 1982. Current England Test Selector and former Derbyshire skipper Geoff Miller began his cricketing career at Cutthorpe and wore the Heathcote badge proudly on his sweater.)
-George Pope (Derbyshire County Cricketer (1933-48) and later went on to play for England in Test matches including the Victory Tests and a tour of India with Lord Tennyson.),
-Edwin Smith (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1951-71),
-Harold Rhodes (Derbyshire County Cricketer, who took all 10 wickets and all bowled and gained two England caps in the 60’s),
-Ashley Harvey-Walker (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1971-1978, who cleared the Hotel twice on consecutive balls),
-Chris Marples (Derbyshire County Cricketer 1985-1986)
-Ian Blackwell (Somerset and Derbyshire County Cricketer 1997-1999 and represented England in the One Day game)
-Ian O'Brien (Current New Zealand bowler)
-Paul Franks (Nottinghamshire and England all rounder)
-Steve Goldsmith (Kent and Derbyshire County Cricketer - He made two centuries in County cricket, but suffered an injury in 1992, which effectively ended his career. Upon leaving Derbyshire in 1992, he moved to Norfolk where he lasted nearly a decade, playing in the Minor Counties Championship finals of 1996 and 2002. He was also Cutthorpe’s star player and dominated in the Bassetlaw League with both bat and ball.)
It is a notable achievement that two former Cutthorpe players went on to represent their country at cricket, these being Mr Geoff Miller (who is the current England head selector) and Mr Ian Blackwell.
In recent times Cutthorpe has been the home to various overseas players. Most notably Asadullah Butt, who in his time at Cutthorpe, established himself as a true legend of the Bassetlaw League achieving the magnificent performance of gaining 50 wickets and 500 runs in the top division on numerous occasions.
Asadullah Butt
The clubs amateur players have also received their fair share of recognition, club players to receive league representative honours while playing for Cutthorpe are Nigel Kingham, Kevin Letherday both Bassetlaw League XI and Steven Chapman, Matthew Cluer and John Combe (Jnr) who have represented the Mansfield League XI.
In recent years first class players have graced the Recreation ground a plenty. The club has run three successful benefit matches against Derbyshire County Cricket Club XI. The most notable opponent being the Australian World Cup Winner Ian Harvey.
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