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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF LACROSSE AT TIMPERLEY SPORTS CLUB !

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF LACROSSE AT TIMPERLEY SPORTS CLUB !

Cengiz Ilhan27 May 2020 - 17:44
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https://www.timperleylacrosse.

Fifty years ago today Timperley Sports Club welcomed Lacrosse into their family ! Find out more about our first 50 years !

On 27th May 1970 an EGM of Timperley Cricket, Hockey and Lawn Tennis Club (as was) voted to approve the amalgamation of Chorlton Lacrosse Club into TSC and bring Lacrosse to Timperley! Spot how many of these fresh young faces you can recognise from the 1970-71 season men's side (answers below !)

Fifty years on, we may not be able to play sport right now, but what better time to look back on the role Lacrosse at Timperley as the section notches up its half century at the Club - adding to the 78 years as Chorlton LC !

So, raise a glass today to toast Lacrosse at Timperley and to recognise and thank all those involved over the last 50 years on and off the field, but also in helping to develop and grow as a progressive multi-sports club. Lacrosse has played an important role as a sport and through its people in the development of TSC but also in the growth and development of the sport in England. Like many of the Timperley sports family names, connections and contribution's run through the Lacrosse section, with the Holdsworths and Shuttleworths, and also those key in the the amalgamation including Rodney Paulson and Frank Tewson and many more over the years.

Timperley Lacrosse has led the way in developing new ideas to grow and strength the sport. When we can meet again and get back to playing our sport and opening the Club, we have many plans and ideas to celebrate our first 50 years.

Thanks to David Shuttleworth, long time club and Lacrosse stalwart, for sharing below a short summary of that 50 year journey.

FIFTY YEARS OF LACROSSE AT TIMPERLEY by David Shuttleworth

We are living through very challenging and difficult times.It is highly likely that life after Covid19 will differ in many ways from what we have considered “normal”.Times will be difficult and arguably worse but the optimists see that there is a chance of moving to better times as we are forced to make big changes which will secure the future for our children and grandchildren.

For Timperley Lacrosse 2020-21 was going to be an important year as it marked 50 years since Chorlton Lacrosse Club relocated from an inner city suburb to the leafier fields of Timperley. It provided an opportunity to look back and a chance to plan for the next 50 years.

In 1970 Timperley was a members’ club with cricket as the original founding sport and a prominent place in the local community for a century. In the summer there was also a thriving Tennis section.

In the winter the sport was hockey. In those far off days hockey was played on grass and Timperley provided three pitches for its men’s and women’s teams but that there was space for a fourth pitch which could host a Lacrosse Club. Led by Timperley resident and Lacrosse player Rodney Paulson, Chorlton made the historic decision to move and with the benefit of some local recruits from William Hulme’s GS the new Timperley Lacrosse Club started with a pool of 30 players which was enough to field 2 teams. Those early teams were made up of old stagers from Chorlton such as Frank Tewson, Bill Harries and John Harley and some very promising Chorlton juniors such as Paul Winters, David Holdsworth, Frank Cooper, Derek Baguley ,Andy Wilson and Derek Crummack. The club recruited some promising young players from William Hulme’s who lived in Altrincham, notably Carl Hodgkinson and Bob Newton.

Timperley inherited Chorlton’s position in the 4th Division of the North League and the early years saw rapid progress, with some welcome silverware, to the 2nd Division. The next step up to the top division proved to be much more of a challenge and although the team was always near the top of the table the second teams of the big clubs kept a stranglehold on the promotion places although the rules prevented them from moving up. Promotion Play Offs were introduced but finishing 4th meant the Timperley were never quite good enough to beat a team with a season of experience in the top flight and to move up.

In the late 1970s Timperley at last earned a promotion by right and took their place in the top flight where they have been for most of the last 40 years.

The early 1980s saw important advances at Timperley. It soon became clear that there were not enough good players in the Manchester area to make a difference so Timperley looked outside the box and started to recruit players from the USA. Given that at that time there was no professional lacrosse Timperley received many applications to come and play in England and eventually signed two 1st team All Americans, Rip Davy and Barry Mitchell . Amongst those rejected was a certain Brooks Sweet who played for the winning USA team in 1982 World Championships in Baltimore and was chosen as the Best Player in the World - but not good enough for Timperley!! Over the next few years Timperley recruited some top class talent such as Monty Hill, Brett Davy Joe Gold and Dwayne Hicks.

The American coaches at Timperley led to the growth of the English Lacrosse National Development Programme which ran until 2015 bringing hundreds of young US graduates to play and coach at clubs and schools all over the country.
At Timperley alone there have been well over 100 Lacrosse Development Officers over the years.

The Americans at Timperley generated a deal of interest , including at local schools and the Bollin and Bowdon Church School became the standard bearers for school lacrosse in the Altrincham area and over the years Timperley schools regularly won national titles notably Bowdon Church , Altrincham Church , Hale Prep and Bollin.

At this time lacrosse was under pressure at the direct grant schools- Manchester GS, Cheadle Hulme School, Stockport GS and William Hulme’s GS and they all eventually stopped playing. Timperley’s answer was to set up the Club’s own junior programme and for the last 35 or more years it has been the most successful in lacrosse winning numerous junior titles. The programme is still flourishing with a school programme and Timperley’s famous Saturday morning starter sessions all run by Sarah Baron.

In recent years the most impressive development has been the growth of girl’s lacrosse at the club which has supported the club’s senior women’s team but also won many trophies even in competition against some of the best lacrosse playing girls schools in the country.

Another important development in the late 1980s was the establishment of a USA exchange programme . Following Stockport Metros successful association with
Anne Arundel Timperley made a link up with Fallston , a community to the north of Baltimore. In 1988 Fallston teams travelled to Timperley to be hosted by Timperley families whilst the following year Timperley made the trip to Baltimore. The link up continued for some 20 years until changes in the nature of community sport in the USA meant that Fallston could not sustain the programme. However, Timperley have been fortunate to strike a relationship with Maryland Express a partnership of programmes to the north west of Baltimore. The exchange has now been going for some 10 years and although the Americans’ visit this summer to Timperley has fallen victim to the Corona virus it is certain the exchange will restart as soon as possible.

The exchange programme gave , early on , a real example of how sport can transform lives

Colin Carr , who was a outstanding school boy athlete from BTH, and lived in Timperley became one of the early recruits to Timperley Lacrosse. One of the families from Fallston involved the early exchanges became friendly with Colin and invited him to come and live with them in the US and attend Fallston HS. At Fallston he became a High School All American and went on to attend Hartford Junior College where he became a JUCO All American. He went on to complete his college playing career with two years of senior lacrosse. He continued his education with a post graduate teaching qualification whilst working a an assistant college coach.
In 1994 Colin returned to England to play for England in the World Championships. He was given an extension to his US work permit and returned to his teaching post. His then US girl friend , also a teacher, became his wife. Roll forward 20 years and Colin is still living in the Bel Air (Fallston) area and is the Principal of a co-education High School with over 1,000 pupils. A far cry from BTH but the school gave Colin a very strong work ethic and alongside his athletic and scholastic abilities the strengths to have an outstanding career.

The last 25 years have seen Timperley become certainly the biggest club in the UK and probably In Europe. The years have seen successes , certainly at junior level though there have been bumps in the road . The Altrincham demographic is what it is and aspirational families expect a University degree to be the part of the a normal life journey . Most Timperley players go on to University and some return to Manchester to work but most do not .

Over the last 50 years around 60 Timperley players have represented their countries at U19 and Senior levels. Too many to mention individually but outstanding were players who featured in major championships. Carl Hodgkinson In 1978; outstanding in the 1980s were James Lord, John McManus and Paul Foster and the Sandy brothers , Julian, Marcus and Will who all uniquely played in World Championships. In the 2000s we have seen Mike Parsons and James Shuttleworth (2002) and more recently Mike Armstrong , Tim Blower, Tommy Kirkland, Tom Bracegirdle, Jack Brooke, Ollie White , Lee Warburton, Billie Beaumont and Tim Holdsworth all representing their country in major tournaments. Many other Timperley players have played on other national senior and U19 teams.

What of the future ?

It will be a different world but hopefully a better place . The world’s problems will be about a more equal society and the realisation of human potential rather than the pursuit of material greed. Climate change and sustainable lifestyles will be challenges for today’s young people and for their children and grandchildren.

In such a world clubs like Timperley will have to be ready to take on the responsibility for allowing young people to realise their potential. We need to evaluate the world in the respect of personal development be that as sportsmen , musicians , actors or other activity as well as actual careers.

Timperley Sports Club will have an important place in helping to sustain the local community and for Lacrosse it’s part in this challenge will make the next fifty years as important as the last fifty.

PHOTO: Timperley Lacrosse First Team 1970 -71
Back Row: Billy Maynard, David Holdsworth, Paul Winters, Rodney Paulson, Arthur Worrall
Front Row: Martin Wooley, Carl Hodgkinson, 'Shimmy' Hilton, Frank Tewson, Andy Wilson, Derek Crummack

Further reading