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TRIANGLE CC

Grassy Bottom, Stansfield Mill Lane, Triangle, Sowerby Bridge HX6 3NA

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Altitude: 99 Metres/325 Feet

Halifax League

Volunteer Contacts:

Margaret Whippey & Dick Rodger

 
  Club Image
 

Founded: 1862
Nearest Railway Station: Sowerby Bridge
By Bus: 528/561/567 from Halifax
Nearest Other Club: Sowerby Bridge CC

  • Club
  • People
  • Team Photos
  • Ground
  • Oral History
  • Local Context
  • Further Reading
  • Club Archives

Club

Timeline (40kb PDF)

Early Years (1.2mb PDF)
Later Years (1.8mb PDF)
Halifax Courier Club History (2006) (109kb PDF)

History of Ground and Club - Extract from Home Soil (40kb PDF)

Memories of Triangle CC by Pete Ashcroft (30kb PDF)

Concise History of Club (9kb PDF)

1891 Parish Cup Ground Report (164kb PDF)

1896 Halifax & District League Champions - Team Photo & Tribute (285kb PDF)

1898 Fixtures & 2nd XI League Cup Winners - Team Photo (275kb PDF)

1903 Halifax Parish Cup Winners - Team Photo (195kb PDF)

1923 Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (108kb PDF)

1927 Club Trustees - Photo (523kb PDF)

1928 Halifax League Champions - Team Photos (253kb PDF)

1930 Halifax Parish Cup Winners - Team Photo (218kb PDF)

1935-6 3rd XI Red Triangle League Cup Winners - Team Photo (156kb PDF)

1946 Players (109kb PDF)

1947 Halifax Parish Cup Winners - Team Photo (230kb PDF)
1953 (25 Jul-3 Aug) Parish Cup Winners v King Cross at The Ramsdens (10kb PDF)

1953 Parish Cup Winners - Team Photo (172kb PDF)

1954 Under-18s Halifax League Winners (133kb PDF)

1955 Halifax Parish Cup Winners - Team Photo (274kb PDF)
1956 (25 May) 'Fire Ball' v Mytholmroyd Methodists - HB Times & CV Gazette (8kb PDF)

1957 2nd XI Division 1 Champions - Team Photo (256kb PDF)

1962 Club Centenary, Committee & Trustees (796kb PDF)

1963 1st XI & 2nd XI Division 2 Champions (249kb PDF)

1964 Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (264kb PDF)

1965 Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (408kb PDF)

1966 2nd XI Halifax League & Crossley Shield Winners - Team Photo (254kb PDF)

1967 Crossley Shield Winners

1968 1st XI & 2nd XI Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (291kb PDF)

1969 1st XI & 2nd XI Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (329kb PDF)

1972 Halifax League Champions

1981 2nd XI Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (204kb PDF)

1982 Halifax League Champions - Team Photo (254kb PDF)

1983 1st XI & Under-18s Halifax League Champions - Team Photos (641kb PDF)

1986 Halifax Parish Cup Winners

1987 Under-17s Collinson Memorial Trophy Winners - Team Photo (209kb PDF)

1988 2nd XI & Under-17s Halifax League Champions - Team Photos (439kb PDF)

1991 League Champions, Cup Runners-Up, 2nd XI 'Double' Winners (146kb PDF)

1992 Crossley Shield Winners & Jack Parkin Commemoration Match (553kb PDF)

1993 'Treble' (357kb PDF)

1994 Halifax League Champions & Halifax Parish Cup Winners (181kb PDF)

1995 Crossley Shield Winners (161kb PDF)

1996 Halifax League Champions (190kb PDF)

1996 v Beaconsfield Tourists (136kb PDF)

1998 Halifax Parish Cup Winners

1998 Under-15s Collinson Memorial Trophy Winners (360kb PDF)

1999 Halifax League Champions & Crossley Shield Winners

2002 Halifax Parish Cup Winners

2004 Crossley Shield Winners

2005 Heritage Exhibition Launch Event - Triangle Inn (480kb PDF)

2007 (3 Aug) Daily Telegraph Letter - 'History Lesson' (Michael Bourne) (web link)

2008 'Old' Triangle v 'New' Triangle, Pavilion Celebration Event - Photos (2mb PDF)

2008 (3 Aug) Parish Cup Winners (614kb PDF)

Club Tie (72kb PDF)

Old Triangle CC Glove (68kb PDF)

Parish Cup Final - undated (117kb PDF)

LEAGUES: Halifax League (web link)

People

Who's Who (276kb PDF)

Wilf Bagshaw   Memorial Plaque (42kb PDF)

Joyce Beaumont   Memorial Plaque (32kb PDF)

Geoff Collins   Memorial Plaque & Umpires Room (35kb PDF)

Carl Fletcher   1,028 Runs in 2007 (21kb PDF)

D.Fletcher   Top of Batting Averages - undated (76kb PDF)

Eric Frankland   Memorial Plaque (37kb PDF)

Wilf Hampshire    Memorial Plaque (36kb PDF)

Martha Ingham   Memorial Plaque (24kb PDF)

Jack Parkin   Memorial Plaque & Pavilion Dedication (42kb PDF)

Dick Rodger   Averages - undated (81kb PDF)   President's Bar (82kb PDF)   Oral History

Gary Rodger

Mick Thacker   Memorial Plaque (26kb PDF)

John Turner   Photo & Snooker Room Dedication (37kb PDF)

Ken Wilson   Oral History

Margaret Whippey   Oral History

Ronnie Wolfenden   Oral History

Eric Wood   Memorial Plaque (16kb PDF)

Team Photos

1890s (1.3mb PDF)

1900s (321kb PDF)

1920s (272kb PDF)

1930s (109kb PDF)

1940s (44kb PDF)

1950s (677kb PDF)

1960s (304kb PDF)

1980s (279kb PDF)

1990s (193kb PDF)

Undated (50kb PDF)

Ground

Story of Grassy Bottom (472kb PDF)

2006 Grassy Bottom (1.3mb PDF)

2007 (10 Jun) Triangle v Northowram Hedge Top (1.3mb)

2009 (12 Jul) Triangle v SBCI (221kb PDF)

Map of Ground (100kb PDF)
3D Map & Aerial Photograph (250kb PDF)

Watercolour by Tony Haigh

Action (315kb PDF)

Ball-Retrieval Equipment (253kb PDF)

Clubhouse (490kb PDF)

Covers & Nets (317kb PDF)

Environs (527kb PDF)

General Views (700kb PDF)

On the Boundary (997kb PDF)

Scorebox (221kb PDF)

Signage (438kb PDF)

Spectators (639kb PDF)

'TCC' Gates (95kb PDF)

Tea Hut (469kb PDF)

Teatime (273kb PDF)

View from Main Road (75kb PDF)

Wicket & Square (158kb PDF)

Oral History

Dick Rodger

Community Role (audio)
Full-Time Staff (audio)
Major Characters (audio)
Major Rivals (audio)
Raising Money (audio)

Margaret Whippey

Emergency Pub (15kb PDF)

Family Affair (18kb PDF)

Making Money for the Club (24kb PDF)

Ken Wilson

Better and Better! (56kb PDF)

Big Characters (16kb PDF)

Community Spirit (23kb PDF)

Finals and Food (21kb PDF)

Lifelong Loyalty (26kb PDF)

Ronnie Wolfenden

Eli, Roland and Arnold (12kb PDF)

George and the Booth Spinner (25kb PDF)

Highest-Scoring Final (12kb PDF)

Two Buckets of Cold Water! (13kb PDF)

Local Context

Profile of Triangle (45kb PDF)

Triangle Primary School (web link)

Former Cricket Clubs in Local Area (web link)

Further Reading

D.Cliff, Sowerby Bridge (Tempus, 2006)

J.Hargreaves, Sowerby Bridge in Old Photographs (Dalesman, 1994)

Halifax Courier

 

With grateful thanks to Dick Rodger and Margaret Whippey (TCC).

If you have any information about this club or any others in this area that could be of use please feel free to contact us via p.j.davies@hud.ac.uk.

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Select Images to View Below:

The Ground
  Archive Images

 

Greatest Moment

Receiving their ground as a gift from local mill owner Colonel Morris in 1927.

Local Hero

Dick Rogers – influential captain in the post-war period, club stalwart and umpire.

Bizarre Fact

The club was originally linked to Triangle Reading Room.

What's in a Name?

The elderly lady whose house backs on to Triangle CC's quaint ground could not help, unfortunately. 'No,' she said. 'I'm sorry, I've got no idea why Triangle is called Triangle.'
The answer to the conundrum happened to lie elsewhere.

In January 1956, the Halifax Courier and Guardian reported: 'Triangle…bears a name that often puzzles people. We are often asked "Why Triangle?" and we have often given the answer. The name was first applied to the inn…which stands on the point of a site which, if cut through a little behind the building, would form a triangle. Before that the hamlet was known as Pond, there having in older times been a pond there.'


So, the place is home to a pond and a pub called the Triangle Inn (which, in 1920, had a war memorial plaque fixed to its frontage). It also boasts a Methodist church that has been turned into a house, an industrial estate, and, surely, one of the wonders of the natural world, Penny the Mute Swan, who floats up and down the River Ryburn.

Small and Enchanting


Triangle is the home of an enchanting cricketing venue. Club spokesman Gary Rodger said: 'Opposition teams love coming here. The river, the trees, the views from all around. It is a fantastic place to play cricket.'


The ground is also pretty small. Rodger went on: 'It could well be the tiniest in the league. But, to be honest, places like Booth and Bradshaw aren't that much bigger. At Triangle, perhaps the ground looks smaller than it is because it is so enclosed by trees. It is small, but it is also well proportioned, which makes a big difference.'


The venue lies almost halfway between Sowerby Bridge and Ripponden, just off the main Rochdale Road. A blue and white 'TCC' flag flutters from atop the whiter-than-white double-tier pavilion (which incorporates dressing rooms and a bar), and a small, simple plaque reminds visitors that cricket has been played amid the vivid greenery of Grassy Bottom since 1862.

So the club is fast approaching its 150th anniversary. One seasoned visitor says: 'I always think it is a similar setting to the Salem ground at Hebden Bridge. It's cosy and intense.'

Reading Room Link


In the late nineteenth century, Triangle Reading Room and Cricket Club was the full, formal title of the organisation, and important social gatherings were held at the local pub.

Local historian John Hargreaves writes: 'It was later recalled that, in the early days of the club's history, 'when the team played in Lancashire, (villagers) could know what the score was before the team returned home. The scores were sent by carrier pigeon to the Triangle Inn, where all the supporters were drinking.'

The settlement developed in the nineteenth century with the coming of the railways and water mills. It lost its train service in 1958, but it has always been a significant staging post on the old turnpike road between Sowerby Bridge and towns on the other side of the Pennines.

Between 1905 and 1934 it also had a tram link to Sowerby Bridge.
Enclosed on one side by tall trees, the trickle of the Ryburn and a series of handsome houses, and on the other by a rising bank of woodland, the cricket ground is lined by a neat array of wooden benches. And when you sit on one, you feel very adjacent to the action and intimately involved in the spectacle.

A Good Batting Pitch


Over the years, Grassy Bottom has retained its character, as Rodger noted: 'The pavilion has been upgraded, and in 1982 the scorebox was moved from on top of the pavilion to the far end of the ground. We've also made a tea room out of a wooden store room. But that's about it.'


And there is no argument about the wicket. 'Just ask our bowlers!' said Rodger. 'It's a good batting pitch. A few years ago you would have been happy with 190 batting first, but now you've got to be aiming for over 250. It is not just the short boundaries that make this a good place to bat - it's also a great track.'


In recent years, Triangle CC (whose main local rivals are Sowerby St. Peter's) have collected more than their share of silverware. In the 1990s they won the Halifax League five times and the Parish Cup on four occasions. The club's 2nd XI and five-a-side team have also won titles. The club is not just successful on the field, but active off it. It doubles as a working men's club - and boasts a hefty annual turnover.

Water Hazard


The woman who wandered into her attractive garden explained a bit more: 'I am a member of the club, and so are my son and grandson. Did you know those trees at the far end were blown over in a hurricane last June? And did you know my grandson acted as ballboy for two years on the river side of the ground? A lot of balls get hit into the water, you know!' (However, locals confirm that because they hire a ballboy, who wades through the water with a net, they do not actually lose that many balls in a typical season).

According to local supporters, the ball-retrieval escapades add to the atmosphere and camaraderie.


The prettiness of the location is enhanced by the whiteness of the pavilion and the general effort that has been made to whiten the walls behind the bowler's arm near the main entrance. On the front of the pavilion there is a clock (telling the right time) and a TCC crest (in the shape of a triangle, of course).

The tea room is spick and span - lots of orange juice and Yorkshire Tea in evidence - and a poster in the window tells all members what is expected of them: PLEASE CAN YOU PUT ALL RUBBISH IN BLACK BIN LINERS AND PUT ROUND THE BACK OF THE CLUB HOUSE IN THE WHEELY BIN. THANK YOU.


Way back in 1927, Colonel Tom H. Morris, a local mill-owner, made a gift of the ground to Triangle CC. Today, it is a smart and well appointed venue, but it's the tree-lined boundaries and the sound of running water that captivates the first-time visitor.

Disclaimer - Designed and programmed by Lee Booth.

 
Heritage Lottry Fund University of Huddersfield