Greatest Moment

1954 – winning the Wood Cup (the club’s first major trophy) with Everton Weekes in the line-up.

Local Hero

Alan Stuttard – the club’s cricket chairman, former player, and acclaimed after-dinner speaker.

Bizarre Fact

A nearby block of flats AND the street on which their ground is sited are both named after Walsden cricketing legend Frank Scott.

Origins and Early Days

Like many cricket clubs, Walsden did not have a continuous existence from its first formation in the 19th century.

The current club, which has existed continuously since 1870, had at least two forerunners. There is evidence that a club was formed in 1856 and re-formed in 1862. It is rumoured that prior to 1856 a club called White Scar existed in the village but no evidence has been found to substantiate this.

Walsden’s first recorded match was played on the land in front of the bandstand on what, since 1910, has been Centre Vale Park.

This was an away match against the 2nd XI of the Todmorden club which had been re-established in 1850.

The Centre Vale cricket ground was so waterlogged that Todmorden’s president, Sam Fielden, who owned the whole Centre Vale estate, allowed the teams to play in front of his Centre Vale House, erecting a tent for changing and refreshments there.

A double innings match was completed in one day, Todmorden 2nds (65 and 88), beating Walsden (42 and 26) by 85 runs, and, remarkably, the scorecard for the game has been located. When a batsman was caught, the fielder but not the bowler’s name was recorded.

The match was played on a Monday, suggesting that most of the players would be self-employed or employers of labour, able to take time off.

Two Former Grounds

Walsden have played on their current ground since 1870, but apparently had two former grounds in their earlier incarnations in the 1850s and around 1862.

These were at White Slack and at Heights Houses. The latter was still used as a ground in the Todmorden & District Cricket League until it folded in 1959.

The current ground was formerly the site of Inchfield Mill dam and was leased to the Club by E. Smith of Inchfield Villa. 137 members enrolled at that time and the ground was opened in a 16-a-side match on 23 July 1870.

Cricketing Clowns

A feature of cricket as popular entertainment in the 19th century was travelling troops of clown cricketers.

As Walsden’s major fundraising event of 1871, ‘XI Gentlemen of Todmorden and Walsden’ played Mr Dan Rice’s 14 Clown Cricketers at Walsden on 21, 22 and 26 July.

Prior to the match on Friday 21 July, the clowns, dressed in ‘grotesque costumes’, toured the streets in horse-drawn carriages accompanied by the Todmorden Brass Band.

Rain delayed the start until Saturday, when the locals made 113 all out and the clowns replied with 24 for 3. The clowns had little skill as cricketers but entertained the crowd with their witticisms and contortions at the fall of every wicket.

On Saturday evening the clowns sang and performed acrobatics on a raised platform and the band played for dancing until darkness fell. Todmorden Cricket Club’s Ladies’ Tent was borrowed for the occasion.

Rain delayed the match until the following Wednesday when the clowns were all out for 56. A total attendance of 2,464 raised £66 14s 2d for club funds.

Community Club

Walsden Cricket Club has been an integral part of the village community throughout its existence. Many local groups have used its facilities, including Todmorden Gun Club who met monthly through the latter part of the 19th century.

The standard of shooting was high, competitors travelling from as far as Liverpool, and it was usually necessary to kill eight or nine birds with no misses to win.

Walsden Cricket Club’s professional and groundsman in 1890, A. Storah, quickly became disenchanted because ‘…the members would come to practice with clogs on, thus cutting up the ground and giving him no chance to keep it in good condition.’

By July he had agreed to sign for Otley, where his package was to involve ‘assisting the cricket club organisation in the summer and the football [rugby] in the winter’.

However, the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would ‘not allow a man to pose as an amateur in a football club after playing as a professional with the cricket eleven belonging to the same club’.

These were tense days when, despite huge crowds, the rugby union, fiercely protective of amateurism, would not allow players to earn a penny.

Five years later the world of rugby broke in two. The Northern Union was founded in 1895 – effectively the birth of rugby league which sanctioned first ‘broken time’ payments (for loss of earnings while playing).

Female First

The first ladies cricket match in Todmorden was played at Walsden on 6 June 1893 at a time when women were just beginning to strive for greater independence.

The match, between women of the Walsden district, provoked a predictably chauvinistic response from the male preserve of local journalism, the Todmorden Advertiser stating:

Whether those of the feminine gender are as fit to indulge in the good old English pastime as those of the opposite sex I do not care to argue, but evidently the fairer sex in the Walsden district…seem to think they are, as a match was played on the Walsden Cricket Club’s ground...between members of the ‘Petticoat Club’.

Local Rivals

Walsden have not played Todmorden in a league or cup match since 1896. But often since then there has been a challenge match between the two and, until the last decade, these have been very competitive.

The Donald Rigg trophy was inaugurated in 1976, and for the next few years, and there was a full day of cricket, with the second teams playing a 30-over match in the morning and the first teams playing full game in the afternoon. Honours were about even in these affairs over the ten or so years.

More recently, the teams wore coloured clothing for the first time in the fixture in 2000 and 2001. Following the counties’ example, the Walsden Wolves were adorned in an impressive red.

The Todmorden Tornadoes contrived an offensive lemon and sky blue combination in 2000 and an improved claret and blue in 2001, the last time the teams met.

But rivalry was never more fierce than when the clubs were both in the Central Lancashire League between 1893 and 1896. After a Todmorden victory in 1894, one Walsden supporter was moved to verse.

'All-Time Walsden XI' by

Brian Heywood

1. Richard Eastwood – solid and consistent opening batsman with excellent concentration, forming, with Mike Atherton, the most successful opening partnership in the history of the Lancashire Cricket Federation.

2. Harry Smith – simply devastating on his day. Still holds the Walsden record amateur score of 205 not out against Moorside in 1915.

3. Trevor Chappell – epitomised why so many clubs want ‘a good young Aussie’. Chappell was a talented batsman, an aggressive medium-fast bowler and a brilliant fielder.

4. Mark Hooson – the current Walsden captain and another to pro in the Saddleworth League. An aggressive right-hand batsman and accurate slow-medium seam bowler, particularly effective on wet wickets.

5. Frank Scott – the legend; the only amateur in the history of the Central Lancashire League to score 5,000 runs and take 500 wickets.

6. Bill Barker – another Walsden legend whose career spanned four decades, he was an outstanding and shrewd captain who commanded respect from his team.

7. Lenny Moss – aggressive batsman and highly effective bowler, Moss was Walsden’s outstanding cricketer of the 1950s, passing 500 runs in a season five times.

8. Rev R.Napier – came to Walsden as vicar of the village in 1890 and became the club’s outstanding player of that decade. Reputedly the fastest bowler in England, he bowled Lancashire to victory against the Australians in 1888.

9. Albert Connor – holds the club wicketkeeping record of 45 victims – 22 caught and 23 stumped – in 1955. Also an effective batsman, he played a key role in the Todmorden team which won the Lancashire League title in 1957, before performing similar feats at Walsden.

10. David Lord – another holder of a club record, he took 93 wickets in 1978, many of them caught in the leg trap by Trevor Bailey and Albert Ross from his accurate in-swing bowling.

11. Albert Ross – hit 500 runs (a club record) seven times in eight seasons between 1974 and 1981 - this in the era of Garner, Stephenson and numerous other pacemen who terrorised amateur batsmen.