Greatest Moment

1997 - the club's new lottery-funded pavilion opens and the 1st XI claim the Huddersfield Central League Section ‘C’ title.

Local Hero

Raymond Hawkyard - stalwart who was awarded the Fred Stallard Trophy in 1997 for services to the club.

Bizarre Fact

At the club's old ground, the ball - when hit for six towards the railway line - sometimes ended up in York if it happened to land in one of the passing railway carriages!

Deepest Deighton

Bradley & Colnebridge's ground, at Warrenside, Deighton, is located in the far north-east of 'South Kirklees', high above Leeds Road. On the Huddersfield side, the ground is surrounded by houses and bungalows.

By contrast, to the south and east it is next door to empty fields, and in the mid-distance, in the direction of Deighton Road and Leeds Road, there are factories, chimneys and other industrial landmarks.

Deighton itself is noted for its Workingmen's Club, railway station and high school. It is part of Huddersfield's industrial heartland, and is also blessed with acres and acres of sports fields. There is Warrenside - home to soccer and cricket pitches - but down on Leeds Road there is Syngenta Sports Club (the former home of Huddersfield & Lockwood C.C.), Bradley Mills cricket ground (now home to Edgerton C.C.), and a vast municipal sports complex, known simply as Leeds Road Playing Fields.

It is here, at LRPF, that much local sport and university sport goes on. In the past LRPF has also been home to various local cricket clubs but now only in exceptional circumstances do the powers-that-be allow league clubs to base themselves at this municipal venue.

Warrenside has witnessed significant changes over the last decade. For a start, the football ground that lies adjacent to the cricket field, and through which all cricketers used to have to wander on Saturday lunchtimes and evenings, has lost its dressing-room complex - demolished.

Formerly, home and opposition cricketers changed in this building (as if they were getting ready for a soccer match), and then used to tootle across to the cricket pitch. In its place there is now nothing except rubble.

The football ground belonged to Bradley Rangers, a now-defunct amateur soccer team. (There was no connection between football and cricket club - they just happened to share the same site). Now, there are plans for a Sikh temple to be built on the old soccer pitch.

Today, the cricketers change in the recently rebuilt pavilion on the western edge of the cricket field.

The outfield has been levelled and the perimeter of the field is now marked out by low white fencing. The fencing gives a nice 'enclosed' feel to the ground and adds a smart touch to proceedings. It was a gift from the club president - mainly to keep motorbikes off the outfield!

Bradley & Colnebridge CC was re-formed in 1959 (we know little about the 'old' club) and emerged out of Bradley & Colnebridge Workingmen's Club at Colnebridge. The folk who patronised the Workingmen's Club decided to form a cricket team, and the club, located on Bradley Road near the White Cross pub, is still the unofficial HQ of the cricket team. (The club has two main sports sections: cricket and bowling. The bowling green adjoins the club's premises, on Bradley Road).

For three and a half decades, the cricketers played their home fixtures on a field situated immediately behind the Workingmen's Club. But on 4 February 1994 they were asked to vacate the ground. The chemical company who owned the field had decided to sell the land for commercial use.

The cricket club spent the 1995 season as wandering nomads, playing at a variety of grounds - including Honley and the YMCA - while they sorted out a permanent venue. Eventually, in 1996, they settled at Warrenside.

Club secretary David Cross explained: 'I would say that Bradley & Colnebridge is very much a local club. The people who play for us either originate from the local area or have come to live here. Our philosophy is simple: we don't want to import players to make our club better - although I understand clubs who do this - but rather, we want to give everyone a game. In this sense, we want to grow organically and play good cricket.'

In their early years, Bradley & Colnebridge played in the Huddersfield Association, but switched to the Central League in 1975, entering a pair of teams. Cross said: 'We're happy playing in the Central League, In the mid-1990s we had problems regarding our facilities, but we've now sorted ourselves out.'

And he is pleased with recent developments at Warrenside: 'The reports we get about our ground are pretty positive. The facilities are rated as good, as are the teas. The wicket gets decent reports too. But we've got to be patient. We're not professional groundsmen, so we can't expect too much. If you pitch the ball short, it will get high, but only slowly. The only problem, which we totally acknowledge, is the outfield. It needs levelling and re-seeding, and that job is now high on our priority list. On the whole, we're happy with what we've got.'

On the field, the 1970s were the golden years. As Association members, the club won the Lumb Cup twice and also scooped Section 'A', Section 'B' and Section 'C' titles; and as a Central League outfit, Bradley & Colnebridge claimed the Section 'B' championship in 1975.

Today, the club does not have any junior elevens, but it fields two senior teams, and has also published a regular newsletter for members.
Bradley and Colnebridge are two separate places. Bradley is situated two miles north of Huddersfield town centre. Colnebridge, one mile beyond Kirkheaton, is famed for its industrial heritage. But in 1818 the place acquired infamy when a fire at a local cotton mill killed 17 workers, most of whom were teenagers.

Meanwhile, cricket began on Colnebridge field in 1845. Before Bradley & Colnebridge moved in, this field had played host to a succession of teams representing the local area and local firms. In more recent times, it staged the Lumb Cup final in 1969 and a famous encounter with Rastrick New Road in 1974 (Bradley & Colnebridge were set a target of 150-plus in 20 minutes; as a mark of protest at Rastrick's unsporting declaration, B&C sent in two lower-order batsmen, declared after one ball, thus causing 'rather a stir in league circles').

Today, the prospects look bright for the cricket club that represents the two adjoining districts. Cross said: 'The main credit for holding the club together goes to Raymond Hawkyard, Alistair Sykes and David Moorhouse, who simply wouldn't allow the club to die.'