Deando Cricket Tours

This article was written by Neville Rainford.

The Tour

Although a cricket tour had often been mooted in Deando members. discussions and at Committee, it had proved to be very difficult to get moving, who to approach and, when the initial approach was for Saturday and Sunday fixtures, widespread Saturday League Cricket throughout the country.

1981 - Crowcombe, Somerset

In 1980 a relatively new member, Colin Wood, said that he had some knowledge of, and contacts in, Somerset and he would explore arrangements for a possible tour. By June 1981, the tour was becoming a reality. Lawford Farm in the village of Crowcombe near Taunton had been booked. It had Guest House type accommodation plus a large dormitory with 6 parallel beds. And Mrs Lewis proved to be an excellent landlady.

Colin organised Deando’s first Tour, to Somerset playing Saturday and Sunday fixtures v. Stoke St Gregory and Stoke St Mary though, even then, the Saturday fixture had to be changed at very short notice. There were 14 tourists. After everyone agreed what a success the Tour had been, it was proposed to re-book for next year and to try to extend it to 4 fixtures.

1982 - Crowcombe, Somerset

In 1982 it was agreed that the Tour was open to all and 14 members and 5 wives and partners returned to Lawford Farm. Innovations this year were an evening fixture v. Crowcombe (L), the local village, close games against Ashcott & Shapwick (D) and Lydeard St Lawrence (W) an all day (two innings per side) game v. Puriton (L, by 10 runs) before returning to Stoke St Gregory to again win narrowly.

1983 - Nether Storey, Somerset

With a couple of weeks to go before The 1983 Somerset Tour, Colin Wood received a phone call advising that Mrs Lewis of Lawford Farm had fallen seriously ill and that it would be impossible for the tour party to stay at the Farm. Despite the short notice Colin had been able to source alternative accommodation locally at a similar price at the Apple Tree Hotel, Nether Storey. 16 members, 2 non members and 3 wives and partners had booked: 14 players were available Tuesday to Thursday with 2 additional coming down for the weekend. The Tour fixtures were the same as 1982 except for Minehead replacing Stoke St Gregory on the Sunday.

 1984 - Crowcombe, Somerset

The 1984 Somerset Tour consisted of Ashcott & Shapwick (D), Lyddeard St Lawrence (D), Minehead Midweek X1 (W) and Harvey Grammar School (Folkstone) (Tied), played at Minehead CC. All the games were close and could have ended in any result. Numbers were tight, the tour starting with 13 players but only 9 members made it through to the last game though players were added to make the 11.

1985 - Nether Storey, Somerset

1985 saw yet another return to The Apple Tree. There were 5 fixtures: beat Ashcott & Shapwick by 12 runs, lost to Lyddeard St Lawrence by 38 runs, drew a very close game with Minehead then hung on for a draw with Robert Read’s Select X1, The Sunday game, v. Dunster, was rained off. Though not everyone stayed for the duration, there were up to 22 tourists at different times. Despite that success there was a discussion about having gone to Somerset each of five years and whether it was time for a change.

1986 - Leeds, Yorkshire

At the turn of 1986, Neville Rainford made an approach to a contact, Barrie Brayshaw of the Yorkshire Post, about a tour to Leeds, Yorkshire. Barrie responded promptly with Clubs and contact details and Dave Kaill organised the 1986 Yorkshire Tour. In his report on the Tour in the August Newsletter, Dave Kaill reported as follows

‘There was quite a lot of cricket, many rounds of golf, a lot more rounds of drink, plenty of singing, the occasional dance, a few curries, some falling over, a barbeque, shoes on heads, a darts match, a drinking match (in which Deando was disqualified), a snooker match, a crown bowls competition and that was just the first day! Possibly the highlight was when a certain member of Deando, who shall remain nameless, collapsed through the Hotel fence.’

On the cricket side,  the record was P4 W1 L3. The first game, v. Bolton Percy, was a win, the next three games were defeats v. Nostell (Pete Stevenson 117*) and Methley then a more competitive loss to Yorkshire Post. 15 tourists made the tour. Although it had been mentioned in previous years, an innovation on this tour was to hire a minibus. A hastily arranged Committee Meeting was convened, 5 of the tour party were Committee Members, and the hire was agreed though the full cost would be borne by the tour party.

1987 - No Tour

Despite this success and the early preparations made for the 1987 Tour to Yorkshire due to lack of availability the tour had to be cancelled.

1988 - York, Yorkshire

The Tour went ahead to Yorkshire in 1988. Deando returned to Bolton Percy and won, lost to Dringhouses, won an evening game in the Abbey at St George’s in persistent drizzle, lost to North Leeds 343-5 off their allotted overs, Deando 234-8, and then again lost to Yorkshire Post. The accommodation was The Spotted Cow in York with a move to the Boundary Hotel, Headingley, for the last night.

1989 - Ilfracombe, Devon

Despite the success of the two Yorkshire Tours, itchy feet again set in and the Club set up the Devon Tour, based in The Moonta Hotel in Ilfracombe. Due to Deando by now having entered Saturday League Cricket the tour now had to be curtailed starting with a Monday evening game at Culcombe, the afternoon (2.30 start) games v, Newton Tracey (though this game was not played), RAF Chivenor and Witheridge. The games were all won but numbers were felt to be tight with only 12 tourists.

1990 - Wootton Courtenay, Somerset

Wanting to return to Devon, Deando’s first issue was that the hotel was charging its room rate plus commission and the Club, and particularly the Club members, did not see why they should pay commission. Witheridge CC provided the contact details of 5 local clubs who might be able to provide weekend opposition. At this point it was decided to abort arrangements for the Tour so far and Pete Munday and Pete McKay would follow up the contacts they had been given and could find (from magazines, etc.). They came up with The Dunkery Beacon Hotel, in Wootton Courtenay near Minehead and also arranged a Monday evening game v. Wootton Courtenay followed by 4 afternoon games. The Club decided to hire a Tour minibus.

1991 - Acle, Norfolk

The Club again got itchy feet in 1991 and headed to Norfolk based at the East Norwich Inn, Acle, just outside Norwich. The Tour started on Monday 22 July evening v Coltishall, followed by Sprowston, Happisburgh, RAF Swanton Morely, a free day on Friday followed by Debenham on Saturday. The Tour playing record was W1 D2 L3.

1992 - Lowestoft, Norfolk

In 1992, the Tour returned to Norfolk based at The Pier Hotel in Lowestoft. The tour record was W3 D1 L2. On this occasion the touring party was 17 strong.

1993 - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

In another break, the 1993 Tour was based in Cheltenham, playing Ullenwood, Tetbury, Dowty Arle Court and Coombe Hill and the playing record was P4 D2 L2. At this point, while the Tour had generally been enjoyed by the attendees, despite all the varied approaches and venues, Deando still struggled to get a reasonably-sized touring party together, The General Secretary was asked to write to all members  explaining proposals, including costs, for the 1994 Tour, and that tourists will need to commit via a £50 deposit to be paid by 31st January 1994, though this was eased to £25 on 1st March and £25 on 1st April,

1994 - Mudford, Somerset

The 1994 Tour was to Mudford (near Yeovil), Somerset and Fixtures were played from Thursday 28th July v Milborn Port, Saturday 30th v Gillingham and Sunday 31st v Stalbridge.

1995 - Newport, Gwent

The 1995 Tour progressed to Newport, South Wales. Through a family contact, Clive Harris was able to go through the South Wales Fixture Bureau who supplied appropriate cricket club contacts plus accommodation. Fixtures were arranged from Tuesday 25th July v Hills Plymouth (Merthyr Tydfil) (L), Wednesday v Malpas (L), Thursday v Machen (L), then a rest day, Saturday v Barry Wanderers (D) and Sunday 30th v Pencoed (L) then returning on Monday 31st July. There were only 10 tourists, supplemented by Clive’s relations Andrew & Hamish McBean.