SOS: The Fight to Save Hatfield CC

chapter, nobody had a longer association with the cricket ground at Hatfield Park than Eric Simson (1916-1987). Simson first played for the original Hatfield Estate CC in 1931, and it was not long after World War II that he became the last remnant of the ‘old’ club to remain with the ‘new’ club. As early as 1950, despite his long-standing connection to the Estate, Simson was the first member to propose dropping ‘Estate’ from the club’s name. It is a testament to his character that, even with his and his family’s deep ties to Hatfield Park, he nonetheless threw himself with enthusiasm into making the move to Ascots Lane a success. His administrative career began in 1948, when he was appointed as the club’s treasurer. After a club record tenure of twenty-three years, no one would have begrudged Simson had he decided to stand down from active duty. But that wasn’t the sort of man that he was, and he swapped the role of treasurer with that of chairman of the general committee. With his playing days at an end, he decided to retire as a club official in October 1974. A retirement that would only last eight months. These recent events were happening concurrently and, therefore, have not necessarily been described in chronological order. So it is time to backtrack a week or two and pick up the shenanigans of the Fundraising Committee. Because of the mess created by the ‘alleged’ actions of the footballers, this committee was desperately in need of fresh blood, and the General Committee immediately began to sound out potential recruits. This produced mixed results. At their meeting on 2 June, it was announced that John Etherington Grubb (b.1944) had agreed to serve. Little is known about Grubb, who had been a recent addition to the club, other than the belief that he was involved in the property trade. A fortnight later, the subcommittee had a full complement, with the addition of Graham Speller and Anthony William ‘Tony’ Paulson (b.1939) to its ranks. Speller’s sole season with the club was 1975, and nothing is known about him. ‘Tony’ Paulson, on the other hand, was a significant figure. A prolific bowler in his prime, he had been playing for the club since 1955 and was Sunday captain from 1965 until 1967. He served as treasurer of the Social Committee in 1965 and, upon his appointment to the Fundraising Committee, assumed the role of secretary. This was a short-lived appointment.The General Meeting held on Tuesday, 7 October 1975, heralded seismic changes to the club’s hierarchy, with John Lance and Ted Springham both resigning their posts. The departure of Lance (or semi-departure, as he became Assistant Hon. Secretary) came about for tactical reasons. As previ47

ously noted, he was frequently out of the country for extended periods, and the club needed a hands-on secretary to manage the ongoing situation. Because of his work leading the Future Development Committee, Ken Goulding was the obvious replacement. The departure of Springham had not been a surprise, with his intention to stand down announced in July. For his replacement, the club turned to one of its stalwarts. Albert Nelson Hudson (1915-1981) began life as a Hatfield CC player in 1936, and since hanging up his boots in 1968, he had been one of the club’s umpires. Before taking over as Hon Treasurer, he had been Assistant Hon. Secretary since 1951, a job he held concurrently with that of Bar Secretary from 1963 until 1970. In gratitude for his efforts in keeping the members’ thirst well quenched, Hudson was appointed a Life Vice-President of the club.There were minor changes to the renamed Development Committee, and wholesale changes were made to the Fundraising Committee. Goulding’s first act as secretary was to propose a new subcommittee structure, under which the subcommittees assumed responsibility for the club’s dayto-day operations, replacing weekly committee meetings with monthly ones. This was approved and implemented immediately. The new subcommittees would also have a chairman instead of a secretary. The Development Committee was to be chaired by Tony Foster, and the only change in personnel saw the old treasurer, Ted Springham, replaced by the new treasurer, Albert Hudson. Unlike the fundraisers, the development team experienced great continuity from this point forward, with the departure of Hudson in October 1976 the only change.The Fundraising Committee could only dream of such stability. The outcome of the October 1975 General Meeting was that David Hurley, in addition to his membership of the Development Committee, was appointed as chairman of the fundraisers, with Tony Paulson returning to the ranks. Peter Clark, John Grubb, and Graham Speller were all gone; however, the committee received reinforcements. David M Pickhaver (1940-2020) was one of the club’s longest-serving players, having made his debut in 1956, and had been the club’s groundsman since 1958. He captained the 2nd XI in 1968, before taking on the Sunday XI captaincy for the 1969 and 1970 seasons, and was subsequently reappointed in 1974. At the other end of the spectrum, he was joined by Nigel Ian Howcutt (b.1953), who had just completed his first season as a player, although he had joined the club as a nonplaying member in August 1973. It is said that he was a keen photographer who took many pictures at the club, but alas, the club retains none of them.The fundraising subcommittee successfully managed the Chevette raffle 48

– then everything fell apart spectacularly. The minutes of the general committee meeting held on 3 May 1976 read as follows:Fundraising subcommittee. David Hurley reported that chaos had been the only way to describe the last meeting with Tony Paulson, David Pickhaver, and Nigel Howcutt and resigned. Roger Bardell to sort out the current situation. From the limited information available in the minutes, it is difficult to unpack the aftermath of the ‘chaos’, as the Committee’s membership was not confirmed again until six months later, at the general committee meeting on 1 November. Reading between the lines, it appears that Hurley remained, while Paulson, Pickhaver, and Howcutt left, with a minute from a meeting on 28 June 1976, reading:Agreed, Roger Bardell & David Hurley to meet ASAP to form a new committee and get the fundraising programme underway again. Apart from Bardell and Hurley, the personnel of the fundraising committee for the following four months remain one of life’s mysteries. With Bardell confirmed as its chairman at the October General Meeting, it is reasonable to presume he had been acting in that capacity in the interim. The new committee, as confirmed on 1 November 1976, included Bardell, Hurley, Ken Goulding, and two newcomers. Howard John Burrell (1944-2022) was a composer and lecturer in musical studies at Hatfield Polytechnic, who had joined the club in 1973, while Alan Cook started his playing career in 1975. Unfortunately, Cook is a common name, making it difficult to guess his background.If there were any changes to the fundraising committee over the next twelve months, then they went undocumented. However, with the new committee elected on 18 October 1977, unrecognisable from the one that preceded it, it is unlikely that it remained unscathed. Roger Bardell was still there, but he had relinquished the chairmanship. Other than that, except for Ken Goulding, who was an ex officio member, it was all change, with the only ‘known’ face the returning Peter Clark. The most compelling case for a mid-term reshuffle having taken place is that it was minuted on 15 August 1977, that two of the newbies, Frederick Lionel ‘Fred’ Combeer (1915-2001) and Ivor ‘Neil’ Jenkins (b.1934), were to be invited to attend the next fundraising meeting. It may be a sign of the toll that the fundraising effort had taken on the membership that, for the final push, it engaged the services of sixty-two-year-old Combeer, who had joined the club the previ49

ous year as an umpire and vice-president, to chair the subcommittee. Jenkins had been a non-playing member of the club since 1958 and was also a member of the Hertfordshire Postcard Club. Youth and vigour were added to the committee with Adrian Bennett (b.1957) and Bill Howarth also joining the ranks. Bennett, the son of club vice-president Robin Bennett, had joined as a Colt and been a regular member of the adult elevens since 1972. Howarth, along with his (younger?) brother, Joe, joined the club in 1976, but that is where the knowledge ends. A Bill Howarth is listed as a starter at Hatfield School in 1968; he may or may not be our man. One of those to depart the committee, David Hurley, could not be accused of desertion, for he replaced John Lance as Assistant Hon. Secretary.As the move entered the final straight, the fundraising committee received a blow. In April 1978, Fred Combeer fell ill with an undisclosed ailment, putting him out of action for some time. The General Committee was informed on 8 May that Ken Goulding was to deputise until Combeer’s return to health, and he was still doing so when the members sat down at the General Meeting of 26 October. In his report, Goulding noted that “We are glad he is now making progress, but his drive was missed.” This left the fundraisers short-handed, and at the May meeting, it was announced that two members would be co-opted. Brian C Sheffield (b.1952) had switched from Welwyn Garden City CC to Hatfield in 1972, been Fixture Secretary since 1976, and was elected as the Sunday 1st XI captain for the 1978 season. Anthony ‘Tony’ Hastings had joined the club in 1977, but nothing is known of him.This leaves one final change, or reshuffle, to report. After two and a half years in the firing line, Roger Bardell resigned from his role as chairman of the General Committee but remained a member of both subcommittees. This role should not be underestimated. Anyone who has never served on the club’s committee (or has served on an ineffective one) will likely not realise that, when done properly, the person in this office is the driving force behind the club. Thankfully, the club was fortunate to have two committed chairmen in its hour of need. At the first meeting of the 1977/78 committee, held on 21 November 1977, Tony Foster was selected to see the project through to completion. 50

This Sporting Life It was clear that if the club were to secure funding through grants, the new ground at Ascots Lane would need to accommodate more than just cricket. It has already been noted that from the very beginning, plans for the site included a football pitch, although no specific club was in mind.The first acknowledgement of any interest from potential partners was recorded at the general committee meeting held on 9 February 1976, when Ken Goulding read a letter from Hatfield Boys Brigade Old Boys Football Club (HBBOB FC) requesting discussions about possible use of the new ground.. In many ways, it was not surprising to receive such a request since several of the footballers were non-playing members of the cricket club and played in its darts team. The cricketers opted to play hard to get and keep all options open. It was decided to write to HBBOB FC to suggest further discussions, and likewise, Hatfield Outsiders, presumably another football club. Additionally, it was agreed to write to the Welwyn Hatfield Sports Council to enquire about the possibility of attracting a hockey or rugby club. The issue was delegated to the Development Committee for further discussions.An update at the June meeting reported upon discussions regarding the use of football facilities at Ascots Lane. It is not entirely clear if the bracketed ‘if this is decided upon’ referred to football in general or HBBOB FC in particular. What is clear, however, is that a formal ground share along the lines of the pre-war Hatfield United Athletic Club was not on the table, and any use of the ground by another club would be on a letting basis only.No doubt conversations with the footballers continued in the background, either formally or, perhaps, informally, in the clubhouse over a few pints. But with nothing concrete in place, the club continued to explore all potential avenues, and in October 1976, it received an ambitious approach. Had it come to fruition, the club’s history would read very differently from how it ultimately ended. Whether for better or worse, who knows?At a meeting on 1 November 1976, Ken Goulding provided feedback on a meeting with and written communication from ‘Parkhouse Squash Club’, proposing a joint venture at Ascots Lane. At the risk of sounding like a scratched record, no specific details of the proposal nor any of the written communications survive. Parkhouse Squash Club should probably read Parkhouse Sports Club. The Sports Club’s headquarters was situated above what is now the John Lewis store in Welwyn Garden City, where, if 51

memory serves, there used to be a social club. As I was too young to remember Parkhouse Sports, I should clarify that. Park House occupies much of the upper floors of the building, with four entrances from the street below. A voice in my head tells me that, once upon a time, the entrance in the corner opposite the Wigmores North car park (next to the store entrance that leads to the kitchenware department) had a notice indicating that it led to a staff social club. If my mind isn’t playing tricks on me, then logic suggests that this would have been the former home of Parkhouse Sports.Such is the passing of time that it is difficult to find out too much about the club, but that said, I did uncover that on 16 June 1975, the club received provisional planning permission (subject to various conditions, such as landscaping, being met) for an “Extension to provide Squash Courts, changing facilities and toilets at Beehive Lane, Welwyn Garden City, Herts.” The only possible location for this complex would have been King George V Playing Fields, presumably adjacent to the bowling green and, now defunct, tennis courts. Clearly, they were unable to satisfy the stipulated conditions, hence the approach to Hatfield CC.The main concern for the cricket club’s committee was that the proposed plan (whatever it entailed) was too ambitious and too big for the Ascots Lane site. I won’t quote the minutes verbatim, as they were, frankly, not well written. The gist of them was that it may have been possible to accommodate the suggested building(s) at the southern end of the site, with access to the ground via Gypsy Lane. Parkhouse likely proposed that the two clubs fully integrate. The minutes recorded that, if the merger proceeded, both clubs would retain separate identities for at least several years. The primary point of contention appears to be Parkhouse’s concern about the lease term. Sixteen years after the event, Tony Foster dismissed the idea as a “brick-built monstrosity like Broxbourne,” a notion that I have a great deal of sympathy for. The idea wasn’t dismissed out of hand, and Goulding was instructed to contact Gascoyne-Cecil Estates to see if the lease could be extended.History shows that this ‘marriage’ didn’t take place. So, what could the future have been? Parkhouse Sports Club was said to have been ‘saved’ by a former Hertfordshire tennis, table tennis and squash champion, Terry Densham. After setting up the Gosling Table Tennis Club in the mid-1970s, Densham transformed Parkhouse by originating, designing and developing the Herts Country Club in Chequersfield, Welwyn Garden City, to become a leading squash club. The club's demise was marked in 2005 when an adjacent housing estate was built on the site of the former Holy Trinity 52

School, a short-lived venue of the club’s 3rd XI in the 1980s, which led to the closure of its nightclub. The sports field is currently wasteland.Meanwhile, discussions with HBBOB FC were ongoing, and in January 1977, the general committee was informed that the football club had agreed to donate £500 (£2,955) in exchange for four or five years’ use of the ground. The finer details of any agreement were still to be negotiated, such as pitch preparation, use of the clubhouse, responsibility for match cancellation, etc, etc. Ahead of the cricketers’ committee meeting on 7 March, the footballers expressed a desire to hold a meeting before the Annual General Meeting (ours or theirs? Theirs presumably), and Tony Foster, in his guise as chairman of the Development Committee, took it on board to make the arrangements. The date of this meeting was not recorded; however, it had occurred in time for HBBOB FC to hold a committee meeting to discuss the outcome and issue a provisional offer to the cricket club on 8 April 1977.33 Kingshill Avenue St Albans Herts 8th April 1977 Dear Ken, Further to our glimpse of the proposed facilities at Ascots Lane and subsequent discussion, we have held a full committee meeting. The committee have asked me to write on their behalf to make the following provisional offer in relation to renting football and pavilion facilities at the new ground from football season 78-89:– HBBOB is to pay a sum of £500 (five hundred pounds) in advance to the Cricket Club initially for four seasons' rental of pitch and changing facilities. This would be subject to review after two seasons, and HBBOB would indicate when this sum could be paid after we had seen the state of our accounts at our AGM on 11th May. HBBOB is to provide goalposts, nets and corner flags, and agree to prepare and service the pitch. HBBOB to improve the fence running the length of the 53

proposed football pitch to eliminate possible safety hazards caused by the existing barbed wire. HBBOB would assist with basic preparation jobs at new ground, e.g. clearing stones from pitches. It was also agreed that the two clubs consider the possibility of running joint fundraising efforts. Assuming the Cricket Club could formally accept this provisional offer, the whole package could be presented at our Annual General Meeting for approval of the membership. Our committee are very enthusiastic about the opportunity that this venture could offer, and if it goes ahead, we feel sure that it could be the commencement of a long and happy relationship between our two clubs. Our committee look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely John Telford, Hon. Sec. On behalf of HBBOB FC committee P.S. We would again be pleased if a representative of the Cricket Club attend our AGM as an observer. It commences around 8 pm in your bar! The offer was discussed by the cricket club’s general meeting on 18 April 1977, and, with the smallest of amendments, its acceptance was agreed. It would have been hard to argue with the terms proposed. HBBOB had offered the full amount discussed for the shorter of the previously suggested terms, to prepare and repair the football pitch, and to provide all the equipment necessary to provide football facilities. In addition, they had also offered to assist with the work necessary to get the new ground ready. The partnership with the football turned out to be a godsend. As will be seen, their contribution was not restricted to picking stones. The momentous decision was recorded as follows:Approach from HBBOB FC: Letter - appended herewith discussed. Agreed to write back accepting 1, 2, 3, 4, with only alteration to read “for a maximum of four years, subject to review after 2 years”. Add no facilities from April to October. 54

Presumably, a representative of the club made the effort to attend 41a Park Street to observe the HBBOB FC’s AGM, but since no debrief was recorded, it cannot be taken as read. Thankfully, whether or not they did is immaterial, as the minutes of the cricketers’ general meeting held on 30 May 1977 read:HBBOB FC: Letter from Hon. Secretary accepting our terms for ground lease. Ken Goulding has written in reply to thank. The fact that discussions on the finer points of the tenancy of HBBOB FC at Ascots Lane, which had been agreed in May 1977, weren’t held until August 1978 is a good indication of the last-minute rush to complete work on the new ground. Yet, at the same time, the football club must have been confident that there would be no unexpected hitches, as, so close to the start of the new season, they would have been committed to playing at Ascots Lane. On 21 August, Ken Goulding informed the committee of the agreement reached with the footballers:Hon. Secretary reported on a meeting with the HBBOB FC management committee. The following points were noted:- - Football club to use the ground from 7th October to the 2nd Saturday in April. - Football club to acquire a marker, which will be available to us. - Football club to attend to the fence and stile making. - Ok for storage of nets/posts/corner flags, etc. - Alan Cox and others to run the bar on Saturday evenings. - Ok to have floodlights on the building for training. - Subs to be charged – suggest £2 per head – normal non-playing membership fee. - HBBOB to have a member on our committee. Ping-Pong Affair With the HBBOB FC agreement in the bag, thus turning Ascots Lane into a dual-sports venue, discussions were entered into in early 1978 that came within a hair’s breadth of introducing a third sport (the jury is out, but triple-sport seems most likely to be the correct expression). Before the pedants cry, “What about darts?” The Sports Council, which was stumping 55

up the cash, disagreed. Indeed, it was not until 2005 that Sport England officially recognised darts as a sport.There aren’t many people left at the club who can recall Tony Dott. A Geordie, he joined the cricket club in 1976, and, choosing my words carefully in these days of “cancel culture\", he didn’t have the most athletic physique that has ever been seen. My point is that everyone at the cricket club was surprised to discover that he was nimble enough to be an accomplished table tennis player, at least at the local level. If you had witnessed the sweat dripping off him following a spell of bowling, you would know what I mean. In the late 1970s, alongside Tony Foster and Alan Cook, he was a member of (possibly) the least athletic slip cordon in world cricket.Dott was a member of the Hatfield Table Tennis Club, and it is no doubt through this association that, in January 1978, they wrote to the cricket club to express an interest in using the clubhouse at Ascots Lane as their home venue. The committee agreed that the proposal for three nights a week throughout the winter was a nonstarter. Space in the calendar was required for darts matches, club nights, committee meetings, football training, etc. The outcome of the committee meeting on 16 January was that Ken Goulding was to write with a counteroffer for every Wednesday and two Mondays each month “by arrangement.” Pragmatically, someone had the foresight to suggest measuring the clubhouse to ensure there was enough space for the two required tables. Tony Dott and Neil Jenkins were assigned the responsibility.Somewhat appropriately, the offers and counteroffers resembled a “ping-pong affair.” On 8 May 1978, the General Committee considered the next major development.Table Tennis Club – Tony Dott reported on a meeting of Hatfield Table Tennis Club and proposed that each member would make a £7.50 donation in return for exclusive rights to use the clubhouse three nights a week from September to mid-April. This was not possible, but a counter proposal of exclusive use on Monday/Wednesday was put to the table tennis club. The devil is in the details. “Donation” is the interesting word in this statement. Or, more importantly, whether this was a one-off or an annual payment. The reason for this is that £7.50 was equal to the cricket club’s annual playing subscription. By contrast, it has always been the case, e.g. the darts team and HBBOB FC, that members of outside organisations have 56

been charged a non-playing membership fee. Maybe this was why the cricket club was keen to get the deal over the line. All was good, in principle, with the table tennis club agreeable to the offered compromise. So far, so good. And then it all went wrong…The agreement was reliant on the clubhouse being fully completed by September 1978. It wasn’t. When the cut-off was reached is unclear. At the last General Meeting to be held at 41a Park Street, in his report, Ken Goulding stated that “Unfortunately, due to the delay, Hatfield Table Tennis Club could not get to use the clubhouse.” It wasn’t long until the deal was dead. Its demise was confirmed on 6 November:Hatfield Table Tennis Club: Tony Dott reported that because the clubhouse is not finished, HTTC has had to make alternative arrangements. Agreed that the arrangement made previously should now be rescinded. An agreement could be renegotiated for next season if requested. Hon. secretary to confirm in writing. The deal was not resurrected. 57

Ready, Steady, Go When we left the story on 13 October 1975, Ken Goulding had written to the Estate, informing them that the continued absence of a “change of user” agreement meant it would be at least two seasons before the new ground would be ready. Although it was too late for work to commence before spring, Goulding was able to report on 10 November 1975 that permission had been granted for “use of land as cricket and football ground” by Welwyn Hatfield District Council on 24 October, and it was all systems go. Until now, the location of the new ground had been a tightly guarded secret. The tenants of Ascots Lane Farm were about to receive a rude awakening, with Harry Clegg beginning the process of obtaining possession of the site. Eager to get going, Goulding arranged a meeting with Leslie Asquith and his fellow council officials to clarify what developments could take place at Ascots Lane before the final building plan was submitted for approval.Events were now progressing quickly; however, from this point onward, the General Committee no longer met weekly, so updates were only given monthly. Not much seems to have changed between the November and December meetings, with the only action being Goulding's instruction to contact Clegg for an update, as recorded in the minute book.Held on 12 January, the first general committee meeting of 1976 showed increased activity, but also hinted at underlying issues. The news of greatest importance was that the club had received preliminary planning approval for the new pavilion. It was also confirmed that the water board had agreed to connect the pavilion to the mains, although this would cost £600 (£4,600), payable in advance. In the background, Goulding had also held meetings with Clegg concerning the lease for Ascots Lane, Mr Barnes, the secretary of the Welwyn Hatfield Sports Council, and Mr Clark, of the Eastern Sports Council. Four days later, the Development Committee was due to meet to prepare for a meeting on Sunday, 18 January, with Bert Brailsford (ground consultant) and Robert Moss (ground contractor) to discuss a programme of works for the new ground. Now that things were happening and the reality of the situation was sinking in, it appears that differences of opinion may have been beginning to surface, for Goulding felt obligated to end his report:Plea for Unity. Hon. Secretary ended with a plea for unity to ensure the future of the club. Alternatively, it may have been no more than an impassioned rallying 58

cry. Without being present, it is impossible to understand the tone or context of what was said. H J Gray interpreted this as a sign of discontent, but caution is needed when approaching this situation. Gray and Goulding were cut from different cloth, and after his resignation, Gray held an overt – some would say biased – negative opinion of how the club was run. Ken was a passionate Yorkshireman who wore his heart on his sleeve. I’m inclined to believe that it was a call to arms.By the time of the Annual General Meeting on 30 March 1976, the mood was defiantly upbeat. Goulding’s report to the meeting, which was appended to the minutes, included some important announcements concerning the Ascots Lane project and deserves to be reproduced in full.Honorary Secretary’s Report on New Ground At the time of my last report on the new ground situation, we were still awaiting the results of the application for change of user on the new site. This was duly received, and then the realisation of the enormity of our task both financially and in effort came to dawn. A 28-year lease has now been negotiated, which gives us very favourable terms, and our thanks have been expressed to Lord Salisbury for his offer. Whilst still on the ground, I am delighted to report that work has started today, and at last our hopes for the future of the club seem more meaningful. This is especially true in view of the enormous efforts of David Hurley, Tony Paulson, Roger Bardell, David Pickhaver and Nigel Howcutt of the fundraising committee, ably assisted by a growing number of club members. A report on the fundraising committee will follow. Last July, most of us were feeling very depressed about the chances of saving the club, especially since financial aid seems to be unlikely from all major sources, including Welwyn Hatfield Council and the Sports Council. The decision to mount our car competition was, I believe, a momentous one in the history of the club. Not only did it raise a tidy profit, but it brought our problem to the public attention and, moreover, convinced many people and the public at large that here was an organisation prepared to help 59

itself. I am sure that this had a spinoff in other fundraising activities at our jumble sales and helped in convincing NTC to donate £300. Moreover, it helped us in putting a new case to the Sports Council even though we have been turned down once on the grounds that supporting local clubs was the responsibility of the local authority. It had been my wish to announce to club members this evening that the Sports Council has granted us over £5000 in aid. However, the press beat me to it, and I could not persuade them to hold the story for one week until after tonight, so most of you will know this news already. I do believe this is a tremendous tribute to us in the current economic situation because I know we have been vetted from virtually every angle possible to see that taxpayers’ money will not be wasted again. I am convinced that it has been our own efforts which swung the balance in our favour.I would not wish to finish this resume of the current position without reminding members that this is only the end of the beginning. Much more money needs to be raised, and much more work must be carried out on the new site ourselves in order to reduce costs. I have sensed a feeling that at last people in the club realise we can do it, and we will do it. Mr Chairman, I sincerely hope that we will continue to work together for each other and for the club and that more and more members will volunteer for the work that needs to be done in the coming months. After the meeting, the lease mentioned above was signed on behalf of the club by its named ‘trustees’: Ken Goulding, Roger Bardell, Albert Hudson, and Eric Simson. (I am not entirely sure about the legal definition of trustee, which I should perhaps be more familiar with as I have been one since the lease was extended in 1999.) Thanks were due to Fred Gibson, who, in addition to being a club vice-president, was also a solicitor who provided his services to the club pro bono. The terms were indeed favourable. For the first five years, until March 60

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1981, a peppercorn rent (if demanded) was to be charged. This was a literal interpretation of the term, so the club was to all intents and purposes rentfree for five years, albeit that at least the first two years would be spent preparing the new ground. For the next two years (1981-83), the annual rent would be the equivalent of £100 (£678) as of March 1976. Beyond that, rent was to be reviewed at seven-year intervals, using a formula incomprehensible to a layman. The proposed layout of the cricket (and football) ground, as shown on the lease, is interesting insofar as, at this stage, it is clear from the plan (reproduced on the previous page) that the temporary building solution was still at the forefront of the club’s thinking. The big news was the announcement that the Sports Council had approved a sizeable grant. This provided a considerable lift to spirits, even though £5,000 (£33,890) was only a fraction of the total funding required. It was a significant chunk of what was needed, and it gave them a sense of belief that their efforts were not in vain.CRICKETERS BOWLED OVER BY £5,000 GIFT Hatfield Estate Cricket Club, forced to move from its present ground, has been given a surprise grant of over £5,000 from Eastern Sports Council. The club were told they had to move from their ground at Hatfield House by the end of this year, after a stay of over 200 years. An alternative ground was offered to them by Lord Salisbury, but the considerable amount of work needed to make it playable meant an expected expenditure of over £10,000. Secretary of the club, Mr Ken Goulding, said: “We were told that the club would have to move about 15 months ago because the land was needed for a new car park. “We decided to accept the offer of some land on the estate near Ascots Lane because we wanted to keep our longstanding ties with Hatfield House.” The grant, half that needed for the move, came as a pleasant surprise to the club, as the Sports Council usually gives money only to projects which serve a wide area. Mr Chris Clark, publicity officer for the Sports Council, said: “In view of the history of the club and its willingness to share its facilities with other sports, we decided to support their application for aid. If we had not, the club may well have gone out of existence.” Work on the ground itself is due to start on Monday, and the club members will themselves be helping with the laying of the cricket square. So far, a total of £2,500 has been raised by the cricket club since last September, through a variety of activities. Mr Goulding said: “We have been working hard over the past few months to raise the money needed. The grant has come at just the right moment and is a 62

great boost to us. “We still have to raise money for the pavilion and other things, and it looks like the figure of £10,000 is an underestimate. “Lord Salisbury has been very generous, however, as he has allowed us to continue our ground at Hatfield House until our new square is ready for use in two years’ time. “This means we have a long time to find the rest of the money, and morale in the club is extremely high.” Welwyn Times and Hatfield Advertiser - 26 March 1976 Without wishing to disrespect the fine art of journalism, much of it involves little more than regurgitating press releases. Such is the similarity of the above with an article published by the London Evening News, a one-time competitor of the London Evening Standard, that it was either an outrageous act of plagiarism or the work of the eponymous publicity officer of the Sports Council. The incomprehensible headline suggests a typo, as there’s no other logical interpretation.CRICKETERS MOVE IN STATE AFTER 200 YEARS A cricket club which has been playing in the shadow of a stately home for the past 200 years is being forced to move. The club, Hatfield Estate, has been using the grounds of the Salisburys since the 18th century. The house and Old Palace, where Elizabeth I spent her childhood, is one of the country’s top 10 stately homes and attracts thousands of visitors every year. Most of them come by car or coach, and the cricket club’s pitch is to be turned into a car park. Secretary Ken Goulding said, “Lord Salisbury has been very generous to us. He has offered us another ground in another part of the estate and has allowed us to use our present pitch until it is ready. “We want to keep our long-standing ties with Hatfield House.” The move is expected to cost the club about £10,000. The players have raised £2,500 themselves, and the Eastern Region Sports Council has given them a £5,000 grant. Work on the new ground started this week – the players helping to lay the new table. London Evening News - 02 April 1976 Sometimes the fickle finger of fate can deal you a strong hand, and Hatfield CC was fortunate that it could seek expert advice from within its own ranks. It has already been remarked upon that Eric Simson was an architect 63

and Roger Bardell a banker, and now that work could commence on the new ground, Nigel Howcutt, a building services engineer, was pressed into action. The first update on developments was presented to the General Committee on 5 April 1976. Howcutt had been diligently investigating the site’s water and electricity supply, as well as the potential installation of a septic tank. It was agreed that the contractor, Robert Moss, would lay a ¾inch pipe in a trench 2 feet 6 inches deep to supply water for watering the cricket table. A slightly moot point was that at this stage, it was not yet known from which location the club would be connected to the mains. Howcutt had been investigating the possibility of coming off the Caravan Club’s supply. This would introduce the added complication of the cricket club needing a wayleave agreement with its neighbours. This agreement would grant the club a temporary right of passage over or through land belonging to the adjoining caravan site.So far, so good. The trench had been dug, the field seeded, and attention had turned to the new clubhouse. Discussions with Tony Paulson continued regarding his temporary building solution, as uncertainty remained about whether a permanent structure could be completed in time for the 1978 cricket season. The events about to unfold would render this scenario obsolete. In the meantime, Simson had been hard at work. Tony Foster, chairman of the development committee, reported at the general committee meeting on 28 June that his father-in-law had provided quotes for four system-built pavilions. These pavilions ranged in price from £10,000 to £14,000 (£67,785 to £94,900). Goulding’s fear that the projected overall cost of £10,000 was an underestimate had been realised. Sometimes the fickle finger of fate can be cruel. The summer of 1976 was hot. Very hot. The United Kingdom experienced an unusually long spell of hot weather, which led to a severe drought. It was one of the driest, sunniest, and warmest summers of the twentieth century. For 15 consecutive days, temperatures in some parts of England reached 32.2°C, with five days experiencing temperatures exceeding 35°C. Few parts of the country experienced more than half of their average summer rainfall. The effect on the Ascots Lane ground was devastating; the dry weather was far from ideal for the growth of freshly sown grass. On 19 July, the ground was declared a disaster. Goulding, in an article published in Hertfordshire Countryside in May 1978, said that “the outfield consisted almost exclusively of enormous thistles and other weeds.” Reminiscing in July 1992, Foster gave a slightly more apocalyptic version of events, describing the scene as “covered in a jungle of 5-foot-high desert-type weeds and no grass.” 64

After a thorough assessment of the situation, David Pickhaver, on behalf of the Ground Committee, informed the General Committee on the state of play with the Ascots Lane site at a meeting on 9 August 1976. One thing was certain. All of the hard work and money spent on the new pitch had been wasted, and the club would have to start all over again. A more pertinent observation was that the club would have to raise yet more money to cover the additional expenses. It was concluded that Moss would need to harrow, roll and completely reseed the outfield, and the club would need to undertake a similar course of treatment to the square. What was imperative was the removal of the weeds, or at the very least, cutting them down to size to allow the machinery to be used. To address this, ‘weeding’ parties were organised on Wednesdays until the situation was brought under control.The grim reality was that the project had been set back by twelve months. Pickhaver agreed to obtain a letter to this effect from the club’s ground consultant, Bert Brailsford, and with that, Goulding wrote to Lord Salisbury to request a one-year stay of execution at Hatfield Park. The financial impact was also alarming. A bill from Moss for £2,629 (£17,800) had already been paid, and the additional cost increased the total expense of the move by £950 (£6,000). The bill for the remedial work, received before the General Committee met on 6 December 1976, had originally been higher. The club discussed this matter at length and concluded that Goulding should request a detailed breakdown of the additional work. This led to further questioning from the club about whether all the quoted work had actually been completed. That is perhaps being a touch too polite. What the minutes from 10 January 1977 actually said was, “figures looked fictitious and seemed a gross exaggeration of time spent.” At a meeting on 7 March, it was decided that the paperwork should be given to Howard Burrell, who would pass it on to a barrister friend of his, to determine the legal position. On 18 April, it was agreed that Goulding should write, enclosing a part payment of £400, and request a reduction to the overall cost. As a result, the club successfully negotiated a 10% discount, with the bonus that the Sports Council agreed to cover half the bill.65

Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More While the Vauxhall Chevette raffle was the flagship event for the Fundraising Committee, it was just one of many initiatives organised by its members. Some succeeded, some did not. Some were innovative, others mundane. Some achieved success, others less so. Nonetheless, their efforts were relentless, and the move would not have succeeded without them.Although it would be fun to give you a detailed account of all the jumble sales, square dances, discos, raffles (some of which were for equipment kindly donated by Gunn & Moore, Frank Bryan Sports, Mitre Sports, and Slazengers), equipment sales, bucket collections, and so on, it would also be quite tedious. It appears that the club was willing to sell anything, from old pads to waste paper and even lead. What intrigues me more – where the lead came from or who they sold it to. Maybe it fell off a church roof. I’ve also never quite understood the waste paper situation. Who wanted to buy waste paper and for what purpose? On 17 February 1975, Ken Goulding informed the General Committee that he could get a ‘favourable’ price of £19 (£105) a ton (2,240 lbs). The club made £30. That’s a hell of a lot of waste paper. As unexciting as these endeavours sound, some of them were lucrative. In the first year of fundraising, the club made £284 (£2,100) from jumble sales and £296 (£2,150) from square dances (I still cannot comprehend the popularity of this cultural abomination in the 1970s. Do-Si-Do my arse). The venue for the majority of these sales and dances was the Lord William Cecil Memorial Hall, French Horn Lane, Hatfield, now home to the House on the Rock Christian Ministry.Time to return to more sensible pastimes. The first mention of fundraising proposals after the eviction notice had been served dates to 21 July 1975, when, along with the usual suspects, two innovative suggestions were made. The first of these, sadly for all involved, a beer festival in Hatfield, with input from CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale), never materialised. It may be unfair to malign the good name of his Lordship, but I can hazard a guess as to why this idea didn’t get off the ground. More successful was an idea for a sponsorship scheme, in which two batters were backed at 1p per run scored during the 1976 cricket season. The original plan was for Tony Foster and Roger Smith to be the chosen pair. This was a no-brainer. Foster averaged 980 runs a year between 1970 and 1975, while Smith had the even more impressive record of averaging 1,060 from 1972 to 1975. At the time of the meeting, they were the men in form; Foster ended 66

the season with 1,159 runs, and Smith 1,201. Then disaster struck, with Smith announcing that he would be emigrating to Australia by the middle of 1976. At a time when the club had already lost more than one key player in recent years, it was a huge blow. It was also a blow to the sponsored run campaign. In recent seasons, Foster and Smith had been the leading run-scorers by a country mile. Two years earlier, Richard Taylor would have been the man; however, since then, with his availability reduced, he had become part of the player exodus. John Churn had been the third-highest run-scorer in 1975, but that was his first season at the club, so he was still an unknown quantity. After careful thought, the baton was passed to David Pickhaver. On the surface, this was a brave decision. Yet a look at the batting averages from the previous three seasons shows it to be the most logical choice. In his younger days, he had been a prolific bowler who could not be described as an all-rounder. For some reason (perhaps he was over-bowled), he stopped bowling and developed into a useful batter, surpassing 700 runs in 1973 and 1974.Sixteen bravely chose to support the run-machine that was Tony Foster, while nine ‘cheapskates’ made the mistake of playing it safe by sponsoring Pickhaver. Unsurprisingly, Foster scored 1,066 runs, earning the Development Fund £170.56 (£1,050). Special praise goes to Pickhaver, who went above and beyond in the club’s cause. He was available every Saturday and Sunday, for all the bank holiday and midweek matches, and accompanied the club on its tour to Norfolk. We must not forget that 1976 was the year of the heatwave, and as a result, Pickhaver played a lot of cricket. He batted 51 times, a club record that will likely never be broken. He also set a new club record by scoring 1,361 runs, which cost his nine sponsors £13.61 (£92) each, and contributed £122.49 (£830) to the club’s funds. WHY SCORING RUNS CAN BE EXPENSIVE Prospective Hatfield Estate Cricket Club sponsors are advised to do a bit of adding up on their pocket calculators before committing themselves this season. Last season, batsmen Tony Foster and Dave Pickhaver were backed a penny a run by 25 sponsors – and they ran up a bill of £301. The money went towards the fund for the club’s new ground at Ascots Lane, WGC, and was included in the £3,400 Hatfield Estate raised last year. At the club’s annual dinner recently, secretary Ken Goulding joked: “The sponsors were warned that Foster and Pickhaver scored about 1,000 runs a season. They knew what they were letting themselves in for.” Welwyn & Hatfield Times - March 1977 67

As a slight aside, an analysis of the development fund’s accounts for this period throws up an anomaly. The figure for sponsorship is more than £100 (£675) in excess of the amount raised by the run-scorers, yet there is no mention in the club’s minutes of any other sponsored events, other than repeated calls for sponsorship forms to be returned. Who knows?Another sponsored event, of which there is knowledge, witnessed the club’s youngsters being frogmarched into action. On 6 December 1976, it was decided that the club’s Colts would take part in a sponsored walk in April 1977. Taking part was declared compulsory except for those with a ‘valid excuse’. The distance, including the exact starting and ending points, was not documented. Amusingly, Tony Foster was to run a fitness ‘thing’ on the same evening. Although only thirty-eight, even then, Tony Foster and fitness were not concepts that readily sat together. The club evidently saw this as a money maker, and while not mandatory, every player was politely ‘encouraged’ to sponsor at least one of the colts, who numbered over forty. Maybe I am being disingenuous on this particular point; however, I am not convinced that putting Howard Burrell in charge of the music was appropriate. A composer and conductor who was responsible for establishing a music department at Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire), specialising in operatic works, was the man to entertain a group of teenagers. Nevertheless, it was a success, adding £125 (£740) towards the fighting fund.Not quite as sexy as a competition to win a Vauxhall Chevette, the idea of running a watch competition in conjunction with Woolco was raised at a general committee meeting on 24 January 1977, and the matter was referred to the Fundraising Committee for further investigation. They decided it was a goer, albeit with a more appropriate sponsor, and the full committee gave it the green light on 7 March. Although they play no further part in the story, before learning that, I did a quick piece of research on Woolco, and I can’t believe that I had forgotten the design of the Hatfield store. An offshoot of the F W Woolworth Company, Woolco was a full-line discount department store. The typical Woolco store was large, and Hatfield was no exception (100,000 square feet). Described as “An out-of-town department store in the Town Centre,” it was built in 1972, on the site now occupied by ASDA, which is considerably smaller. Above the end facing the town centre (the back entrance, I think), stood three floors of flats, with the remainder of the roof given over to a car park. The fundraisers chose a more upmarket partner in Godshaw Jewellers. Established by Freddy Godshaw in 1947, the family-run firm started in a 68

small shop on the outskirts of Hatfield. After moving to a unit in Howardsgate, Welwyn Garden City, in March 1951, they opened additional stores in Hatfield and Hertford, though these have since closed, with the Welwyn store relocating to Wigmores North. The competition began in April 1977, although, regrettably, no details were recorded about how it operated. If it followed the lines of the Vauxhall Chevette competition, maybe participants had to guess when the watch would stop? Less drawn out than the car affair, it was all over by July, after turning a profit of £160.94 (£950).One of the challenges the fundraisers faced was keeping ideas fresh and avoiding reusing the same old concepts. Silly season was declared in September 1977. During a brainstorming session at a general committee meeting on 12 September, among the usual suspects, suggestions included a river barge trip and the surreal idea of holding a sheepdog trial! The idea, not the dog, was swiftly put out of its misery, and the proposal was abandoned at the following month’s meeting.The real fun and games happened on 26 September, when the club held a Special Committee Meeting on Fundraising, which was open to all members. That is rarely a good idea. As expected, the list of ideas started with raffles, sales, dances, and so on. It then veered off into more unusual suggestions, and I shudder to think what ideas were considered too bizarre or fanciful to be formally noted. Some proposals were too financially risky, such as organising a cricketer’s evening with the “possible involvement of the BBC.” A suggestion to hold an event on Guy Fawkes Night was dismissed as too short notice. The membership was also spared an evening of jazz or folk music because it was deemed unfeasible or, on the grounds of good taste. A proposal to organise a barbecue for the opening of the new ground was strongly recommended at the time, but never carried out. It initially seemed sensible, but the suggestion that it should also include a tug-of-war competition made it seem rather odd. The most outlandish suggestion was:9. Frank Bradbeer’s horse and effluent. I’m unsure where to begin with this. Frank Bradbeer will appear later on, so he won’t be discussed for now; suffice to say, based on what I know of his job, I have no idea why he had a horse. A more relevant question would be, what was so special about its effluent? It might have been that Bradbeer’s horse produced its waste as a strange form of entertainment. Since the idea was dismissed as it was “already lined up by the church,” 69

the actual reason was probably less interesting. Presumably, the club hoped Bradbeer would donate horseshit for them to sell.Licence for the membership to go feral was given under the following minute:5. Individual targets – all members to be encouraged – the club will back any sensible sponsorship scheme. The arbiter of ‘sensible’ remains unknown. Three possibilities were presented at the meeting. The accounts for the Development Fund lumped everything together under the heading “Members’ own initiatives,” so it is impossible to say how many schemes successfully got off the ground. All that can be said with confidence is that Richard Harris, Adrian Bennett, and, possibly, others, began a sponsored hitchhike before the general committee meeting of 19 December 1977. Oh, the frustration of not knowing the details. The hitch being described as being ‘underway’ could be construed in more than one way. Did the competitors hitch on different days, or was it a multi-day endeavour? Bennett was particularly keen to assist the club in any way he could. I have no idea if this one materialised; however, he also volunteered to undertake a sponsored walk to work. To decide on the merits of this would require knowledge of the distance between his home and his place of work. So, alas, I do not presume as to whether this would have been an act of endurance or a minor inconvenience. There was also a suggestion that Tony Dott should go on a sponsored diet. These were different times. It is impossible to know if this was a self-declared proposition or a piss-take from the floor. I fear it was the latter. The net result was that £90 (£500) had been raised.The final suggestion read:13. We need something big – This was agreed. The Last Hurrah (That Wasn’t) Readers of Parklife: Hatfield Estate Cricket Club 1946-1978 will know that in the past (1956, 1958, and 1971), Hatfield Park hosted three matches featuring famous cricketers and celebrities to raise funds for local charities. In previous years, the former Lord Salisbury (the 5th Marquess) disapproved of the cricket club using the Park for fundraising; however, perhaps driven by guilt over the club’s struggles, the current Lord Salisbury (the 6th Marquess) was more sympathetic. Who first proposed the idea and when is unclear; however, at the general committee meeting on 15 September 1975, it was announced that his Lordship had granted permission for a fundrais70

ing match on Sunday, 27 June 1976. After that, everything went quiet. Very quiet. It must have remained under consideration for some time, as when the fixture card for the 1976 season was printed, no fixtures had been arranged for that weekend. History tells us that eventually the plan was quietly dropped, and, rather than a star-studded affair, on 27 June 1976, Hatfield Park witnessed Hatfield’s 1st XI battle it out with Old Elysians. A minor consolation was that Hatfield won by 13 runs. And that was that. Or was it?The special fundraising meeting in September 1977 had agreed that the club needed something ‘big’. They debated whether to stage a farewell match at Hatfield Park – with celebrities, a beer tent, autograph sessions, side shows, and more – or to organise a spring raffle modelled on the successful car competition, this time offering a holiday as the prize, or even to do both. The preferred plan was to organise a farewell cricket match, and Ken Goulding and Roger Bardell agreed to explore this in more detail. A date of Sunday, 11 June 1978, was tentatively scheduled, but early indications were not promising. On 19 December 1977, the committee was informed that they had received a ‘non-committal’ reply from Lord Cranborne. Undeterred, Ken Goulding planned to follow up in the new year. The minutes of the next meeting, held on 16 January 1978, do not clarify the situation.Letters Lord Cranborne: agreed to ask Lord Cranborne for permission for full gate & to contact F R Brown to see if Lord Cranborne's reply was bogus. Obviously, it would help if we knew the contents of Lord Cranborne’s reply to have any idea why it was thought that it may be bogus. I have no idea who F R Brown would have been. The matter was discussed again on 13 February, following replies from both Cranborne and the enigmatic F R Brown. Neither letter provided positive news. Evidently, Brown was engaged with securing a team, but his response that he “had not contacted any showbiz people” was not the news that the club wanted to hear. Cranborne confirmed that he was in discussions with his father concerning the distribution of the gate money and would let the club know in due course. From the club’s point of view, the prime objective was to raise funds, and therefore, the issue with the gate was a major concern. The minute concluded with:Decided we could not progress further until we got a concrete 71

proposal regarding gate money. There were two further references to the fundraising match, but clearly the club’s heart wasn’t in it. The cricket club had not been involved in organising the previous charity matches, and, let’s be frank, when it came to attracting big names, the club didn’t have the contacts to make it a realistic proposition. An early indication of the club’s waning interest can be seen in the 1978 fixture card. On the proposed date, a 2nd XI league fixture had been arranged against King’s Langley. On 13 March 1978, it was noted that only one contact had been made, and no offer of help was forthcoming due to the shortage of time available. Incredibly, with only three months until the game was scheduled to take place, the Committee concluded that the best course was “no further action at present.”It was a slow, painful death. On 8 May, just five weeks before the match was supposed to take place, the Committee learned of a message from Lord Salisbury’s Agent, Harry Clegg, asking if the club wanted any help in raising a team. The consensus was that it was a non-starter, which it was indeed. Even if the team could be assembled, there wasn’t enough time left to organise and, more importantly, to advertise the game. Nevertheless, for diplomatic reasons, it was agreed that Goulding should inquire about what kind of team Lords Salisbury and Cranborne could muster. Needless to say, the match didn’t happen. To backtrack slightly, the special open committee on fundraising meeting in September 1977 had taken place at a crucial juncture of the club’s history. Speaking at the General Meeting in October, summed up the situation by stating that:A special fundraising meeting was called recently, and many ideas were forthcoming. These must not remain ideas. They must be acted upon. The new fundraising committee to be elected later has a crucial job to do. New bodies are needed and must come forth this evening. He concluded with a refrain that has been repeated far too frequently down the years.We have no paid officers; everybody in this club is voluntary. Every member should therefore stop and think, am I doing my bit, or am I leaving it all to the few? Believe me, the committee member 72

knows only too well the brutal truth of the situation, so please stop thinking about it and do something, the winter will be a long and hard one for a few and may push them beyond the edge and come to the conclusion, why should they do it unless support is forthcoming. The few (or the many) did a fantastic job. Below are extracts from the Development Fund’s accounts, showing a detailed list of income generated by the fundraisers. Discounting donations, interest, etc., the members’ fundraising efforts raised a total of £5,298.53. It’s impossible to be completely precise about this because, given the high rate of inflation, £1 raised in January did not have the same value as £1 raised in December. However, today’s equivalent lies somewhere between £32,000 and £35,000. It was a commendable effort.HATFIELD ESTATE CRICKET CLUB DEVELOPMENT FUND Accounts for the year ended 29th February 1976 STATEMENT OF INCOME £ Car Competition: Income £2558.30 Expenditure £1682.46 875.54 Donations 604.60 Jumble Sale: Income £312.29 Expenditure £ 28.45 283.84 100 Club: Receipts £465.00 Prizes £345.00 120.00 Two Square Dances 295.62 North Mymms Bar-B-Que 66.98 Street Collection 1/11/75 93.67 Dinner Dance Tombola 100.00 Sundry Raffles 39.20 Sale of waste paper 30.00 Jar on bar 22.00 Bank interest 21.86 Sundries 52.002605.61 73

HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB DEVELOPMENT FUND Accounts for the year ended 28th February 1977 NET INCOME: 1. Raised by the Club Donations 2130.99 Sponsorship 405.24 Jumble Sale 1976 £ 5.50 1977 £197.31 202.81 Square Dances 149.95 Christmas Raffle 125.45 Bank Interest 179.23 Kit Raffles 86.85 100 Club 1976 35.00 Social Evenings 26.20 Round Table Fete 10.15 Jug on Bar 9.18 Sale of Pads 1.70 Sundry Raffles 37.803400.55 HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB DEVELOPMENT FUND Accounts for the year ended 28th February 1978 NET INCOME: £1. Raised by the Club Donations 1888.05 Bank Interest 235.87 Jumbles Sales 1978 £217.52 1977 (£2.00) 215.52 Watch Competition 160.94 Sponsorship Players 1976 £ 14.00 Colts 1977 £125.04 139.04 100 Club 1977 £218.50 74

1978 £ 86.00 273.50 Christmas Draw 132.89 Members' own initiatives 90.01 Sundry Raffles, etc. 85.73 Social Evenings 48.75 Pontoon tickets, etc. 47.95 Sundry Sales - Strawberries, kit, radio, lead 43.65 Square Dances 22.58 Public Collection 16.29 Jar on Bar 6.253409.82 HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB DEVELOPMENT FUND Statement of Income & Expenditure 28.2.78 to 30.10.78 INCOME: £1. Raised by the Club Bond Scheme £2075 Less expenses 10.26 2064.74 Hatfield B.B.O.B.F.C. 500.00 Gillette Cup Raffle 289.30 100 Club 1978 210.00 Pontoon tickets 137.30 Bld. Soc. interest 138.60 Donations 97.73 Bank Interest 67.66 Investment Income 65.04 Square Dance 40.00 Sponsorship 40.15 Disco 32.35 Sunday Collections 26.53 Stag Dinner comp. 25.32 Badges 17.30 Sundry Draws 11.60 Sundry Sales 9.00 Jumble Sale 6.573779.19 75

The final set of accounts covers just eight months. This is because the committee, having completed its special duties, reverted to its original title of the Social & Fundraising Committee. Its mission statement was reinstated effective from the General Meeting held on 26 October 1978. This name lasted for ten days, and at the general committee meeting on 6 November, it reverted to the Social Committee, as it had been known between 1951 and 1974 (before this, it was the Entertainments Committee). 76

Money-Go-Round The Fundraising Committee’s efforts, however heroic they may have been, were never going to cover the costs of the move. The majority of the funds came from grants, loans, and donations. In the film All The President’s Men, Deep Throat famously advises the journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to “Follow the money”. When establishing who granted or loaned money to the cricket club, how much, and when, it becomes a bit complicated. Not in a shady way. Without access to detailed financial records, the only source of information is the club’s minute books. The diffculty is that some organisations appear more than once. There are a few reasons why this might be so. It could be that the amounts offered had increased; it may have been additional monies, or it may have been that the first mention was of promised funds, while the second was of the promised funds fulfilled. A further complication is that some of the grants were to help cover the club’s running costs while it maintained two grounds. So, who funded the move?The largest contributor to the development fund was the Sports Council (SC). Established by royal charter in 1972, the SC (now known as Sport England) is an independent body overseen by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is responsible for investing in, promoting, and increasing public participation in sport and physical activity. It also has a statutory duty to protect playing fields. Elsewhere in this text, it was noted that the SC approved a grant of £5,000 (£33,890) in March 1976. From this point, the situation becomes less clear. On 5 April 1976, Ken Goulding updated the General Committee on the conditions attached to the grant, and the club had to stipulate how the money was to be spent. It was agreed that they should indicate that the following equipment was required.: Gang mower £400-500, tractor £350 -400, roller £300-400, mower £50, and in May, David Pickhaver was instructed to obtain quotes. At June’s meeting, Goulding read a letter from the Sports Council “explaining how money could be reimbursed.” A list of money received towards the new ground fund was given at September’s meeting, including £1,404 (£9,500) from the SC. Common sense dictates that this was a piecemeal payment towards the total value of the grant. However, when the final grant figure was confirmed, it needed this payment for it to add up!Further funds were forthcoming. Additional expenses incurred for work on the Ascots Lane field as a consequence of the long, hot summer of 1976 77

(and the saga of the disputed bill from Robert Moss) were covered by an emergency grant of £475 (£2,800) from the SC in June 1977. On 12 September 1977, it was decided to write to, among others, the SC requesting additional aid. This did not fall on deaf ears, and November’s general committee meeting heard that Goulding had received a verbal reply that a further £1,300 (£7,150) would be made available. The final word on the SC to be found in the club minutes is from 16 January 1978, when it was confirmed that the total grant had been set at £8,177 (£53,350), which, give or take a couple of pounds, is equal to £5,000 + £1,404 + £475 + £1,300.In these days of austerity, would the local council display the same generosity today in a similar situation? Welwyn Hatfield District Council (WHDC) (now restyled Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council) was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, the amalgamation of the districts of Hatfield Rural, Welwyn Hatfield Urban, and Welwyn Rural. This was fortuitous timing for the cricket club. Population-wise, Hatfield was very much the junior partner of Welwyn Garden City, and the budgetary power of the new council was far greater than that of the old rural district council. For this book, I am going to assume that the smaller, though not inconsequential, grants (approximately £1,000 or more in today’s money) were for the day-to-day running of the club, so they have not been included here.Apparently, the council was eager to throw cash in the club’s direction, as there is no evidence of the club initiating the process. Maybe the club’s association with Leslie Asquith was finally paying dividends. On 9 August 1976, Goulding read a letter from WHDC to the General Committee, stating the council’s intention to award grant aid of up to £3,750. The minute concluded with “Will have to wait and see.” And it was a long wait. After nine months, on 30 May 1977, Goulding reported that [undecipherable] of Technical Services had confirmed that a grant for the full amount would be awarded. A further update was issued on 18 July, with confirmation that the grant would be secured upon acceptance of the tender for the building.Not content with this, the minutes of the general committee meeting held on 13 February 1978 show that the club eyed further funding from the council:Council and money – Ken Goulding reported that he has written to the Council concerning possible extra money from a lottery, using extra money on a job creation program to carry out internal fittings/decoration. 78

I have no idea what this lottery may have been. It was certainly worth the punt, and on 3 April, it was announced that WHDC was to donate £2,000 from the lottery proceeds to the club’s development fund. Despite the good intentions, or, for the more cynically inclined, attempt to procure cheap labour, the job creation proposal did not see the light of day. The combined proceeds of £5,750 (£31,610) were finally received in May 1978.You live and learn. I had always believed that Hatfield had been owned by the New Towns Commission (NTC), but it was actually the Commission for New Towns (CNT). Maybe this was to avoid confusion with the other CNT, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour), an anarcho-syndicalist group in the Spanish Civil War. The real New Towns Commission led to the New Towns Act 1946, which created New Town Development Corporations, responsible for the management, design and development of New Towns. When the NTDC’s work was complete, the CNT assumed responsibility for managing the property and land previously owned by the NTDC.Considering that the Ascots Lane site was not on land owned by the CNT, they proved to be generous benefactors. There was one small way in which the two parties were linked, insofar as the CNT was the club’s landlord at 41a Park Street. An approach for financial aid was first made following a general committee meeting on 10 November 1975, and on 9 February 1976, it was minuted that a donation of £300 (£2,030) had been ‘welcomed’. At the meeting on 25 June 1976, it was disclosed that Eric Simson had been in discussions with Brigadier Biggs of the CNT regarding the possibility of further assistance. Brigadier Biggs had promised more money from the Minor Amenities Fund for that year (which suggests that this was also the source of the £300) and that he would place an application before the Major Amenities Fund. It was not long before the next tranche of cash arrived, with a £700 (£4,740) grant announced on 9 August. Later that year, on 6 December, it was revealed that a letter had been received from the CNT concerning a grant application. The General Committee agreed that Goulding should seek additional funding. Details of a further grant from the Minor Amenities Fund, amounting to £900 (5,320), was disclosed on 7 March 1977. Just one month later, a final contribution, presumably from the Major Amenities Fund, of £1,500 (£8,865), was announced. This brought the total of grants and donations to £3,400 (£21,225), a significant sum.The National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), now known as Fields in Trust, is a charity established in 1925 to safeguard parks and green 79

spaces and to promote accessible areas for play, sports, and recreation in British cities and towns. They also supported all the King George V playing fields scattered across the country. The involvement of the NPFA and the Hertfordshire Playing Fields Association (HPFA) is not entirely clear, and I suspect there may have been some duplication in the reporting within the minutes. The minutes of the general committee meeting on 10 November 1975 show that Goulding reported the HPFA had earmarked a grant of £100 (£675) and a loan of £200 (£1,355). My best guess is that these figures were merely suggested amounts, and nothing further materialised at that time. No additional action was recorded until 5 April 1976, when Goulding confirmed he had submitted applications for both grants and loans. By 9 August, all necessary paperwork had been completed, with “cheques awaited.”As reported at the general committee meeting held on 6 September 1976, the club had received a loan of £750 (£5,080) from the NPFA and a loan of £300 (£2,030) and a grant of £200 (£1,355) from the HPFA. On 21 November 1977, the committee was told of the possibility (by whom was not recorded) of a £750 (£4,125) loan from the NPFA, and agreed that a formal application should be pursued. As they say, if you don’t ask, you don’t get, and on 19 December, Goulding informed the Committee that a £1,000 (£5,500) loan had been secured, pending four willing volunteers coming forward to act as guarantors. The identity of the quartet's members remains unknown, but it is reasonable to assume that it comprised four members from Simson, Hudson, Goulding, Bardell, and Foster. The club had received the funds before the committee meeting on 13 February 1978. At the same meeting, they decided to delay a loan application, for an unspecified amount, to the HPFA until the next meeting. What is meant by ‘delay’ is unclear, as the minutes of the March meeting indicate that an application had already been submitted. A letter had been received from the HPFA concerning repayments, proposing that the loan be repaid over four years by Bankers’ Order. Although the paperwork was handed to Roger Bardell, there was no further mention of the loan; the most likely hypothesis is that the club chose not to proceed.Concerning external financial assistance, the last major contributor was the Trumans Brewery, whose background has already been discussed. Borrowing from a bank is not an option for a club such as Hatfield CC, whereas brewers were, as it would require the club to use them as a supplier for the duration of the debt. 80

Ever hopeful, the first documented effort of the club seeking financial aid from Trumans dates to November 1975, when Tom Walters, the club’s Bar Secretary, was detailed with the task of formally approaching for a grant towards the Ascots Lane development. Funnily enough, the brewers were not so keen on this idea, and Goulding read a letter to the General Committee on 9 February 1976, indicating that a loan of between £1,000 (£6,780) and £1,500 (£10,170) would be feasible. It was a long, drawn-out process, and on 4 October 1976, Goulding provided brief details of a possible loan, repayable over five to ten years with an interest rate of between 4 and 6 per cent. Negotiations between the club and the brewer persisted, and Trumans wrote to the club on 17 August 1977, with an offer of a £2,000 loan (£11,820), which the General Committee approved at its meeting on 12 September. Not that the club hurried to finalise the deal. The minutes from 10 October state:Truman agreement - agreed not to sign just yet. Stipulating that the club would need to double the number of barrels of beer sold may have been a sticking point; however, any doubts were overcome, and commitment to the loan, with effect from 1 December 1977, was finally given on 21 November. Repayments were to commence on 19 January 1978, with the club committed to paying £16 (£88) a month for ten years. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, and Trumans did display some generosity. On 3 April 1978, it was disclosed that they had donated £200 (£1,100) towards the cost of fitting out the new bar. A further approach was made in September 1978, requesting aid in the form of carpeting, curtains, tables, chairs, etc, for the new clubhouse. Because no follow-up was mentioned in the minutes, it is safe to say that Trumans were content with their current level of assistance.The news of a grant of £100 (£675) from the Medway Area Sports Trust, announced on 6 September 1976, was something of an oddity. At least it is odd insofar as I have been unable to find any trace of the trust, and given that they had donated to a club in Hertfordshire, it would be strange if its title referred to the Medway area of North Kent. Not that I would rule this out completely, as around the same time, the club unsuccessfully attempted to secure funding from Warwickshire County Cricket Club.There were, of course, many other smaller donations from companies, individuals, and, as already discussed, from the local cricketing fraternity. Not that it was all plain sailing. In February 1977, Goulding revealed that he had written to over fifty local businesses appealing for aid. By the time 81

of the General Meeting in October, this had resulted in a disappointing return of just over £100 (£590). As the project neared completion, some small businesses did rally round, though. The electrical work in the clubhouse was supported by donations from MK Electrics, Delta Enfield Cables, and May & Robertson, while the interior decorations were aided by Texas, Fads, Woolco, and Johnstone Paints, the only one of these companies still trading today.The club didn’t solely rely on external sources for financial support. One of the ideas arising from the Special Open Committee Meeting on Fundraising Held on 26 September 1977, was to approach members to take out bonds. Coordinated by Roger Bardell, the scheme was approved by the General Committee on 21 November, but, alas, no details survive regarding the cost of the bonds or the return the investors could expect. The scheme brought in £2,950 (£15,000) to the Development Fund, and increased the club’s borrowing commitments to £7,000 (£39,400), money that would eventually have to be repaid.82

Rip It Up (and Start Again) Time to return to the sun-soaked summer of 1976, and the news that, much to the relief of the club, Lord Salisbury had agreed to the request for a one-year extension to cricket in Hatfield Park.On a positive note, new ground maintenance equipment purchased with Sports Council grant money was starting to arrive. On the downside, no agreement had yet been reached as to where it could be stored. Talk about leaving things to the last minute. The machinery in question, arranged by Bert Brailsford, consisted of a five-unit gang mower, a tractor to tow it, a spiker, and a rotor rake. Judging by their condition a few years later, when I first became involved with groundwork, it’s safe to say that they were all second-hand. When the Ground Committee announced on 19 July 1976 that they were due to be delivered within the next two to three weeks, the issue of storage appears to have been overlooked. On 9 August, when it was recorded that the “machinery will arrive soon,” the only update was that Ken Goulding, David Pickhaver, and Michael ‘Mick’ Clark were to meet to discuss the issue.Clark was the tenant of Ascots Farm, which was the former dairy of his late father-in-law, Leslie Hollier, whose only child, Josephine (Jo), Mick had married. Naturally, the question of storage remained unresolved when the equipment arrived. Clark ultimately held the key to the dilemma, and on 6 September 1976, it was reported that the issue could not be discussed further until his return from holiday. The location of the club’s new equipment while these negotiations were ongoing is unclear. It is unlikely that they had been delivered to Hatfield Park, where the club didn’t have the means to securely store them other than in the small courtyard adjacent to the club’s buildings. Because of the logistical nightmare of moving the equipment from the Park to Ascots Lane, this option can be safely ruled out. It also seems unlikely, one would hope, that they would have been left open to the elements in the field that was to become the club’s new home. As the farm was a Gascoyne-Cecil Estates property, Clark would likely have had to accept delivery of the items and had them secured in temporary storage.The club’s minute book does not shed any light on the date that the impasse ended or comment on the eventual solution. With so much happening, perhaps a resolved problem wasn’t news. I can offer no insight into the when, but I do have a little knowledge of the where. In either the summer of 1977 or 1978, my dad took me to Ascots Lane when a work party was in action, and David Hurley had me on the tractor seat as he dragged the 83

gang mowers around the outfield, on what, as I recall, was a lovely, sunny day. In these days of health and safety legislation and the threat of litigation, it is hard to imagine this happening now. These, though, were more innocent times. Anyway, you will be glad to learn that there is a point to this happy nostalgia, because I have a vivid recollection of the club’s machinery being stored across the road from the ground in the outbuildings of Ascots Farm. Today, it is still just about possible to see the point where vehicles traversed Ascots Lane from the farmhouse to the field where the ground now sits. On the ground side of the road, by the concrete cricket net, the lowered kerb is still in situ, albeit obscured by overgrown vegetation. Upon entering the farm, if memory serves me well, the club had access to a barn/outbuilding on the left-hand side of the complex.This is a slight distraction, as the newly purchased equipment would not come into play until 1977. The failure of the grass at Ascots Lane was an unwelcome and expensive distraction; however, it could have been worse. Not that anyone would have appreciated this silver lining at the time. As has been seen, sowing grass seed in the spring leaves you exposed to the whims of the weather gods. If a disaster had to happen, it was fortunate that it happened when it did. The ideal time to sow grass seed in the UK is late summer to mid-autumn, from September to November. This period offers warm, moist soil and a favourable environment for the grass to establish roots over winter. Goulding was able to deliver the following update to those attending the General Meeting on 19 October 1976:As most of you will know, the lease on the new ground was signed at the end of the AGM in April last year. Shortly after this, the wicket was prepared by ourselves and the outfield was prepared by external contractors. Whilst the weather was ideal for cricket, of course, it was far from ideal for growing virgin grass, and this has proved a considerable setback to us. The current situation is that the wicket is now fairly well established since, much to our surprise, when the rains came and the usual small band of helpers had removed the weeds, the grass grew. Two weekends ago, Bert Brailsford and his son led hearteningly large squads of us in reseeding bare patches and topdressing the square. The outfield has also now been reseeded, and we await the grass germinating. 84

The last sentence may have been a case of deliberately tempering expectations, as at the general committee meeting fifteen days earlier, it was said that “the outfield has been reseeded and is now beginning to germinate.” As far as the pitch was concerned, no further work would be possible until spring, so it was a case of fingers-crossed that the weather gods didn’t unleash any fresh disasters over the winter months.With the groundwork on hold, minds were free to focus on the new pavilion. Money was tight, so the club was in no position to be profligate, and Medway Buildings Ltd agreed to reduce their original quote by £2,000 (£13,000), a significant saving, on the obvious proviso that the amended proposal could still meet planning approval. Medway, who may or may not have been connected to the Medway Area Sports Trust that had previously contributed to the development fund, rose to prominence in the UK’s postwar era with an innovative architectural approach designed to meet the country’s housing needs. It was previously mentioned that the club was investigating system-built designs, which, if you are like me, may require an explanation. With this type of structure, the floors, roof, and walls are pre-manufactured in panels off-site, and then delivered, numbered and ready to assemble on the foundations, like a giant flat-pack, with windows and doors pre-cut according to the design.Understandably, considering the huge sums of cash involved, the general committee didn’t wish to commit to anything without the confidence that it would be affordable. However, on 4 October 1976, the decision was made to proceed with a Medway-designed unit. For now, Eric Simson was tasked with obtaining a detailed project estimate and preparing a planning application. Two months later, on 6 December, the club’s development subcommittee confirmed that it was happy for the application to be submitted. Simson was being kept busy; in addition to seeking planning approval, he was hard at work on matters such as landscaping, hedgerows, septic tank, and the supply of services. At the general committee meeting on 10 January 1977, Goulding confirmed that the plans, shared with the meeting, had been submitted to WHDC and that Simson was in the process of obtaining quotes for various aspects of the building work. It was now a case of wait and see for the council’s reply.This is as good a place as any to deal with the prolonged saga of connecting the Ascots Lane site to the water mains. You may recall that to achieve this end, the club needed to negotiate a wayleave agreement with the Commons Wood Caravan Club. A mere eight months after first being discussed, it was disclosed on 6 December 1976, that the cricket club’s soli85

citors, Maybury & Gibson, had been in touch with the caravan club’s solicitors, and it was hoped that the necessary permission would be granted in the near future. Hatfield CC was well connected with Maybury & Gibson Solicitors. Fred Gibson, as well as being a partner of the practice, was also a vice-president of Hatfield CC and had always provided his legal expertise to the club pro bono. Earlier that year, the bond between the two organisations was strengthened when Jim Gray, John Gray’s eldest son, became a partner.The near future proved to be an optimistic target, and another six months passed before the next update. As if the process hadn’t been drawn out enough, by 18 April 1977, the solicitors of Gascoyne Cecil Estates had somehow become involved in the situation, presumably in their capacity as landlord. With summer rapidly approaching, access to water was essential, and the cricket club relied on the goodwill of the caravan club and continued permission to connect its hosepipe to the site’s tap, which was thankfully reaffirmed in June. Meanwhile, the delay was blamed on the caravan club’s solicitor, and on 30 May, Goulding was tasked with expediting them. His plea had limited success, although, on 27 June, Goulding reported that the solicitor would address the matter upon returning from holiday. True to his word, by the time of the general committee meeting on 18 July, it was confirmed that the Caravan Club had approved a draft wayleave agreement, which was to be handed to Jim Gray for review. A month later, the lease was ready for signing. With no prospect of the work being completed before the onset of autumn, there was no urgency in finalising the paperwork, and the club’s trustees (Goulding, Bardell, Hudson, and Simson) fnally signed on 24 October 1977.That’s not quite the end of this gripping tale of the water connection. This next part is probably out of sync with this chapter’s chronology, as it was not minuted; so it is not possible to accurately date it. The agreement with the Caravan Club was all well and good; however, all the water authorities would do was lay a pipe (of not more than one inch internal diameter and at a depth of not less than two feet six inches below the surface) to the perimeter of the land leased by the cricket club. This entry point is approximately at the corner of the car park between the entrance, the caravan park, and the pavilion (yet to be built). Getting the water from the entry point to where it was needed relied on volunteers from not only the cricket club, but also from the HBBOB football club. I witnessed one such work party, armed with pickaxes and shovels, digging a trench around the perimeter of what is now the car park. In my mind, it was a cold, damp, 86

overcast day, and work on the pavilion had yet to begin, which would probably date it to the early months of 1978. It was a long time ago, so this may not be the case.On firmer ground, metaphorically if not literally, the resown grass survived the winter of 1977 undamaged; however, it did have to cope with an unexpected equine intervention. Before the cricket club had taken possession of the Ascots Lane site, it had been a horse field. It appeared that no one had informed the horse of the new arrangement, and it yearned for its old home. In the absence of a horse whisperer, Tony Foster and Tom Walters instead volunteered to get hold of some solid fencing to plug the gap in the club’s defences. Our four-legged friend aside, all was going well, and at the club’s AGM on 5 April, Goulding informed those present that the outfield was drying out, presumably following a damp winter. There was also a call to arms for regular work squads to remove stones from the outfield. In a final personal reminiscence from this period, I partook in at least one of these work squads. Whether it was a help or a hindrance cannot be recalled. What I do remember, though, is that there were stones everywhere. It is a testament to the volunteers that their hard work contributed to the quality cricket pitch that emerged at the end of the day.At the time of the AGM, there had been no update on the club’s planning application. In a similar situation today, that would not have been the case, as unbeknownst to the club, approval had been granted at a planning meeting on 24 March 1977. In the days of snail mail, communicating decisions took much longer. The good news was relayed to the General Committee on 18 April, who decided to err on the side of caution. Eric Simson and the development committee were requested to “proceed slowly to the next stage.” Of course, there was a good reason to be cautious: securing the necessary funding was still a priority. In the three months leading up to 18 July 1977, Simson divided the required work into eight lots for tender. These lots were then distributed to six local building firms. Fire officers intervened and imposed some strict conditions on the proposed design. Consequently, alterations were needed to the plans before tenders could be issued. This had all been tidied up by the time of the general committee meeting of 15 August. Response(s) had been received before 12 September; however, there was no rush to accept any of the quotes, as at the General Meeting on 18 October, it was disclosed that the development fund was £6,000 (£35,000) short of where it needed to be, which was obviously not encouraging news. There was another issue slowing things down, as the club had been waiting for by-law approval 87

since early summer. Although the nature of this by-law was not disclosed, it did provide the club with a convenient excuse to postpone any decision on accepting a tender until the new year.Parallel to this, work on the ground continued, with regular work parties attending, which must have been a strain on resources as the existing pitch at Hatfield Park still needed to be maintained. Some things had to be done by the book, while others produced ‘inventive’ thinking. 1977’s May general committee meeting provided two extreme examples of groundsmanship techniques. On the one hand, the issue of drainage at the new ground required test holes to be dug to allow for detailed soil analysis. On the other hand, there was a problem resulting from the overgrowth of vegetation in the area where the pavilion was to be built. In a throwback to the days of the eighteen hundreds at Hatfield Park (as described in The Early Years: Hatfield Cricket Club in the nineteenth century), serious consideration was given to the possibility of using livestock to control the grass. Maybe they shouldn’t have been so hasty in banishing the horse!You may not be surprised to learn that the club didn’t opt for the livestock option. Or at least I assume not. Months later, by which time the problem would have become exponentially worse, two alternative solutions were countenanced. One was to hire an Allen Scythe. Manufactured from 1933 until 1973 by John Allen and Sons in Cowley, Oxfordshire, the Allen Scythe, a petrol-powered finger-bar mower, does not resemble a hand scythe but serves the same purpose. The other was to approach A L Peters & Sons to deal with the long grass. Arthur Leonard Peters had connections, past and future, to the club. Cyril, his brother, had been a vice-president of the club. My contemporaries know his granddaughter Denise ‘Jane’ Sutterby as the ex-wife of Andy Ashley-Smith, one of the club’s most successful all-rounders.When it came to the area earmarked for the car park, a more extreme solution was preferable. In June, Albert Hudson said that he might be able to arrange a “burn off”, which, put in simple terms, is to clear land of its vegetation by burning it off. On 15 August, Ken Goulding was reported to be contacting Hertfordshire County Council’s Highways Department to obtain permission. Since no further mention of the matter followed, it’s assumed that permission was granted, and a fire ensued.An update in June had announced that all was well with the cricket table, but there were concerns with the outfield. Problems with the gang mowers hadn’t helped; however, the main problem requiring attention was the uneven surface. In May, it was suggested that Robert Moss be asked to 88

cut and roll the ground, although the club may have burnt its bridges there with the disputed bill for his previous labours. In June, Goulding contacted the local council to see if they could assist, while Tony Dott investigated the cost of hiring a roller. The problem persisted throughout the summer, and in October, Roger Bardell tried to arrange for a steamroller to be used on the ground. Addressing the General Meeting on 18 October 1977, Goulding concluded that work on the new ground was proceeding well, but that a concerted effort would be required over the winter months. 89

Out of Town Shortly before the heatwave of 1976 had thrown the club’s carefully laid plans into disarray, a momentous decision had been put in motion. A fuller story on the evolution of the club’s title can be found in Parklife: Hatfield Estate Cricket Club 1946-1978, but here is a brief rundown. From 1789 (and probably earlier) until 1911, it was Hatfield CC. A merger with Hatfield Hyde CC in 1912 led to the formation of Hatfield United CC, which lasted until 1915, when it reverted to Hatfield CC. A merger of an entirely different nature with Hatfield United FC in 1923 resulted in the creation of the Hatfield United Athletic Club, and the cricketers played under this name until 1938, when, once again, the club played as Hatfield CC. A marriage of convenience after World War Two with Hatfield Estate CC essentially saw the Town club returning to Hatfield Park, its home ground from 1789 (or earlier) until 1922. As a result, Lord Salisbury insisted the club adopt the title Hatfield Estate CC.Attempts to drop ‘Estate’ from the name started in 1950 but were consistently rebuffed by Lord Salisbury. As a compromise, the club registered itself as Hatfield Estate (& Town) CC, while continuing to brand itself as HECC. As a result of the club’s impending departure from Hatfield Park, the General Committee unanimously agreed on 1 June 1976 to propose a motion at the next General Meeting. This motion would request the club to revert to its historical title, Hatfield Cricket Club. In the event, the club held a Special General Meeting, immediately before the General Meeting on 19 October 1976, to discuss a major overhaul of the club rules. With one or two minor amendments, the new rules were accepted, with Rule 1 now proudly stating: The Club shall be called the “HATFIELD CRICKET CLUB.”IT’S FAREWELL TO ESTATE! HATFIELD Cricket Club, which changed its name from Hatfield Estate last October, will be playing its last season in the grounds of Hatfield House after a stay of over 125 years. Fund-raising and preparing the new ground at Ascots Lane have taken a good deal of time and energy – and was reflected in an indifferent 1976 season. Skipper Tony Foster reckons frankly the side will struggle to better last year’s third-from-bottom placing in the Herts Competition. He says: “There’s so much to concentrate on, I can't see much improvement this year.” The team has lost batsman Dave Pickhaver, who may be joining Knebworth Park. Hatfield start the season with two home matches. They meet St Albans on Sat90

urday and Broxbourne on Sunday in a Herts Competition match. Welwyn & Hatfield Times - Date Unknown 1977 While Ascots Lane ground is technically in Hatfield, it’s easy to confuse it with Welwyn Garden City. When the club relocated, it could easily have opted for a fresh start by adopting a new name that reflected its new location. But the club was proud of its roots, and that was never going to happen. Not this was appreciated by all, the rumour that Hatfield Town FC was also to be exiled from the town caused apoplexy to envelop a local journalist. As it turned out, it was a false rumour, although the football club (after later folding and reforming) did eventually leave the town in 1992. It is a great shame for the local community that Hatfield has been without a senior football club in recent years.WHAT’S IN A NAME… The town of Hatfield could find itself in the extraordinary situation of having its senior cricket and football clubs in Welwyn Garden City. Just think, a cricket team called Hatfield in Welwyn Garden City! The Herts Competition club, which was formally known as Hatfield Estate, next year moves from the front lawn of Hatfield House to Ascots Lane. The Hatfield Hyde Cricket Club, another Herts Competition outfit, is already situated in Welwyn Garden City. So it looks as though Hatfield Town FC will now take a trip down the road to Welwyn Garden City, leaving Hatfield School Old Boys as the town’s most senior team. Not only is the whole affair absurd, it’s sad and wrong. The cricket club, formed over 125 years ago, has been elbowed away to make room for a coach park. The 19th-century soccer club, one of the oldest in Hertfordshire, has been treated with callous indifference by the Council. It may not survive. Welwyn Times & Hatfield Advertiser - 07 October 1977 This prompted a curious, and slightly self-serving, response from the club’s former chairman, John Gray. In turn, he absolves Gascoyne Cecil Estates and the council of any blame, says I told you so, and then calls for a campaign to convince the council to award the club a £50,000 (£295,000) grant.WHY 200 YEARS OF CRICKET DESERVES A £50,000 INNINGS Sir, – It is quite irresponsible to impugn that Gascoyne Cecil Estates or Wel91

wyn Hatfield Council are responsible for the present Hatfield Cricket Club finding itself in WGC (Times, October 7). After 21 years as secretary of Hatfield Estate and Town CC, followed by seven as chairman, I resigned over this very issue. While I was chairman, the club was offered alternative sites by Gascoyne Cecil Estates, but preferred Ascots Lane as it was better land and just as accessible from Hatfield town centre. At this time, I attended a meeting (c1975) with councillors who said they had concluded an agreement with the county council for a sports complex in South Hatfield, essentially to provide facilities for Polytechnic students but with access for local organisations, and the public. I said this proposal could only be of interest if we could have a self-contained cricket ground. The council representatives felt this could be arranged. The cricket club thus faced a dilemma: to remain a grace-and-favour resident of Gascoyne Cecil Estates or become a ward of court of the council and, inter alia, a burden on the rates. I argued that if we must leave Hatfield Park (which is unique in cricketing terms), we might as well forfeit the patronage of Lord Salisbury. No public money would be available as long as we remained on private land. The council was offering a Heaven-sent opportunity to get our fingers in its till and be able to lobby the Sports Council, Playing Fields Association, etc, for help and donations. Others wished to stay at Ascots Lane. At an extraordinary general meeting, the members decided, almost unanimously, I recollect, to opt for Ascots Lane. I decided to resign as I did not wish to enter into agreements with the company, which I was not confident the club could honourably discharge. The club thus freely entered into the decision to choose Ascots Lane in WGC for its ground and, as I foresaw, has encountered problems. It is desperately short of money and needs £50,000 at least. I suggest a campaign to urge ratepayers in Hatfield (not in WGC) to lobby their councillors into giving a capital grant of £50,000 to Hatfield CC so that it can develop an excellent site into a Minor Counties Championship ground and bring county cricket to the area. Had my proposal to accept the council’s offer to take us over been adopted, we might not have had a new ground by now, but we would have cost the ratepayers an ongoing sum which would cause £50,000 to pale into peanuts in the fullness of time. Hatfield CC has never cost the ratepayer more than a pittance. It has been fiercely independent, albeit with massive patronage from my Lords Salisbury for nearly 200 years. It is time the people paid for some of the entertainment the club and the late Lord Salisbury afforded them all these years. There is any amount of money available for Campus West, Panshanger and sports centres in Hatfield itself. What is wrong with baling out one of the country's oldest cricket clubs? 92

JOHN GRAY, Old French Horn Lane, Hatfield. Welwyn & Hatfield Times - 14 October 1977 Eric Simson, the current chairman, felt compelled to respond to his predecessor and long-time friend and defend the club’s position. STICKY WICKET, BUT STILL NOT OUT Sir – Comment has been made in your paper on the problems facing Hatfield Cricket Club in its move from Hatfield Park to Ascots Lane. Recriminations and euphoric conjecture will not solve these problems. Of the numerous sites offered, we considered and rejected the sports complex in South Hatfield because no one could say when it would be available as a cricket ground. This complex is we understand to contain numerous sporting activities – cricket, soccer, athletics, cycling, etc. – and did not seem to us to be a reasonable alternative to the atmosphere we have enjoyed for so long. There were many advantages to the Ascots Lane site. With the merged Welwyn Hatfield District Council, and with the increasing use of the car, it appeared to us to be quite unimportant that the site was on the borders of WGC and only technically, in Hatfield. In trying to deal with our problems over the last two years, the club has received much support from the district council, the Commission for New Towns, the Gascoyne Cecil Estates, the Sports Council and other cricket clubs, organisations, and individuals too numerous to mention. To all of them, we shall continue to be grateful. Furthermore, the club has organised a massive fundraising campaign. As usual, in cricket club life, the work involved has fallen on a few. I have not mentioned them by name. They will know who I mean, and any cricket lover in Hertfordshire should be indebted to them. The following progress has been made:- 1 – A 28-year lease has been negotiated with a reasonable expectation of an extension. 2 – A pastured field punctured by wartime drainage runs, by the expenditure of some thousands of pounds, has been transformed into a cricket ground with potential at least equal to any other in Hertfordshire. 3 – A scheme for a permanent clubhouse has been commissioned and designed. It has received full planning consent and is expected shortly to receive building regulation approval. Tenders for the first stage have been received and the club are hopeful of being able to let a contract within months. 4 – The ground is large enough to accommodate a football pitch and the club have reached agreement with the Hatfield Boys Brigade as to its use since it is felt that the clubhouse will have a better chance of success if it has round-the-year activity. We are realistic. Much remains to be done, and we are not yet out of the woods. Nevertheless, with the continued support, we believe and hope we shall 93

receive and by the club's own efforts. All is not lost in the fight to secure future cricket for Hatfield. Our next hurdle is the first stage of our pavilion, for which we require another £5,000 to £6,000. Any donations will be gratefully received by me or the club's hon secretary, Dr K. H. Goulding, of 13 Heathcote Avenue, Hatfield. ERIC SIMSON, Chairman, 11 Graysfield, Welwyn Garden City Welwyn & Hatfield Times - 21 October 1977 94

Long Goodbye Time for the final push. There was a hope that the club would complete the move to Ascots Lane during the summer. This was optimistic to say the least. When the sound of Auld Lang Syne greeted the coming of 1978, the club had yet to commit to the new pavilion.That began to change on 16 January, when the general committee decided to go ahead with a bid from Blackbush (Welwyn) Ltd, of Robbery Lane, Mardley Hill, Welwyn. (Blackbush was incorporated in October 1972, changed its name to Classical Homes Ltd in 1989, and has traded as Rainbird Group Ltd since 1993.) Well, almost ready, as Eric Simson was still awaiting the final estimate. The point of no return came at the general committee meeting on 13 March, when the development committee was given the go-ahead to proceed, with an estimated start date of April 1978. Money was still tight, and a grant of £500 to £600 £2,750 to £3,300) was requested to be transferred from the club’s operational account to the development fund. The general committee learnt on 3 April that the contracts for the work had been signed, with work to commence soon, and by 8 May, it was confirmed that work was underway.A major benefit of opting for a system-built design was that Blackbush could quickly construct the building’s basic framework, and this was completed ahead of the general committee meeting held on 5 June 1978. That same meeting authorised the payment of the Blackbush bill of £10,677 (£58,700). It is important to emphasise that although the basic structure of the pavilion was in place, the plumbing, electrics, drainage, decorating, and most importantly, fitting out the bar still needed to be done. The members of the cricket and football clubs would complete the majority of this work.Much of this additional work was also discussed on 5 June. The electrical wiring was to be installed by Joe Howarth, Stuart Osborne, and various members of HBBOB FC as soon as Ken Goulding could arrange insurance coverage. Although the club had been exploring the installation of a septic tank and had already secured approval from the Thames Water Authority, it then learned that its new neighbours, the Caravan Club, were planning to install a mains sewerage system. This would be an ideal solution, and Eric Simson was investigating whether or not the cricket club could link into it. On the subject of sewerage, for the bar and the internal decor, the club decided to approach Frank Bradbeer, of horse effluent fame.Bradbeer was well known to the club. They first crossed swords on the cricket field with Frank, who, together with his brothers Alf and John, 95

played for North Mymms, as their father Jack had before them. More recently, he had served as a non‑playing member of Hatfield CC. Educated at The Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Barnet, he served in the 7th Lancers’ Tank Regiment in Mogadishu (1945-48), and then studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture (University College, London; 1949-54). His first position was with the brewers Ind Coope, where he worked in their architectural department at Burton-on-Trent and spent several happy years designing pubs and hotels.It was by now clear that the club would not be playing cricket at Ascots Lane by mid-season. At a meeting on 10 July, work on the electrics and plumbing had begun, and negotiations with the Caravan Club regarding the sewerage issue were still ongoing. However, it was gloomily noted that the move was unlikely to happen until at least mid-September. In contrast to the bustling activity around the pavilion, the first six months of 1978 had been quite quiet regarding the ground itself. The main event during the winter was the removal of part of the hedgerow to create the car park entrance. The comment in the minutes that the hedge was left “more or less ok” suggests that club members had undertaken this work rather than professionals. Apart from a brief mention of digging a drain, there was little else until the arrival of better weather.Whether or not Roger Bardell had been successful in his attempt to procure the service of a steam roller in October is not a matter of public record; however, if he did, it didn’t have the desired effect, as the outfield continued to be a concern. In March, Tony Dott arranged for the use of a heavy roller from Welham Green Plant Hire, accompanied by a plea for as many volunteer drivers as possible to ensure the fullest use of its hire period. Welham Green was clearly the go-to place for heavy rolling. During the general committee meeting on 8 May, it was revealed that Goulding had written to Mr Hare of Mowlem Construction to express gratitude for his rolling the outfield.A progress report on the pavilion was given by the chairman of the Development Committee, Tony Foster, on 21 August 1978.Development: Electrics are now complete, and wall cladding is being put on by Medway. Decided to go ahead with the septic tank rather than have any more delay with the Caravan Club main drain system. Decoration is going ahead. £20 donation from Texas £15 from Fads and £5 Woolco. Johnstone's paints will also help. 96