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Bowdon Vale Cricket Club
 
Bowdon Vale Cricket Club

History

In 1998, the club celebrated its 125th Anniversary. A brochure was prepared which contained the following brief club history. It was written by Steve Barnes and John Brocklebank.  Extracts follow:

· In 1871, as Vicar of Bowdon, the Archdeacon Pollock laid the plan for the formation of the Bowdon Vale Church Institute based in a  cottage on Priory Street and also formed the Bowdon Vale Cricket Club.  The earliest possible date for the formation of the club is 1872 but no records can be traced of any matches played in that year.

· The first record of any match involving Bowdon Vale is a report in the Altrincham Guardian of 26th July 1873.  The match was played at Lymm and was won by Bowdon Vale.

· There is little information available until some years after the 1914-18 war but we are fortunate in having two members who can throw considerable light on the affairs of the club from the late 1920's. These members are George Evans and Jack Turner. George had already been a member for two years when Jack, then a sixteen year old joined the club in 1934. Since before the war, Bowdon Vale had played in the Altrincham and District League and George can recall the club receiving a cup as champions of the league in the early 1920's.

· The club's original ground had been close to the present one on the opposite side of the bowling green on what is now a school playing field. The move to the present ground happened in the early 1930's. In the early days of the 1939-45 war, the club's ground was given over to agriculture .After the war, cricket quickly got back to normal. The club returned to its own ground in 1946 and for a number of years played friendly cricket against a variety of clubs in Cheshire. One notable feat by a club player from this time is still spoken of with awe. In 1950, Alan Emery, took ten wickets for no runs against Heaton Mersey Parish C.C.

· In 1957, nine Cheshire clubs, including Bowdon Vale, were responsible for forming the Cheshire Cricket Association. The other founder members were Barnton, Sale Moor, Weaverham, Stretford, Winton, Lostock, Toft and Wythenshawe. A Steering Committee was formed and it was subsequently agreed that competitive games should commence in April 1959.The club's one championship success was achieved in 1966.

· In 1964 the club’s new pavilion was completed.

· In 1975 overs cricket was first introduced and the dividing of the Association into two divisions. There were a number of changes within league cricket both in Cheshire and elsewhere including sponsorship by Meller Braggins who sponsored the league for many years.

· The Over 40’s team started up in 2006 in a very successful 20 over format on a Wednesday night.

· In 2011 the Vale was relegated to the Cheshire Alliance where they achieved moderate success, keeping both 1st & 2nd XI teams running. In 2013 the Sunday XI started in the Cheshire County League Division 4 West & gained promotion in 2015 for coming second.

· In 2017, owing to the declining number of clubs in the Cheshire Alliance and the number of cancelations of matches due to lack of players, particularly at second team level, the Cheshire Alliance merged with Cheshire County League to form UKFast Cheshire Cricket League. The Vale 1st XI came second in the UKFast League Division 5 & was promoted to Division 4.

· A cricket club can only function because of the efforts of its officers and its members. It would be invidious to single out individuals from the many who have served and continue to serve the club in so many capacities but the thanks of all members are due to all those who have contributed for nearly a century and a half.