Club History

In 1885 there was a small club running in the village, which had their ground on Rayner’s Meadow, now the farm’s yard. It was not until 1895, ten years later, that the Rev T.W. Longfield formed the present club backed by other members of the village. The ground was then changed to the Rectory Meadow where it is to the present day. Boundary lines have altered considerably during the years. The boundary then was between two pools, the one in the wheelwright’s yard and the one in the Rectory garden.

It was not until 1900 that the club really found its feet. There were only 6 or 8 matches a season played at first mainly against St Marys, Stoke, Grain and, later, Higham. Since 1900 the club steadily grew and was quite good by the time Mr Kemp was headmaster at the School.

Over the years, the boundaries of the ground have gradually worked away from the Rectory Garden until 1939, when the pitch was in the middle of the field. The old, original boundaries had by this time been taken over and a flourishing tennis club was now being run.

1939 saw the beginning of World War II and for nearly 3 years the ground was neglected, But in 1943 got the club together again. Fixtures were few were mainly between local army units. The war first bought Sunday cricket to the village which has now become very popular.

1945 saw the Club come into its own again with a permanent fixture list, instead of relying on chance fixtures. In 1946 and 1947 much work and improvement was done do the club and ground. The pitch was improved and the boundaries were extended, and for the first time ever the complete ground was cut to the level of the table (square).

In 1946, Bert Munday hit a century against Cobham. This was the first known century by a member of the Club. In 1948, Mr B.H. Valentine, the former Kent and England cricketer, came to live in the village. 1949 was a good year for the Club and for the first time a member, Arthur Corbett, took 100 wickets in a season. On 23rd September of that year, Mr Valentine invited the whole Kent XI down to the Club. The game was a great success and raised nearly £100 for the church restoration fund.

1950 again saw the Kent XI at the Club, also the Middlesex and England cricketer Denis Compton. The proceeds of the match went to Douglas Wright’s Benefit. The season was a poor one for the Club, only winning 11 out of the 41 matches played. The year had begun on a sad noted when one of the Club’s youngest and best liked players, Pilot 2 R. Hall was tragically killed when his Spitfire crashed into the jungle.

To be continued