1947-1956
Teddington suffered three particular blows during the Second World War. R Slade Lucas died in 1942 at the age of 74. His unique contribution to the Club is fully described elsewhere in this History. He was succeeded as President by John Armitage.
Two of Teddington’s most prominent playing members were killed in action. Bernard Odhams, one of the Club’s leading bowlers for a number of years, died in the Middle East in 1942, and Andrew Marsden-Levy was reported missing in Tunisia in 1943.
The war years did not deal very kindly with our ground, though with General Eisenhower’s pre-invasion headquarters in Bushy Park we were perhaps fortunate that it did not evolve into a baseball diamond or gridiron, or become a P.O.W. camp like the Oval! As John Chilcott recalls, by 1941 the Ministry of Works had allowed the “Dig for Victory” campaign to convert parkland into allotments which encroached onto the ground by some 15-20 yards at the “Teddington Town” end, and there were also a number of slit trenches, to discourage enemy landings. This commendable activity which continued until 1945 was matched by the determined efforts of John’s father Oscar Chilcott to keep the remainder “looking something like a cricket ground”. Oscar, despite the distractions of a full-time job, regular fire-watching rotas and cricket for Richmond and various other clubs still found time to periodically mow the square and accessible parts of the outfield, transporting a hand lawn mower to and from Bushy Park on his bicycle! Thanks largely to his efforts the ground still looked recognisable in 1945, with just one small bomb crater. Oscar Chilcott must rank high among the most dedicated servants of the Club. Most notably he was Secretary from 1936 to 1948 and in John Pearsall’s words performed his job “with much zest and good humour” and wrote up the Minutes “in his own inimitable style, laced with that dry humour which remained with him until the end”. Furthermore “most Committee Meetings ended with cakes and ale and Gilbert and Sullivan.”!
In the same week as V. E. Day in May 1945, the Club’s long-suffering pavilion was burned down yet again, the insurance amounting to £800. It is recorded in the Minute Book that negotiations with the Ministry of Works and the Local Council had been “protracted and exasperating”, but that the Club had eventually received a licence to proceed with work on the erection of a new pavilion. However, the Ministry of Works predictably wished to restore the rent to its pre-war level of £20 per year!
The Special General Meeting of 2nd May 1947 therefore had to make the momentous decision whether or not the Club should resume its activities, bearing in mind its precarious financial position and shortage of active members. After what was clearly a lengthy debate, the decision was taken (not without some opposition) to carry on. Pat Bowen undertook to organise the erection of a new pavilion, with considerable help from Clifford Barton. At this distance in time, it seems clear that without the efforts of these two members in particular, the Club would not exist today. It should also be noted that both the MCC and Middlesex C.C. made generous donations to help get Teddington restarted.
In the event, no games were played in 1947, but the Club did restart in 1948 with 34 games, of which 11 were won and 16 lost, in the circumstances surely a satisfactory performance. John Chilcott continued where he had left off in 1939 by topping the bowling averages with 33 wickets at 8.0. Perhaps rather less predictably, he also headed the batting with 20.5! Most wickets were taken by Ian Scott-Browne (42) and Frank Vincent (38). Scott-Browne had the remarkable figures of 9 for 9 against Thames Ditton Wanderers, while new captain Peter Gibbs provided a bizarre finish to the game with Wimbledon. With defeat imminent, he bowled the last over and snatched victory with a hat-trick!
1949 also showed a big improvement in the Club’s fortunes with two sides playing regularly on Saturdays and also a certain number of Sunday games. The Saturday 1st XI under John Pearsall (his first of many years as a captain) won 8 games and lost 6, including a double victory over Wimbledon. In one of these, John Chilcott took all 10 wickets for 55, only the second time this had been done by a Teddington player. In all John Chilcott bowled no less than 420 overs to take 83 wickets at 15.8. He was very well backed up by his opening partner, Basil Armstrong, with 52 wickets at 19.4. At the age of 61, Oscar Chilcott achieved a notable performance by finishing top of the bowling averages with 28 wickets at 8.7, while R H Green had a splendid season with 719 runs and 33 wickets. Gordon Senior, who represented the R.A.F. against the Army this year, made 792 runs and Mike Aron made 630. Another R.A.F. man, Stewart Wise, made the only century of the season with 103 not out (in an hour) against Wimbledon.
There were two further notable events in 1949. Thanks to “Jumbo” Knowland and Pat Bowen, the Boys’ Club, which had been such a valuable source of players, was restarted. Also, this year saw the first appearance of Harry Crafts, surely one of our keenest-ever members, who over the next 30 years was to hold virtually every office in the Club.
A further major influence in the post-war resurrection of Teddington was the “Ladies Committee” whose efforts at teas, social occasions, jumble sales and so on were invaluable. As John Chilcott recalls, the names of Mesdames Barton, Bowen, Vincent, Alsford, Welch, D’Eath and Crafts come readily to mind but no doubt there were very many others, both then and in subsequent years, whose efforts deserve the sincere thanks of all our playing members.
Despite indifferent weather, 1950 was an excellent season. The Saturday 1st XI were not beaten until 2nd September and overall had 10 wins and 2 defeats, while the Sunday side under Jumbo Knowland had 7 wins and 3 defeats (the less said about the 2nd XI this year the better!). The undoubted highlight was a 15 run victory in the first post-war fixture against MCC. Teddington were actually dismissed before lunch for 122, but their opponents could only muster 107, with John Chilcott taking 7 for 42. Gordon Senior again took the batting honours with 1118 runs at 46.5, well supported by Derek Lindsay and Ian Scott-Browne. In bowling the established opening pair of John Chilcott and Basil Armstrong again bore the brunt, with 71 and 57 wickets respectively. This season was also notable for the first appearance of Bob Hurst, who subsequently played for Middlesex and is perhaps Teddington’s best post-war bowler.
The 1951 season opened on a familiar note, with the finances in a sorry state! Eventually, a suggestion to raise the subscription from 3 to 4 guineas was turned down, but the revolutionary idea of a “levy” of a shilling a game was adopted, in the hope that this would only need to be a temporary measure!
On the playing side, 1951 was not as good as 1950, but still highly satisfactory. Derek Lindsay just completed 1000 runs and made 2 centuries, as did Ian Scott-Browne. The 1st XI bowling this year seems to have been monopolised by John Chilcott, who took 93 wickets at 8.0 and Peter Gibbs who had an excellent season with 72 wickets. However Basil Armstrong produced perhaps his best performance for Teddington, taking 7 for 21 against a very strong Thames Ditton side. For the 2nd XI, R H Green did very well, with 666 runs at 39.1, while Harry Crafts took 46 wickets.
1952 was again a rather disappointing season for the 1st XI. The batting was very much carried by Derek Lindsay, who made 1236 runs at 44.1, while John Chilcott again dominated the bowling, taking over 100 wickets at 12.1. However the 2nd XI under Harry Crafts had their “best season ever”, with the captain taking over 100 wickets and also setting a fine example with the bat. As with Don Oliver in later years, one imagines that his main tactical problem was who to put on at the other end! The MCC game this year and for many years subsequently was managed by Jack Tyler, one of our most prominent pre-war batsmen. This year, Teddington were very much on the receiving end as MCC made 257 for 2 and Teddington 203, of which Derek Lindsay scored 114.
1953 was a disappointing season with only 14 wins against 29 defeats. Derek Lindsay again shone with the bat with 1147 runs at 30.1, while Arthur Harman was called away to military duties in August, having made 871 runs at 28.8, including two centuries. Albert Gurney, another member about to be called away for National Service, had a splendid all-round season with 694 runs and 80 wickets, while both John Chilcott and Harry Crafts took 63 wickets. The Secretary’s report for this season is again critical of the fielding and stresses the need for new blood on the playing side.
In 1954 the importance of the bar to the social and financial well-being of the Club was recognised with the creation of the new post of House Secretary. This position was initially filled by Ken Andrews, another of Teddington’s most loyal members, who had been 2nd XI captain in 1951 and was later to be Club Captain and in 1968 President. In a wet summer, it is recorded in the Minute Book that bar profits were “quite remarkable” and that “his cheerful presence behind the bar was always a great consolation, especially to those who failed to score and were in need of a little sympathy”! Also on the ground there was an extensive programme of refertilising on the advice of the Turf Research Association, made possible by generous donations from the invaluable pair of Pat Bowen and Clifford Barton.
Unfortunately, in terms of results, 1954 was disastrous, with only 12 wins against 36 defeats. Derek Lindsay again led the batting with 886 runs at 28.5 while wicket-keeper Bernard Chubb was promoted to open the batting and averaged 23. John Chilcott monopolised the bowling with 59 wickets at 11 and achieved far and away the best individual performance with all 10 wickets for 29 against Weybridge, 8 of them clean bowled.
1955 was a much better season. With an excellent summer, a post-war record of 87 games were played, of which 22 were won and 32 lost. An encouraging feature was the overdue emergence of some young players of quality.
Sadly, this proved to be Derek Lindsay’s last full season with Teddington, thanks to a business transfer to Nottingham. However, he marked it in the best possible way with a Club record of 1355 runs at an average of 41. Despite the larger number of games played subsequently, this total has only been exceeded by Peter Bennett in 1974 and Mike Darling in 1982. John Chilcott had one of his best seasons with 91 wickets at 15, including 9 for 25 against Richmond, while Rhys Powell made his first real impact with 63 wickets, also at 15.
On the ground, a major development was the acquisition of some magnificent new sightscreens, thanks to the generosity of members and the good offices of the Alsford family. There is also a note in the Minute Book of George Foreman’s excellent work as groundsman and altogether a greater air of optimism than for some years.
There was a major and very welcome innovation in 1956, with the establishment of a newsletter, which despite some subsequent ups and downs, was still in existence at the end of 1982. It was originally the brainchild of David Belchamber, who as a member of Surbiton Hockey Club had seen the beneficial effects of a regular line of communication to all members, particularly those who did not get to the Club as often as they would like. The newsletter was edited jointly by David and John Pearsall, while Rhys Powell also did a great deal of important work in organising advertisements. It was initially produced weekly and ran to four pages when a full weekend’s cricket was played (this by no means happened every week in 1956!) and carried full scores and match reports, as well as teams for the coming weekend, other items of Club news and indeed of general cricketing interest. For example the then President, Robin Gerard, produced a series of articles on the history of the Club. There was also an accurate piece of prediction attached to the very first issue by John Pearsall, who attended the Freshmen’s match at Cambridge and “saw no outstanding talent, except perhaps E R Dexter”! David Belchamber was now up at the University and was 12th man in the game against the Australians. Also in the wider cricket world, Bob Hurst did very well to take 61 wickets for Middlesex, with Wisden recording that he “made a considerable advance”.
1956 could perhaps be regarded as the end of the Club’s initial post-war reconstruction. In addition to the establishment of the newsletter, the non playing membership reached 100 this year and was forming an increasingly important part of the Club. There was also a highly encouraging sign in that the numerical playing strength of the Club had increased so much that it was becoming necessary to ask some players to stand down on occasions – the Team Secretary’s alternative and lesser problem! It was further noted in the Minute Book that the Sunday 2nd XI, for some years rather a “Cinderella” team, was now fully the equal of its Saturday counterpart, so that the Club could offer its players four really good games of cricket each weekend.