Founded in 1865, the article below has been taken from Minehead Cricket Club booklet celebrating 150 years of the Club’s existence.
Minehead Cricket Club (MCC) was formed in 1865 under the direction of a George Thrissell, host of the Plume of Feathers Hotel in the centre of Minehead. It is thought that the club first played on a ground in the Ponsford Road/Tregonwell Road area and some years later moved to the current Minehead Recreation Ground.
Pre 1914, it is believed the team travelled to away matches by horse and cart and a donkey was kept to help with ground preparations.
Between the period of about the end of World War 1 (1918) and the early 1930s, the club had success in fielding four Somerset players – A S Bligh, A W Burgess, N S Mitchell-Innes (who also played for England) and G Earl. C B Fry was also a regular summer visitor to Minehead and played many times for the club. Fry went on to play for Oxford University, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. He played for England 26 times and captained the side against Australia and South Africa.
During the 1930s the club went through a difficult patch and became known as the Minehead Wanderers for a season because they had to play all the matches away – being unable to pay the rent on the Recreation Ground. Otherwise “The Rec” was home to the club until about 1950.
During the Second World War (1939-44) the club kept going in a scaled down form with players being those not away at war. After the war, cricket became very popular and players turned out in whites and had full gear – but the kit was not of today’s standards!
About 1950 the club moved to a new ground at Warren Road. A pavilion was established by converting an old cowshed and then giving it a “lick of paint” (see pictures and note flooding in whitewashed version). Then, in the early 1960s when Butlins took over this site the club was relocated by Butlins to a newly formed pitch in the Butlins Campus but nearer to the Golf course. Although it is understood that promises were made that this newly landscaped pitch would be of County standard, things did not turn out that way. After two or three years the Club returned to “The Rec” and remained there until 1978 (see picture).
The “Rec” pavilion is now leased from the Town Council by Minehead Football Club.mIn the latter stages of being at “The Rec”, the football and cricket seasons began to overlap and the two sports on one site were thought to be incompatible. After some delicate negotiations, MCC gained financial compensation for the release of their licence on “The Rec” facilities and were able to move in 1980 to the West Somerset Community College and build, at its own expense, a brand new pavilion (see picture and pitch with a 28 year licence.
It was during this period at the college that the club worked hard and progressed significantly both on and off the field. League cricket was introduced in the mid-1970s and teams rose year-on-year up through the divisions; later youth cricket expanded beyond recognition and also women’s cricket became established. The administrative organisation of the club became more business-like to meet the ever- increasing demands of the ECB.
The club also gained a bar licence a year or so after opening the pavilion and this provided a much needed source of revenue to support the running of the club.
In the latter stages of this 28 year licence the college underwent a major programme of development of its site and education provision including release of land to build a new Community Hospital. The overall benefits to the West Somerset community were considerable but it produced pressures on the college grounds for sport and this included accommodation of pitches including MCC cricketing needs. The college relocated a square to where it now exists but this had no adjacent pavilion.
The club had a predicament whereby it either had to build a new facility and, with just £7000 in its funds, this looked impossible or risk seeing the club decline and probably not exist as it is known today.
The club felt there was no choice other than to investigate the possibility of a new pavilion by the new pitch. With support from the college, the ECB, Sport England, West Somerset Council and numerous other bodies and private individuals, the club raised, over a period of 9 months, some £400,000.
The build project took 8 winter months to go from a grass comer of the college field with no services to a completed brand new pavilion (see picture). The building was officially opened on 7 June 2013. It has a 25 year (renewable) lease on the pavilion site and a concurrent 25 year licence on the pitch.
The Club has also secured a “Memorandum of Agreement” for the use of the Original pavilion and pitch for a period of 5 years when the whole College Sports Centre lease is up for review.
These agreements should give the Club a secure future.
Since the new pavilion’s completion, the club has had enormous success. Not only has it enjoyed some excellent cricket throughout the club and the community “Last Man Stand” evening games but also the social and community use of the club has been enhanced beyond all expectations
Let us hope that the next 150 years will see the members, supporters and community enjoying cricket with Minehead Cricket Club as much as it is enjoyed today and look back at this Booklet along with the Fixture Booklet as a source of reference to write about the club in future years.
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