With a proud tradition going back over 140 years Stogumber Cricket Club is one of the preeminent clubs in West Somerset with without doubt one of the best grounds in the area.
Article contributed to by Stogumber CC and Richard Walsh
Stogumber’s last home league match of the season against Samford Arundel brought together three club stalwarts, Darby Ash, Taffy Jenkins and Cliff Matravers who had all been involved with the creation of the ground where they now play and the building of the pavilion.
There has been a cricket team in Stogumber since 1875, when an early match was played against Dunster which the opponents won, and now the Club boasts one of the best appointed grounds in the West Country. The pavilion and outfield act as tributes to the remarkable amount of work and effort put in by members and local people over the last few years.
Stogumber has a proud cricketing history, including such players as Jack White who played for England in 1929. Just before the outbreak of the First World War in 1913 the club moved to the ‘Knap’ where the the field they used was owned by Mr T L White, the father of legendary Jack White, who was a founder member and held the post of president for many years.
However, support for the club dwindled and in the mid-seventies it ceased to play.and for a number of years there was no cricket team in the village and that remained the case until thanks to the efforts of Darby Ash, Dillwyn (Taffy) Jenkins and Frank Penny, Stogumber CC was officially reformed.
The club’s fortunes were revived in the mid-eighties using host grounds for their fixtures and for them next three seasons friendly matches were played at Crowcombe. In 1989 Stogumber were accepted into the West Somerset Cricket League, continuing to play their home games at Crowcombe. In 1990 the present ground became available, and thanks to the support of club president John Stace and the trustees the land was purchased, work began on the square and the creation of Stogumber’s new home began. The pavilion took shape throughout the autumn of 1990 thanks to the skills of the Bryant, Hayes and Penny families.
The first match was played against Carhampton in the spring of 1991 and the official opening took place on Saturday May 14 1995 by Dennis Silk, Chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board, who brought a celebrity XI to play the home team.
Darby Ash who was one of the driving forces behind the revival of the club takes up the story: “I played for Stogumber back in the 1960’s before they folded up. However in the late 1970s Taffy Jenkins and myself decided to try to get a cricket club going again.
“We started with nothing and played at Crowcombe after we’d formed the club and the odd game at Kilve and then in 1992 we bought the ground and opened it in 1995.”
Taffy Jenkins said: “I have been involved with Stogumber for many years, although I never played at the Knap. I played in the first team and then captained the seconds for many years.
“All the work to buy the land was done by Darby Ash and the trustees who raised the money to buy the land, which was back in the late 1980s.
“For many years I was the groundsman and until very recently I was running the bar. Dennis Silk, who was president of the MCC who opened the new pavilion in 1995 used to say our wicket was good enough to plat Test Match cricket on!”
Taffy went on: “Darby Ash was our first chairman and got all of the trustees together and organised a £20k loan from Bass the brewers so we sold their beer in the clubhouse.
He added: “It’s been a good thing and I have enjoyed every minute of it- however cricket isn’t the same as it used to be, there isn’t enough support for the grass roots game.
After playing for Bridgetown for 14 years Cliff Matravers moved to live in Stogumber and started to play for the team in 1986.
“I have held pretty much every post in the club, chairman, vice chairman, captain and now I am the treasurer, although Im taking a bit more of a back seat now. This is a really nice place to come to play and watch cricket and we are a good community club.
“Stogumber was an old established club but they had disbanded and by the time Id moved here in 1985 Taffy Jenkins had started to organise some friendly matches that were being played at Crowcombe.
“The real impetus was Darby Ash who lived in the village who said we needed to find somewhere to play, so we looked around for a flat field which was difficult. We looked at several before this field came up for sale and I remember at the time one of our vice presidents John Stace who was from New Zealand phoned me up and said the field was for sale at £18k and asked how much we had in the bank- I told him we had £1800.
“I can’t praise John Stace enough for what he did for the club because he pushed and pushed until eventually we bought the field where we are today- a lovely cricket ground a d beautiful clubhouse.
The club is still going strong and although we are down to one team on a Saturdays, on a Friday evening we have 25 to 30 youngsters coming up here for a practice session and there is often a Pizza van and families come along and socialise, which is so good for the community.”
Taffy Jenkins added: “It’s been a good thing and I have enjoyed every minute of it- however cricket isn’t the same as it used to be, there isn’t enough support for the grass roots game now.”
Stogumber XI currently play in the First Division of the West Somerset League and the Second XI in the Fourth Division of the same league. The club also host friendlies on Sundays and mid-week. There is a junior team for under 13’s which plays on a Wednesday evening in their equivalent of the West Somerset League.
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