We are Aldershot.
Aldershot Cricket Club was founded in 1947. There has been a copy of this photograph hanging on the Clubhouse wall for many years
It turned out to be a picture of our very first 1st Eleven, taken at the first ever match against N.G.T.E. at Osborne Road Recreation Ground in Farnborough on 9th May 1947. It’s a place that has long lost its cricket ground and there is even a current Rushmoor by-law (passed in 1968) which prohibits the use of a cricket ball there now, but it will still be forever part of our history.
The photo shows (among others) the Club’s first Chairman, A. J. Friend, and the young version of two future chairman who were to play a huge part in the success of the club, in Denis Rason and John Astin. Tucked away in the bottom row as well is the Andy Gass of his day, Wilf Stitt, who played a key role in the Club when the first bar came along.
The Borough Council allowed us to use their crest (the Latin translates to ‘fight for your country’) and, more importantly, made our current ground available, though they were to subsequently make it smaller by using part for the driveway to the Crematorium – imagine its size then! It was the Club though that had to provide the pavilion.
Members, led by Councillor Tom Hodgson, constructed a pavilion, made, due to the rationing, from second hand corrugated iron and timber and costing the princely sum of £136 – that’s about £5,000 in today’s terms. While the Council had laid a wicket and levelled the outfield, the members worked hard on the ground during the summer and winter.
It seems the history of volunteering, which remains at the core of Aldershot Cricket Club, started right at the beginning.
Fast-forward to today, we had a new clubhouse built in 2003, thanks in large to a tremendous amount of work for the Chairman at the time, Lance Havell. Since then, the club has continued growing.
We now boast five senior Saturday sides, alongisde two women’s sides, a midweek team and a thriving youth section.
While we are first and foremost a cricket club, that has never really completely defined us. Many individuals have taken advantage of our close links with Blackwater Valley Runners and Aldershot and Farnham Hockey Club to run in marathons or play a decent standard of hockey – or sometimes just tag along on their tours.
Nor does extending the brief to include all sports mean that everything is encompassed. Major life events; like 21st birthdays, Stag Nights, Christenings, 40th birthdays and more, have all been celebrated by hiring the Club. The Club is always there, even as the people slowly change – long may it continue.
Aldershot Cricket Club 