2. A Limpsfield love affair

EM "Ted" Rose was a Player, Captain and longstanding Committee stalwart of Limpsfield Cricket Club from the late 1950's until well into the 1980's. Ted was Author of 'How to Win at Cricket, or the Skipper's guide' (Pub. 1999)

Writing shortly after retirement, Ted put down some thoughts on his time at Limpsfield and his feelings for the game and those he had played alongside :

"By it's very nature, this account of events at Limpsfield Cricket Club and the contributions of so many of the people involved, constitutes a record of a passionate relationship, which has been central to our lives.

We have tried to bring together accounts recorded elsewhere by those no longer with us, but who have created the Club we loved so much in our own times.

Certainly, in my own case the fact that (WF) Mumford , EP Baily (Founder of Hazelwood School) and "Shrimp" Leveson-Gower had taken the trouble to write about us made me sit up and think "Hey ! This Club must be something rather special".

There is a huge amount of luck in the twin accidents of the timing and place of our birth for all of us, which applies equally to an entire community. So, the context of geography, the development of the game and the wider social history of England from the mid-nineteenth century onwards have had a crucial bearing on our history.

Cricket, perhaps more than any other game, reflects the social mores of the times. So our Club has necessarily changed, while it's members have had to cope with the devastation wrought by two World Wars and the social upheaval that came, not only in their wake, but earlier with the repeal of the Poor Law and the Corn Laws and then the extraordinary revolution in mobility of transport and communication from horses to the age of the Computer.

The fortunes of all Clubs wax and wane. Cricket is not the same now as in the days of my youth : not necessarily better or worse - just different. We all thought those wonderful playing days would last forever.

Robertson-Glasgow had it perfectly in 'The One Way Critic' in which, after remonstrating with an old fogey who had been ruining his enjoyment of a match by comparing the players on view with the old days, he finishes with a salutary couplet :

"I ceas'd; and turned to Larwood's bounding run
And Woolley's rapier flashing in the Sun" *

We should rejoice in the though of how lucky we were . In doing so, maybe we might be able to create something of value for those playing now and for generations to come."

Flirting with the Age of the Computer that Ted worries about, below is a link to a 2021 interview with two Club Members - Andrew Davis and Paul Greenwood, - who have played across the decades at Limpsfield Common ("Grub Street"). 'AD' and 'Greeners' reminisce over a Pint on their fondness for the ground & many Cricketing successes there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDnlDlCV6b0

[* Editor's note : I had never previously heard the essay by RC Robertson-Glasgow that Ted quotes above before and, curious, I located the full Poem online.

Initially, I did think that Ted had been at the Port and being overly sentimental but, having read the full verse I do now see now what Ted was getting at ! Search out the full verse and imagine your own Cricketing heroes in those lines and then imagine trying to discuss them with a younger person preoccupied with their own favourites. Highly recommended if , like me, you are interested in the history of the game or even if you just admire great prose.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, Ted.]