Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

It's just not Cricket

Click image above for a larger version of this panoramic view looking out from the new pavillion.
With the local cricket season now upon us, it's a good time to celebrate the marvellous new pavillion we have had built on the Higher Cricket Ground on the Common.
Cricket has been played on the Common for over 230 years, the first game being played in 1782 between Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells. In 1876 Lewis Luck formed a club known as Tunbridge Wells Juniors near the Nevill Ground. In 1806, following the opening of the Linden Park estate the club moved to the Lower Ground on the Common and changed their name to Linden Park Cricket Club. In 1898 the club moved to the present location on the Higher Ground, where it remains today and has been described as one of the best proportioned and picturesque in England. In the early years the Higher ground pitch was infamous for its terrible playing condition and in a match between the England XI, captained by W G Grace, and Australia in 1882, in which the visiting side were bowled out for 49 runs, it was reported "that fencing is required to keep the cows out”.
The Ground has seen many good sides including the Australians, West Indies, North and South of England, and Kent County - and many famous players including W G Grace, Frank Woolley, Leslie Ames, and the Nawab of Patavai who played for the Club as a young schoolboy. Colin Cowdrey CBE was a Vice-President.
Most local residents will know that we sadly lost the original 130-year-old pavillion a couple of years ago to a fire, but how many of you know that it’s not the first time that one of our cricket pavillions has been raized to the ground? Back in 1913, to be precise April the 11th, the Nevill Ground's pavillion was burned to the ground by suffragettes. Or so the media of the time would tell us. For even though firemen found a photograph of Emmeline Pankhurst accompanied by a copy of a suffragette newspaper and an electric lamp lying on the turf in front of the burnt out building, and during that same year several substantial attacks were carried out on buildings and organisations that were seen to discriminate against women, the Police never actually found sufficient evidence to prosecute the movement. 1913 was the same year Emily Davidson threw herself under the King's horse during the Derby.
Indeed the attack had an effect on the town but not the one the suffragettes had intended. Local people reacted angrily and the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage reported a boom in membership after the fire. Local resident Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called the perpetrators "female hooligans" and said the action was like "blowing up a blind man and his dog". Times, it seems, haven't really changed.
Lets all hope that this great new addition to the Common lasts for hundreds of years and watches over many summer afternoons of local people sitting on the grass watching and listening to the crack of leather on willow.
I think we'll revisit the subject of Cricket soon with a visit to the Nevill Ground and also maybe a look into the story of the cricket ball and its connection with the local area. Stay tuned for that.

Common Friends

This pretty image of the common looking over towards Wellington Rocks is for Jenny Blackburn, who after six years is resigning as chairman of the Friends of the Commons.
The Friends are also now looking for an editor to edit the Friends newsletter, Common Ground. Also, if you are as big a fan as my wife an I of the Common please consider donating to help its upkeep by becoming a Friend of the Common.
Come on, today looks like being a beautiful day, grab your lunch and have it on the Common with your work colleagues, then when you get back to the office fill out the application form to be a Friend, think how good you'll feel.

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez

Hear ye, hear ye! Tunbridge Wells town crier John Scholey has won the title of best dressed town crier at the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers Championship.
You've all no doubt seen John dressed in his trademark local purple and gold jacket with tricorne hat proudly swinging his bell around town. How many of you knew that John's wife is one of the lovely dippers who hands you your water at the Chalybeate Spring on the Pantiles?
Since medieval times, although John has only been doing it since 2006, town criers were the chief means of news communication with the people of the town since many could not read or write. Time and literacy rates have changed though and our crier was re-instated for our 400th anniversary celebrations for our pleasure and John has been crying ever since.
Interestingly, town criers are protected under old English law that they are not to be hindered or heckled while performing their duties and to injure or harm a town crier is seen as an act of treason against the ruling monarchy. So John is quite well protected. Another interesting point that I didn't know about town criers is they hold the position until they either want to retire or they are defeated in a cry-off, which sounds like great fun. Hmmm, anyone out there care to take John on? Get yourself down to the Spring for a few glugs of the local water and get those pipes warmed up. OYEZ! OYEZ!

April Snow...again

Does this scene seem familiar to anyone? Do you remember last April?

Tread the Boards of Camden Road

Broadway, 42nd Street, Sunset Boulevard and Camden Road. What do these roads have in common? Well as of this time next year all will be musicals! Currently in the early writing/production stages, producers are looking for material and actors to create the extravaganza that is Camden Road the Musical.
Together with Camden Road in Camera, the musical is being created to celebrate the history of this eclectic street. Provisionally based around the Camden Electric, a cinema that opened on the road in 1909 the musical could merge with film and the theatre to create a big singing and dancing production , it all sounds very interesting. So if you fancy contributing in some way, be it large or small, call 07847 723430 or e-mail john12oram@aol.com.
Meanwhile you can contribute straight away by participating in Camden Road in Camera. This is going to be an exhibition held outside on the street to celebrate the interesting history of the road and the organisers are after old photographs and film showing Camden Road through time to complete the project.
Fifty photographs will be displayed as huge posters hung from lampposts, shop fronts, walls, windows and gardens close to where the old photographs were taken. There will also be an exhibition wall where every picture donated will be displayed, so every contribution will be used. If you have an image to contribute call Cath Hylton on 07847 723430 or e-mail camdenroad@hylton9.wanadoo.co.uk. Also this collected material will be garnered together to inspire a professional playwright and musician to create the musical. I think you'll agree this is going to be something great to look forward to next year and will really inject some life into this rather overlooked part of town.