Club History
The overwhelming work of reference for this page is taken from Dave Wilson’s excellently written ‘The Flacca Formula’.
IN THE BEGINNING…
The first mention (in print) of a cricket team from Tattenhall occurs on August 6th 1864, where a village XI is credited as playing The Albert, in the section of the newspaper named ‘Sporting Intelligence’!
Tattenhall Village Team moved to new premises behind the Poacher’s Pocket in 1888. Along with the new venue, came a new name; Tattenhall Road Cricket Club became the village sides’ new moniker. The name was taken from the Station Board on the Chester to London railway line.
The newly named side enjoyed early success, becoming the inaugural winners of the Chester and District Cricket League in 1894. This success was followed in 1897, when the League title was regained. 1897 also saw the first pavilion built. A new wooden structure replaced an ancient tent, which had previously served as a changing room.
NEW CENTURY… NEW VENUE…
The 20th Century saw Tattenhall Road CC take up residence on the present site of the Flacca Field, and also saw them become Tattenhall CC. The change of venue to a permanent home was made possible by the Barbour family and other local benefactors. A change of surroundings brought success too, Tattenhall winning the Chester and District League in both 1906 & 1906.
THE GREAT WAR REBUILD…
The first catastrophic conflict of the century left the Flacca in a state of disrepair. Left without a groundsman, working parties constituted mostly of Moore-Duttons and Pritchards worked almost nightly in order to renovate the ground. Tattenhall CC was now moving into a new era, under the captaincy of Ronnie Moore-Dutton.
THE ROARING TWENTIES…& 30’S HONOURS
The 1920’s saw the club return to their pre-war success. Victories in the Chester Boughton Hall Knock-out in 1925 & 1929, along with a Yerburgh Cup success in 1924, were considerable achievements.
The 1930’s were also immensely enjoyable times at the Flacca. The club enjoyed comparable success to the 1920’s, and two players, Ronnie Moore-Dutton and H.R. Parry won County honours. This represented a wonderful achievement for a small village club.
WWII… NON-CRICKETING PRIORITIES…
After the evacuation at Dunkirk, cricketing activities had been suspended in the village. In the defence of Liverpool and Manchester, Tattenhall became a strategic position for anti-aircraft gun emplacements.
With the military making almost exclusive use of the ground, the Flacca began to show the scars of wartime. The pavilion had become a lock-up for army defaulters and, incredibly, the Flacca was used as an aircraft landing strip for spotter planes!
REBUILD… AGAIN…
With the pavilion left in ruins and the ground ravaged by years of military occupancy, a second renovation effort within 30 years was necessary.
The War Office contributed partially towards renovation efforts, but once again it was to be the Barbour family of the Bolesworth Estate, that were to be the major benefactors in the renewal of the club.
The Barbours encouraged a project to build a brick pavilion as a memorial to those who had lost their lives in the conflict. Under the stewardship of Frank Cooke, a ‘Welcome Home & Remembrance Committee’ was founded. A ‘pound-a-brick’ scheme for the new pavilion was instigated, and every donation was kindly matched by Mr. Richard Barbour.
The year 1947 also saw the Flacca site extended to five and a half acres.
ON THE UP AND UP IN THE 1950’S…
Another successful decade for the club began in 1951 with victory in the Boughton Hall Knock-out. This feat was repeated in 1952, an exciting year for the club, as it also signalled the opening of the Memorial Pavilion.
GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE AND THE CLUB…
Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, the village expanded with the building of the Greenlands and Rookery estates. The membership of the Recreation club also grew after a lean spell in the 1960’s.
The Recreation club became a limited company in 1977. The club offered Cricket, Football, Tennis, Squash and Ladies Hockey to its membership.
In 1978 the club took the first opportunity to enter the recently remodelled Cheshire Cricket structure in the ‘Cheshire Alliance’.
THE 1980’S… THE WALK TO LORDS…
An extraordinary feat was accomplished in 1986, when 36 members of the Cricket Club (almost 100% of the membership) undertook a trek from the Flacca to the home of cricket.
In a scheme devised by current chairman, Dave Wilson, the walk was designed in order to raise £2000 pounds, to purchase urgently needed ground maintenance equipment.
The trip was accomplished in 54 hours in freezing conditions. They reached Lords, only to find it in unplayable condition… eight inches of snow proving a slight hindrance to any prospect of play!
90’S RENAISSANCE…
The new decade ushered-in a period of both on and off-field success. Entry into the South Cheshire Cricket Alliance signalled a new intent on the behalf of the club to compete at a higher level.
The club also began an ambitious scheme to expand the facilities at the club.
After a runners-up spot in 1994, the 1st XI produced a title winning season, clinched in nail-biting style in 1995. With a 25 point victory required from the last game for the title, Tattenhall needed 8 wickets in 20 overs. They took 7, and Mel Dobson took the last with just eight balls remaining!
1996 saw the 1st’s crowned champions again. The second XI also joined in the success, winning their League too. In this season, and the next, Tattenhall would also win the Boughton Hall Knock-out.
Tattenhall became one of the first sides to receive an invitation to join the newly restructured Cheshire ‘pyramid’ system in 1998, to join what had become The Cheshire League. The early invitation occurred due to the excellent facilities on display at the Flacca.
The fantastic 90’s continued with the award of a £218,000 Sports Council Lottery Grant. Thanks to the endeavours of Nick Wrigley and Geoff Beddow, this contributed to a much improved facility with 2 new cricket changing rooms, an officials’ room, new sight screens, covers, mobile net, scorebox, a new bar and kitchen, a refurbished clubroom, a new entrance and a new sauna and gym.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A THRIVING JUNIOR SECTION
In the early 90s Nick Toosey recognised the benefit of having an Under 18 team as a feeder for the senior teams and invested his usual energy into attracting players to participate.
This resulted in a very capable squad of players playing good cricket and some of these have gone on the represent all 3 senior teams.
The natural progression was to introduce an Under 15s team, and both Ian Okell and Graham Davidson contributed massively in the continuing development of both ages.
In the meantime, Mike Woollard and Bob Pearson had taken on the coaching of the cubs.
Although initially unqualified, their enthusiasm and knowledge of the game was transferred to many of their charges.
The club was fortunate in Bob Knight’s becoming involved initially at Under 13 level, and then moving up to Under 15 when Graham took a back seat.
Mike thus took on the 13s and the section grew, with a very able group of young players progressing up the teams, and now populating the senior teams.
In 2005 Graham Harper qualified and got involved with coaching the very young ones.
In 2007, Clive Ludden qualified and committed to developing the Under 11s, and in 2008 John Gibbon initiated the Under 9s, which have proved very successful in 2009, with tremendous support especially from Damien in 2008.
John Booth and Martin O’Neill took on the Under 18s.
Several members have since qualified as coaches (Roger Burch, Richard Sadler, Rob Mulvihill, Max Perry) and parents have taken other volunteer roles including Sam Sinclair and Fiona Wilson as Club Welfare Officers.
The club has recognised the need for ongoing investment in the development of the coaching team.
THE 21ST CENTURY…
Modern times have seen both the 1st and 2nd XI’s enjoying continued success, both sides winning their Meller Braggins 1st Division titles in 2002. A stint in the County League saw respectable finishes before relegation to the Braggins again in 2005.
Relegation, however proved to be a blip, as the 1st XI won the league comfortably in 2006.
Reintroduction to the County League proved extremely difficult, the 1st XI were rooted to the foot of the table for two thirds of the campaign. Having been written-off by seemingly everybody, Tattenhall shook off their dismal start and produced Championship winning form in order to stay up, a seventh place finish felt as good as the previous year’s promotion.
GROUNDS FOR IMPROVEMENT…
With the kind permission of the Barbour family, Tattenhall were able to extend the playing area of the cricket pitch 15 yards on one side of the ground. This has enabled the boundary to be a good size on all sides of the ground, and has also made an already picturesque ground impossibly pretty.
Since the restructure of the committee in 2006, the Flacca has seen many improvements. Under the auspices of the Chairman, Mel Dobson, the groundstaff of Brian Jarrard and Doug Spraggs have been given good funding in order to truly transform the Flacca into a facility worthy of hosting senior County games.
Since the extension, many visitors have acknowledged Tattenhall to be one of the finest facilities for cricket in the County of Cheshire.
By Robin Mulvihill with updates as required