THE PRE WAR YEARS (written by Harold Tozer)
In the summer of 1938 my neighbour Len Ritchie told me that he had joined a cricket club run by one of my old school friends, Ron Stevens. We had been good friends at school but I had not seen much of Ron since we had left at age fourteen and gone our separate ways into work. Ron had been our best cricketer and one of the best footballers in our school teams.
I happily accepted an invitation from Len to come and play for the newly formed Grenfell C.C.. It also renewed my acquaintance with another old school pal, Ted Smith. Ted had kept wicket at school and was also a useful bat but probably was a better known as a footballer than a cricketer.
Having played under-eighteen matches in the early season as Grenfell House Youth Club, we played some eight matches as Grenfell C.C. where the side was strengthened by some older players, among them Len Ritchie. Others included Doug Walden, the first in a line of quality wicket-keepers which has since become a feature of Grenfell, Bill Ash and Ron’s older brother Alf. Alf was a steady left handed batsman who had struggled to make an impression in the cricket teams at Harveys Sports Club but at age twenty-six brought a welcome touch of maturity to a youthful side as well as variety, often opening the batting.
Although full records were kept at the time, what has survived is only a partial record. We know that Ron Stevens topped the batting averages with 137 runs at 17.12, Alf made 72 at an average of 12 with a top score of 27* against Metrogas in partnership with Len Ritchie who made the first fifty (54) for the club. Doug Walden scored the second fifty (51) for the Club a week later and both Len (104) and Doug (102) both made over one hundred runs in all matches. I made 93 at an average of 15.50 and took 15 wickets (7.66). Len was the top bowler with 29 wickets for 180 runs and Ge
orge Wall and Les Pearce took 11 and 9 wickets respectively.
George Wall was an exceptional sportsman. As a cricketer he was a hard hitting batsman and an aggressive fast –medium bowler but he also excelled in athletics, principally as a sprinter, was an amateur boxer and played good class football. Tragically he was the first o
f our players to be killed in action. A sapper in the Royal Engineers he had not long celebrated his twenty-second birthday when his motor-cycle hit a mine circa September 1942 and he was killed instantly.
In 1939 we were skippered by Wally Baisden a good right handed batsman who had got a lot of runs for the youth club but, like Ron Stevens, whilst providing solid top order runs did not make any individual big scores. Wally enjoyed an amusing rivalry with his younger brother Fred who was a good left arm fast bowler. The side was strengthened by two new “older” players, Doug Gibbs and Will Wallace who were talented cricketers. They were also the first married players; Will was introduced by his brother-in-law Les Walden (having married Les’s sister Phyllis). Although he did not join until the end of the summer it was enough to show the first signs of the class that made him such a valuable player in 1940 (until his call-up). Doug was a very good batsman and more than useful bowler.
Sadly Will, who had transferred from the Royal Artillery to the R.A.F.to become a Flight Sergeant, was killed in a bombing raid over Germany sometime in 1943. By then he and Phyllis had had one daughter.
The 1939 season was a success; Saturday matches were played in the Lewisham Churches League where Grenfell finished runners-up and all-in-all twenty-one matches were won. Len Ritchie was an immense presence with most runs (278) and most wickets (85). George Wall and Fred Baisden mostly shared the new ball with Len leaving Les (Pearce) and I to operate at first or second change. Les had an excellent habit of cleaning up when few wickets were left. For someone who was destined to fail his military medical he was also an outstanding fielder as was his close friend Micky Shopland. Over the years the club has recruited many players for whom cricket was not their first sport; Micky was among them; a great footballer Micky would always be cajoled by Les into helping out whenever we were short – but he never played without enthusiasm. Doug Walden excelled as wicket-keeper/ batsman before being the first to be called up.
Although we all anticipated call-up in 1940 a full fixture was organised. Difficulties were to emerge at the start of the season though as many sporting facilities were denied by the installation of anti aircraft defences. Some were concrete blocks but where cable drums were used we could sometimes roll them away and play.
Les Pearce was elected captain as Wally Baisden got his call-up just before the season started (being almost a year older than Ron Stevens (who managed almost the whole season)). Will Wallace was called up halfway through as was George Wall, Ted Smith, Ron Johnson and Gordon Williams. Len Ritchie and Bill Ash were already in uniform but both were able to play some games during their leave while Doug Gibbs and Doug Walden were only able to come back for a couple of matches. However Johnson & Phillips had lost nearly all their players to call-up and we were luckily reinforced by the handful remaining who were directed to us by Bill Ash. It actually made us a good side and only seven games were lost all year.
Harold “Spud” Hayter proved a useful recruit. Genuinely quick he led the attack in Len’s absence and took 66 wickets. It was to be his only season as a year or so later he was posted “missing in action” and sadly we were never to hear any more of him.
In 1940 the standard of cricket was consistently higher than it had been in the Churches League. The performance of Ron Stevens was therefore of great significance. He scored over three hundred runs (326) and achieved the highest individual score for the Club of 74 not out. Len Ritchie again made a substantial all round contribution; second in the batting and top of the bowling (with 41 wickets in just ten innings). Maurice Bass, on loan from J & P, was a class bowler who chipped in with 23 wickets while Les Pearce, ever dangerous, took 24 although he was now developing a steadier approach.
After a short spell in the Home Guard I eventually got my papers and entered the RAF where I became a dog handler. For me, that meant I was stationed in UK for the duration. With the exception of Les Pearce who was in a reserved occupation at Redpath Brown making munitions we were all now in the services. For the first couple of summers the expectation was that war would soon be over and we would be back in action “next summer”; neither did it occur to any of us that we would not all be back.
The first shock was the news in June 1942 that Ron Stevens was “missing in action”, then we heard that George Wall had been killed before learning that “Spud” Hayter was also reported “missing in action”. Eventually it emerged that Ron who was captured at the fall of Tobruk had been shipped to and was a prisoner-of-war in Southern Italy. However by the summer of 1943 he had escaped and we were to hear nothing from him for over a year – during which time we expected the worst. 1943 became another summer lost and the year was darkened further by loss of Will Wallace in a bombing raid over Germany and then on the 23 October 1943 RAF Flight Sergeant Roy Hand was killed in a bombing raid on Essen. Young Roy was a year younger than the rest of us and cricketwise was still undeveloped. In 1939 he had played in the senior friendlies while still playing for the youth club on Sundays. He always turned up with his girlfriend, Wyn Jerome, to whom he was utterly devoted and they married as teenagers in 1940. There were no children and, as far as I know, to this day Wyn has never considered another man.
After a brave and harrowing experience Ron Stevens finally made it back to England. Excused from further overseas duty Ron was stationed from 1944 at Roehampton from where he joined Les’s list of Grenfell servicemen who would guest from time to time for Redpath Brown. Throughout Grenfell’s missing years Les had been working away at putting together a Redpath Brown XI against whatever opposition he could muster. In 1945, through his involvement with the local ATC cadets, Les was putting together the opposition sides as well – and which he played under the name Grenfell.