Menston Club

A POTTED HISTORY

Date or National event event / Club history date band event/Cricket event Victorian period: 1837 – 1901 1880 Victoria is Queen. The first Menston Cricket Club is established by played in England takes the village schoolmaster and a group of Benjamin Disareli is place at in men connected with a local factory. replaced by William London. Gladstone as Prime Cricket is recorded being played in the Minister. village as early as the 1870s behind The Malt Shovel pub. A great fog engulfs London from January to March.

1884 Marks & Spencers open their first penny arcade in Leeds.

1885 City Varieties Music Hall was built.

1887 Menston moves to its current ground next to The Fox pub. The area is called Cross Butts Close. In Tudor times (1485-1603) young people practised archery on the site.

The cricket pavilion was once a farmhouse.

The cricket team travel by horse drawn wagon. The horse also pulls the stone roller, which keeps the pitch flat. A flock of sheep keep the grass short during the winter months.

1891 Free education for First electricity supply in every child aged Leeds. 5-13. 1892 The Club publishes the first set of ‘Club Rules’.

1893 Leeds becomes a city. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event

1898 Grand Arcade and Victoria Arcade open.

1899 It becomes compulsory for all Leeds houses to be connected to a sewer. Edwardian period: 1901 – 1910 1901 Queen Victoria dies. Her son Edward VII becomes King. 1904 Leeds City Football Club is founded. Leeds University is founded. 1905 The first cinema in Leeds is built. 1908 Olympic Games held in London. 1910 Edward VII dies. George V becomes King. 1912 The Titanic sinks with the loss of 1503 lives. 1913 Suffragette Emily Davison is killed by the King’s horse. First World War: 1914 – 1918 28th Jun Archduke Franz The Imperial 1914 Ferdinand is German Navy attack assassinated in Scarborough, Whitby Sarajevo. and Hartlepool. 137 people were killed and 455 were injured. Many of these were civilians. 4 Aug Britain declares 1914 war on Germany in response to the invasion of Belgium. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event 16 Dec German Imperial Navy 1914 attack Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. 137 people die and 455 are injured. 1915 34 members of Menston Cricket Club go to fight in the war. 1916 1st Jul - 18 Nov: 5th Dec: Major disaster Battle of the at Barnbow munitions Somme. factory. The explosion kills 35 of the women workers. 1918 Germany signs the George Ellison from Armistice ending Leeds is the last British the First World War. soldier to be killed during the First World War.

1918 Women over the age of 30 and who own property are given the right to vote for the first time. 1918 Spanish influenza Spanish influenza spreads across pandemic starts. By the world killing 1919 it has killed more an estimated 50 than 1,800 people in million people. Leeds. Inter-war period: 1919 - 1938

1919 A ladies’ cricket match takes place. The Presidents XI play a team from Menston Club. 1920 John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of television. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event 1924 Mrs Waddilove presents the Club with a cup in memory of her late husband. The cup, the Albert Waddilove Memorial Trophy – this becomes the 1st XI prize. It was first won by Arthur Driver and is still very important to the Club. 1925 Women’s cricket at this Menston Ladies play a match against time is mostly played the staff of a clothes shop called in South-East England Messrs Illingworth, Newboult & Co Ltd with the exception in Bradford. Miss Sutcliffe is Menston’s of Yorkshire and top scorer with 27 runs. Lancashire in the North. At a New Year’s Eve dance, tokens of appreciation are presented to Walter Fletcher for services to the Club for 50 years. 1930 George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII. 1936 Edward VII The Annual Dinner at The Fox is abdicates from the attended by (1905-1943), throne to marry Arthur Mitchell (1902-1976), Arthur Wallis Simpson. Wood (1898-1973) and Bill Bowes (1908-1987) – all Yorkshire and England cricket players.

Hedley Verity, a proud Yorkshireman, and regarded as one of the best slow left-arm bowlers in the history of English cricket, later dies on active service in Sicily during WWII.

Leonard Mason, a businessman, and his wife donate a trophy for presentation at the annual single competition – the L G Mason trophy has latterly been used as the 1st XI bowling trophy. 1937 George VI is crowned King. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event 1937 The famous aviator Amelia Earhart (1897-declared dead 1939) disappears over the Atlantic Ocean. Second World War: 1939 – 1945 3 Sept Britain declares Photographs are taken of the team 1939 war on Germany. and officials (see photo) – a copy is presented to each guest at the Annual Dinner.

The Club drastically reduces their activities, but cricket continues to be played. The Second XI play friendly games.

Club Secretary, GC Walter, becomes actively involved with the formation of the local Home Guard.

27 members are ‘called-up’ to fight for the Armed Forces.

Stanley Atkinson and Dick Hargrave are taken as Prisoners-of-War.

Herbert Hudson, Teddy Weightman, Barry Breare and John Walter die on active war service. Sept 1940 The Battle of Britain. 1941 The worst air raid on Leeds kills 60 people. 8 May Victory in Europe Local resident Bill Bowes (1908-1987) 1945 Day. comes to play for Menston, having recently returned from a Prisoner of War camp in Italy. He plays professional cricket for Yorkshire and the . 15 Aug Victory over Japan 1945 Day. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event Post war period: 1946 – 1999 1946 Menston Junior cricket team win the Airedale Junior League for the first time. 1948 National Health Service created.

1948 Olympic Games held in London. Early ‘The Golden Age of Menston Cricket 1950s Club’ – winning League and Cup honours. 1951 Menston win the Waddilove Cup. 1952 George VI dies. Elizabeth II becomes Queen. 1954 A new set of ‘Club Rules’ are drawn up. 1955 Second XI win the Birtwhistle Cup. 1957 Plans are drawn up for improvements to the toilets and the tearooms. The new facilities open in July 1958, with a President’s XI playing against a Captain’s XI. 1958 The Jinnah Mosque is the first mosque to open in Leeds. 1965 The death penalty for murder is abolished. 1966 England win the World Cup 1967 Mrs Ellicott presents a cup to the Club in memory of her husband and his affection for cricket. The John Ellicott Memorial Trophy is to be awarded to the Club’s leading bowler. 1969 The first Hindu temple opens on Alexandra Road. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event 1971 Britain changes from pounds, shillings and pence to decimal currency. 1972 George Kell presents the Club with The Kell Trophy, for annual competition by the Junior teams 1974 A new trophy is left to the Club by Miss Elsie Fletcher. It is a Silver Rose Bowl presented to her father in 1908 for ‘outstanding service to the Club over 25 years’. 1977 The Queen A celebrity cricket match takes place celebrates her to mark the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Silver Jubilee (1931-2006), a famous marking 25 years cricketer who played for Yorkshire and on the throne. England, bowls 3 overs, claims 10 runs and opens the newly completed Pavilion improvements. 1978 The Under 18s share the Denison Cup and the Under 15s win the Junior League. 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. 1981 Riots in Chapeltown. 1982 The Falklands War. 1983 Win the Waddilove Cup. 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web. 1991 The first Gulf War. 1992 The Channel Tunnel opens. 1993 Win the Birtwhistle Cup. Menston Cricket Club

Date or National event Yorkshire event / Leeds Club history date band event/Cricket event 1996 Leeds is one of the hosts for the European Football Championships. Royal Armouries Museum is opened by Queen Elizabeth II. 21st century: 2000 – present 2000 Millenium Division 2 champions. celebrations take place all over the world. 2001 9/11 - Terrorists crash two planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York. 2003 The second Gulf War. 2010 Division 3 champions. 2020 Leeds United Football Club promoted to the Premier League.

2020 Along with the rest of the UK, Leeds goes into Lockdown to fight Coronavirus.