My memories of cricket clubs (and football) in Cambridge in the 50’s: By Joan Punter.
My maternal aunt, Joan, wrote this short article in 2024 (to share with Tony Watts who was writing a book about the History of Cricket) about her memories of cricket in Cambridge in the 1950’s.
(Michelle Bullivant Archives)
My memories of cricket clubs (and football) in Cambridge in the 50’s: New Chesterton Institute, Central Old Boys, Cambridge University Press. By Joan Punter.
My first husband, Michael Brown (Mick), was born in August 1934. He was brought up in Hawthorn Way, Chesterton. We met in 1957 when we both worked at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, in Mill Lane Cambridge.
Mick and Joan, Cambridge c.1974
Mick always played cricket for local clubs throughout the summer, and he played football in the winter.
He attended the Central Boys School and had just come back from Malaya when I met him (an extension of his National Service) so he had a good group of friends, some of whom also did sports like cricket and football at the weekends. They used to meet at their ‘local’ socially. ‘The Old Spring’ on Chesterton Road, Cambridge. One friend was Bert Clarke, who lived up Hawthorn Way.
They played cricket on Parker’s Piece and I, with other ‘girlfriends’ would dit on the steps of the pavilion (Hobbs) scoring for the team, on a blackboard with chalk. When they played against village teams outside Cambridge, I remember having lovely teas set out on long tables in the village hall, with sandwiches and cakes made by the village ladies.
Amateur cricket gear then, white flannel trousers, white shirt and jumper (with V neck).
I remember an event that took place when Mick’s mother put his damp cricket whites in the warm oven to ‘air’ and they scorched beyond salvation!
Mick was an excellent bowler as he had big hands, strong arms and broad shoulders, so he was valued in bowling men out.
Michael (Mick) Brown c.2010 Cambridge
When I researched our ancestry, I was thrilled to discover that his third great grandfather was Billy Buttress, well known Cambridge cricketer, who was also a gifted bowler. He has been mentioned in several books on cricket (one by John Major) and is found online too. One thing he was remembered for was his practical jokes on people (like mewing like a cat and watching others searching under chairs for it. He also liked his beer (so much like my husband’s antics!) Billy Butress 1827-1866
I found another connection with the cricket in Jack Hobbs – He was born, one of twelve, in a small house, No. 8 Brewhouse Lane, Barnwell [Just off East Road, Cambridge] and my own great grandmother lived in that same house, after the Hobbs family, until she died in 1934.
It seemed that most people took a real interest in cricket in England, still, in the fifties. I sat at my desk in Local Exams on the first floor. My senior, John Drake, asked me if I would relay the cricket scores (when there was a big match on the radio) from a large board which was displayed and kept up to date by his fellow – member of Emanuel Congregational Church, who lived in Little St Mary’s Lane, Cambridge. (He couldn’t see if from his desk!).
By Elsie Joan Punter (formally Brown, nee Toller)
Cherry Hinton 2024
Joan Punter c.2024 Cambridge