Winnington Park Cricket Club
About the Club
Club Details
Winnington Park Cricket Club, Park Road, Winnington, Northwich, Cheshire,
The Office: 01606 79897
The Bar: 01606
74049
President Mr K.B.Woodcock
Chairman: Mr I Johns Secretary: Mr G Wales
Treasurer: Mr M Burke Fixtures Secretary: Mr G Wales League Representative: Mr P Hayes
Club Captain: Mr D Hine Second XI Captain: Mr I Johns Third XI Captain: Mr A Capper
History of W.P.R.C Ltd
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The story of Winnington Park Recreation Club is closely linked to that of Winnington Works. Therefore, it is with the founding of the latter, by John T Brunner and Ludwig M Mond, in 1873 that the history of Winnington Park Recreation Club must begin. The co - founders, Brunner, from Everton, near Liverpool, and Mond a German Jew, first met as early as 1862 while they were both employed at John Huchinson's Chemical Works in Widnes. From this initial encounter there was formed a friendship and business association which, in spite of many ups and downs, endured until the death of Mond, in 1909. Mond, who was a gifted chemist, and Brunner, who had a good head for business, decided to pool their respective talents and financial resources in a commercial enterprise. Mond, had become convinced there was a future for an alternative method for the production of the Alkali, sodium carbonate (soda ash) to the method patented by the French scientist, Nicholas Leblanc, in 1791. This process was in use in England by the early 19th century and by the time Brunner and Mond became acquainted was well established in the south Lancashire districts, especially in Widnes, The Leblanc method of producing soda ash was a two-stage operation; Salt and Sulphuric acid were reacted together to produce sodium sulphate and hydrochloric acid: the sodium sulphate was then roasted with coal and limestone which resulted in soda ash and calcium sulphide. There were several disadvantages associated with this process. Hydrolic Acid gas was discharged into the atmosphere with detrimental effects upon the environment. There was also considerable waste effluent, another source of damage to the countryside surrounding the Leblanc alkali works. The wasted Sulphur was also expensive. A cleaner, more economical method of producing soda ash was patented by a Belgian, Ernest Solvay, in 1861, this method known as the Ammonia-soda, or Solvay process, aroused the interest of Ludwig Mond who came to an agreement, in 1872 with Solvay, by which he obtained a license to use the process in England. Brunner and Mond became convinced there was a profitable future in store for the Solvay process and began to look for a suitable site to build their soda ash works to employ the Solvay method. Having looked in vain in the Winsford area of Cheshire, the partners were advised by Edward Milner, a local salt manufacturer, that Winnington Park might provide a suitable site. The land was freehold and the River Weaver and the Cheshire Lines railway provided good communications, so that raw materials (limestone, coke, Ammonia) could easily be brought in. The other raw material required by the Solvay process was brine and was widely available throughout Mid Cheshire and could easily be pumped from underground, via brine shafts. With financial backing from Charles Menzies Holland, a Liverpool merchant, Brunner and Mond purchased the 130 acre site, including Winnington Hall, in 1873. The first works were built almost immediately and in 1874 the partnership of Brunner, Mond and company was in business, producing Soda ash by the Solvay Process. After many problems and setbacks the venture proved successful and gradually superseded the Leblanc method. By 1881 the partners were able to sell their interest to a limited company with a nominal capital of £600,000. And so Brunner Mond Co Ltd, With Brunner and Mond as managing directors for life, came into being. By the turn of the century the company owned works at Winnington, Sandbach, Middlewich, Lostock and Silvertown, in London, and in 1926 formed, with the United Alkali Co Ltd, British Dyestuffs and Nobel's Explosives, Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. When Brunner Mond and Co, Ltd came into being, in 1881, there was a considerable expansion of Winnington Works and many more people were employed for whom housing became a necessity, The problem was tackled by the company's building, in the early 1880s, of a housing estate adjacent to the works, embracing Dyer terrace, Solvay road, Hemming Street, and Farraday Road. With the addition of amenities such as a Co - Operative store, post Office, Church and School, a self sufficient community arose, largely financed by Brunner Mond and co. These developments typified the paternalistic outlook of the employers towards their work people. This attitude further manifested in the laying out, in 1890, of a sports ground adjacent to Solvay Road, for the use of Brunner Mond employees. A small wooden pavilion was added for changing facilitates and from these early developments grew Winnington Park Recreation Club. The hundred years that have since elapsed have seen the Club grow from being an organization devoted to the cultivation of sport, with considerable financial assistance from Brunner Mond and co, Ltd into a Club largely self - financing, offering a wide range of sporting facilities, not only to employees at Winnington Works and their families, but also to people in the wider Northwich and District community, who might have no direct connection with the company. Few recreation clubs have had such a long continuous history as Winnington Rec, but the story is not one of uninterrupted success and progress. The Club has had to weather many storms, between 1890 and present day, including two World Wars, the Great Slump, General Strike, several major fires and the financial crises of more recent times. However, owing to the support of I.C.I. Plc, and its forerunners Brunner Mond and co, Ltd. and to the hard work and enthusiasm of the staff, officials and membership, as well as timely sponsorship from Allied Breweries, Winnington Park Recreation Club has survived and can now look forward to its second century with some confidence. |
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Cricket has been played at Winnington Park at least from the 1880s. However, it was not until 1891 that a Cricket Section was formed in conjunction with the Recreation Club. A committee of Messrs Bickerton, Capes, White, Mallan, Freeman, Baker, Lewis, and Andrews was set up to organise both Tennis and Cricket. The two sports were run independently after 1892 when the Recreation Club took over the original Winnington Park Recreation Club. In 1895, a second team was formed and in the following season the first Club Coach, R Denton, was appointed. Until his death in 1914 he performed a dual role of groundsman and occasional coach.
Only "friendly" fixtures were played prior to the Club joining the Manchester and District Cricket Association, in 1921. Nevertheless, the game was taken seriously enough for a Club Professional, W Chambers to be engaged at £2 - 10 shillings per week, in 1905, in his first season, Chambers earned his salary by scoring 363 runs at an average of 20.1 and took 107 wickets at a very low cost of 9.4 runs each. Chambers performances merited his inclusion in the Cheshire Minor Counties team. The Cheshire XI had only been revived in 1908 and the excellence of the Winnington ground was immediately recognised by the staging, in 1909, of the Cheshire v Northumberland match at the Recreation Club. It was the first of many county fixtures to be staged at the Rec.
The popularity of Cricket grew in the next years leading up to the First world War and, in 1910, matches were arranged for a third team using a ground laid out in the Paddocks, in Winnington Park. The outbreak of the War, in 1914, saw the suspension of cricket however, there were a few matches played against soldiers stationed at Brunner Mond Works. Involved in the production of munitions for the war effort. A match played in 1916 raised £30 for the Red Cross.
In 1919, a full programme of 20 matches was played under the captaincy of G J Starkey. The same season saw local rivals Northwich Cricket Club set up a fund to purchase their ground and Winnington made a donation of £5. In 1921, the club joined the Manchester Association and in the first season (1922) played 21 matches, winning eleven, losing eight and drawing the other two.
In the 1920s, the Winnington cricketers held their own in the association without coming close to winning the title. However, in 1929, the Club was the centre of an occurrence worthy of inclusion in Wisden.
A tie is a rare result in cricket but against Bollington, in 1929,W.P.R.C forced a tie not only in the first XI fixture but also in the second eleven match played on the same day at Bollington. As the Cricket Secretary A H S Guthrie remarked in his report to the A.G.M:
" This extraordinary coincidence has no parallel in Manchester and District Cricket".
In 1933, W.P.R.C reached their (at the time) highest position in the association when they finished as runners - up, winning twelve of their thirty fixtures with fourteen draws and only four defeats. This achievement was in no small measure due to the fine batting of T B Woodcock who in 16 innings amassed 1.020 runs at an average of 63.75. This Club record included three centuries, with a highest score of 152 against Timperly.
T B Woodcock's sons, Tony and Keith, were to figure prominently in the most successful period in the Section's history, from the late 1950s until the mid - 1960s. In 1959, the Northwich Knockout was won. Then, in 1960, under the captaincy of R L F Woodhouse, the Stockton Trophy of the Manchester Association was won for the first time. In 1964, the feat was repeated and in the following seasons the Stockton Trophy was retained without a single defeat.
Representative honours were achieved during this period by both the Woodcock brothers and Club captain, Trevor Gibson, who doubled as groundsman / coach, producing splendid batting wickets though a bowler himself.
Several Club players figured prominently in the Manchester Association Averages. In 1962, Trevor Gibson topped the bowling list with a 50 wicket haul at the miserly cost of only 7.16 runs per wicket.
In 1963, Australian Bob Cameron came second in the Association batting averages, with 54.12 runs per innings, and scored two centuries. Mention here must be made of the consistent wicket-keeping performances of Joe Dale, a former Manchester United and Witton Albion footballer, who turned to wicket-keeping relatively late in life and was considered by many shrewd judges to have been unlucky not to have gained representative honours.
The W.P.R.C of the 1960s had a good record in Knockout competitions winning the Northwich K.O. In 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1963.
They were also finalists in 1962 and 1964, as well as being runners-up in the John Summers competition in successive seasons, 1965 and 1966 a season in which they also finished second in the Manchester Association. In 1970, the Club were runners-up in the Mid Cheshire K.O but won it in 1975, the year they left the Manchester Association to become founder members of the Cheshire County Cricket League.
The Club has since enjoyed little success at senior level and in 1977 all three teams finished at the foot of their respective divisions although the local indoor Cricket League title was won.
However, the 1980s has seen great progress at junior level with successful teams at under 13s and under 15s. The latter won the Mid Cheshire League for the fourth successive time, in 1988 and the All England Championship in 1989.
Winnington is not a highly populated area, and with the abundance of local Cricket Clubs, the strength of Winnington Park Cricket Club always depended on whom I.C.I. employed. In the early 1990's the Recreation Club was sold to its members, allowing profits to be used to improve the clubs facilities. The Clubs facilities are constantly improving. The Cricket Club has compiled a three-year plan to improve the facilities and surroundings of the club.
Winnington Park Cricket Club has always invested the majority of its time and money into junior cricket. The future of the game rests with the new generations. This has been reflected in the success of their junior teams and number of quality players produced from these teams. The club now see an additional area for improvement in the facilities for young children and mothers, which is currently being investigated.
Winnington Park is a friendly cricket club whose main objective is to promote cricket to everyone, the desire for success comes a close second!!!