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The sign outside the Abbey Lawn clubhouse
There is evidence that cricket was being played in the town as early as 1803. A trades exhibition held in the Corn Exchange in 1962 displayed a poster advertising a return cricket match between Bourne and Sleaford in the summer of that year followed by lunch at the Bull Hotel [now the Burghley Arms] at 5s a head.
Bourne Cricket Club, however, was not formed for another 80 years as the result of as meeting at the Nag's Head on Friday 17th March 1882, with Dr Tom Harker, of Brook Lodge, presiding. The meeting had been called to gauge interest in the formation of a club for the town and so much enthusiasm was generated that it was decided to proceed and Mr Thomas Hardwick, a farmer and cattle dealer, of North Villa, North Road, offered to let the Abbey Lawn for matches and practice at an annual rental of £5.
Dr Harker was elected captain and Mr W E L Bell was appointed honorary secretary and treasurer. A committee of management was also elected consisting of Dr James Watson Burdwood and Messrs W Whitfield, George Elvidge, Alfred Yates and Frederick Shilcock. A resolution was also passed that the vicar, the Rev Hugh Mansfield, be asked to become president and local solicitor Mr John Bell vice-president. The subscription for playing members was fixed at 5s. a year and an appeal was made for any gentleman who wished to join to send their names to the secretary as soon as possible.
Money was short in the early years and various fund raising events were held to help meet the bills. On Tuesday 22nd January 1884, for instance, the club staged a concert at the Corn Exchange with readings, songs, piano and violin solos by officials, players, supporters and their relatives, and similar occasions became a regular and popular occurrence in the town's social calendar.
The club's activities for the next 36 years are obscure because the club's records were lost during the Great War of 1914-18 but a scrapbook of press cuttings exists giving details of matches played from 1921-1922. The playing field has always been at the Abbey Lawn. Photographs from the early 20th century show a barn type building that was used as a pavilion until it was destroyed by fire in 1965. By 1920, the ground was owned by a syndicate of local businessmen who demanded an annual rent of £10 for its use but finally accepted £7. In those days, the ground was also let for grazing and the club was restricted to the width of grass that could be cut for wickets. If that width was extended even by inches, there was inevitably a letter of complaint from the landlords that the grazing area had been reduced. The ground was not level and was undulating in places and the grass contained an abundance of weeds, notably speedwell and plantains.
The club persistently attempted to regularise their use of the Abbey Lawn with a written tenancy agreement from the syndicate in an attempt to protect the playing area but this did not materialise and so in 1925, the club purchased 200 yards of wire netting to protect the square. At this time, the football pitch was between the square and the club's score box and the football club were also allowed to use the pavilion during their playing season at an annual rental of £3.
The club had a precarious existence during these years and in January 1924 it almost folded through financial problems and lack of support but managed to continue in business. Accounts usually showed that the club was in debt but in December 1924 this did not stop them from taking out a bank overdraft in the sum of £50 to help with the cost of taking up the square, levelling and re-laying turf. A special appeal was launched to meet expenses incurred in improving the ground and the money was successfully raised. This appears to have been a turning point in the club's fortunes and put it on the road to its current success.
At this time, the Abbey Lawn was owned by a syndicate of local businessmen who rented out the rights for cricket and football but in 1931, the land was under threat from housing development and was saved by Bourne United Charities who bought it for £700 to preserve it for permanent use as an open space and sports ground. The club made a token contribution of £20 towards the cost. Their first ever cricket week was held seven years later in August 1938 when club membership stood at 83.
The Second World War of 1939-45 brought club activities to an abrupt halt but when play was resumed in 1946, the club's first act was to pay homage to fallen comrades with a memorial match. The introduction of a full time groundsman and specialist equipment over subsequent seasons meant that the Abbey Lawn was beginning to look like the playing surface of today.
Major ground improvements were carried out in September 2002 when the square at the Abbey Lawn was upgraded in a two-day operation by specialist contractors who were well known for their work in improving sporting surfaces and had been working at Lords earlier in the year. The project was designed to bring pace and bounce and an improved general level to the pitch and involved removing three inches of soil from the surface and replacing it with 46 tons of special loam which was then laser-levelled to the latest high-tech standards. Six different machines were used to complete the work which also removed a four inch drop in the pitch from north to south. Similar improvement work was carried out at the Edenham pitch, the two projects costing a total cost of £15,000 which has been partly financed with grants from South Kesteven District Council and from the Sport England/English Cricket Board.
The club celebrated its bicentenary in the summer of 2003 with a week of celebrations that included a match with the Lord's Taverners on Sunday 20th July which they won by five runs and raised almost £13,000 for charity. The visiting team was captained by Chris Tarrant, presenter of the ITV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? accompanied by television actress Lorraine Chase who also played. The following Wednesday, July 23rd, the club played the President's XI, a team of cricketing talent invited by Terry Bates, the club president, which the club also won by three wickets with just seven balls left. Terry's side included the ex-England skipper Mike Gatting and former test colleagues Jim Love, Bill Athey and Dean Headley, former Zimbabwe captain and coach David Houghton and West Indian fast bowler Franklyn Rose.
See also Bourne
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