England: Leyland Cricket Club 150th Anniversary Web Site (27 Dec 1997)

27 Dec 1997

Leyland Cricket Club 150th Anniversary Web Site

PRESS RELEASE

1998 is a very special year for one of Lancashire's oldest sports and social clubs. Founded in 1848 by the Reverend T R Baldwin, Leyland Cricket Club played their first match against "eleven gentlemen of Chorley" on 6th July of that year. The vicar's field used to play that first game is now the local church graveyard, which includes the final resting place of the first man to take a wicket in Test cricket, Allen Hill. At the end of his professional career Allen became one of Leyland's first professionals, a position held in more recent times by such famous names Malcolm Marshall, Sir Richard Hadlee, Gordon Greenidge, Mark Greatbach, Asif Din, Phil Bainbridge and Ken Snellgrove.

To mark the anniversary there will be special functions, including a week long cricket festival which will start with the Northern League home fixture against first ever opponents Chorley on Saturday 6th June 1998, culminating in an players reunion dinner on Friday 12th in a special marquee on the outfield. All the celebratory events, the full 1998 season fixtures and a unique potted history of the club will be published in a commemorative programme by Ad-Options of Leyland.

Leyland Cricket Club 150th Anniversary Memorabilia & Sponsorship Appeal

An appeal to cricket fans has been launched by Leyland Cricket Club, Ad-Options and Ribble Web Design. The club's 150th anniversary will be commemorated on an Internet site under construction by Ribble Web Design, who are seeking old Leyland cricket records, relics and photographs to develop the Web site and a history of the club. All design work is being donated by Preston based Ribble Web Design, who have just been bought by the established Leyland advertising and promotions company Ad-Options, and the site under construction can be viewed at

www.ribblewebdesign.co.uk/lcc150/ Other events planned include a junior cricket tournament (sponsored by South Ribble Borough Council Leisure Service), a week's cricket festival , a Hoghton Weavers' concert and a beer festival n early June. Details of all the special events will be published in the commemorative programme in early April, together with a history of the club and a full listing of the season's fixtures and sponsors.

If anyone has any interesting material relating to the club that they would be prepared to lend briefly for scanning into digital form, then they should contact Stephen Ward or Paul Drummond on 01772 421370. For Internet users the web site can be viewed at www.ribblewebdesign.co.uk/lcc150. If sufficient interesting material can be gathered, and a sponsor found, then the Leyland Museum may be prepared to mount a special display next summer.

Further comment and photos (old and new) available from Stephen Ward, 01772 421370