Club History
Washington (D.C.) Cricket Club was founded in 1973 by a group of cricket enthusiasts who frequented the Washington pub in north London. Founder members were Ziggie Holder, a Trinidadian by birth who sadly passed away in 2004 aged 70, and Derek Woods. In those days the club played home games at the Hampstead Heath Extension ground. One early scorebook note suggests the D.C. stood for ‘Drunks Cooperative'! At some point the D.C. was dropped, most likely to avoid confusion with the city.
A few years back, we played against Washington C.C, from Sussex. The former Washington pub landlord Terry Tidey's Great time three Grandfather, Daniel Tidey, hailed from the village. He was the architect who built the pub pictured above way back in 1865, and indeed he also designed and built much of the Belsize Park estate, and so this is where the pub, and our club, got its name. The George Washington connection and emblem came a little later.
Washington (D.C.) Cricket Club was founded in 1973 by a group of cricket enthusiasts who frequented the Washington pub in north London. Founder members were Ziggie Holder, a Trinidadian by birth who sadly passed away in 2004 aged 70, and Derek Woods. In those days the club played home games at the Hampstead Heath Extension ground. One early scorebook note suggests the D.C. stood for ‘Drunks Cooperative'! At some point the D.C. was dropped, most likely to avoid confusion with the city.
A few years back, we played against Washington C.C, from Sussex. The former Washington pub landlord Terry Tidey's Great time three Grandfather, Daniel Tidey, hailed from the village. He was the architect who built the pub pictured above way back in 1865, and indeed he also designed and built much of the Belsize Park estate, and so this is where the pub, and our club, got its name. The George Washington connection and emblem came a little later.
|
|
Ziggie kept the club going until the early 1980's, when a new generation of players including Dave Walker (captain for many years), Alan Moffat and David Gluckman took to running the club. They proceeded to rebuild and extend Washington Cricket Club, with the able assistance of Toby Reisz , Mick Nolan, Mukesh and Rajesh Sachania who had played for the club in earlier times. Two other founder members were Nick Nicholson, who sadly passed away several years ago, and Les 'Refrigeration' Nelson.
Dave Walker now resides in Thailand, but returns to the Wash for a drink every now and then. Dave helps with Junior cricket in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and in 2017 the Wash toured there for a mini-tournament and a couple of one-dayers - a magical tour organised by then Chairman Luke Mitchell. Al Moffat pops up now and again (for example on tour in Corfu in 2006) and life-member David Gluckman (of That Sh!t Will Never Sell fame... Google this) of course still lives round the corner from the Wash. Dave and his 'new' wife Barbara still take an active interest in the club and indeed he was playing well into his 70s – an inspiration for us all. Other regular players from the 80s and 90s were Mike Walton, Taran Persaud (also now out in Thailand), Pete Demitri (hopefully coming back for some more soon), Nick Withers, Bryan Bailey, Tim Sparkes, Mick Nolan, Martyn Wells, Richard Minion and Grant McDonald.
When Dave moved to the Thailand in the early 2000s, the club set up more of a formal committee structure. Club Chairmen Gary Evans, followed by Paul Irons and latterly Peter Kloss all maintained and evolved the club in both cricketing and social terms. Numerous committee members and players have made important contributions – Matthew Cragoe, John Roche, Eric Stoughton (also now in Thailand - I see a pattern emerging), Justin Gurney, Aff Naseem, Brad Hitchcock, Lee Fogarty, Russell Pendry, Shawn Hill, Ash Cruickshank , Clinton Dugmore, Toby Mariner, the aforementioned Luke Mitchell, Mike Turner and more. Whilst some of these guys have moved on, many are still around and playing cricket for The Wash.
There's something in that... once you've had a good stint with the club, it gets in your bones or soul or something, and so the relationships forged on the fields in an around London and in the pubs after the game, continue for many years. The Washington C.C., like many of our opponents, play friendly club or social cricket. Our spiritual home, if you can call it that, is The Washington pub, situated on the corner of Belsize Park Gardens and England's Lane in London NW3.
The publican for many years, Terry Tidey, was an active player for the club, but the current publican Antonia is a great supporter of the club, offering yearly sponsorship. Terry and his wife Kate always welcomed and supported too, and their two sons, Nick and Robert, were also players of the past. The committee holds regular meetings and our AGM there, not to mention regular after game drinking sessions, and several of our current crop of players still live very locally. It is fair to say the pub is a huge part of the club.
There have been several main home grounds since the 70s and Hampstead Heath – Lyttleton Road, Alexandra Palace, and then North Middlesex ground near Winchmore Hill, where the club has played home games from around 2004 through to about 2021. More recently we've moved next door to Hornsey Cricket Club. The club has a regular fixture list, comprising around 25 matches per season, weather permitting. As is the way with social cricket, opponents come and go but we also have a large list of regular fixtures. Games are often set up through a chance meeting, acquaintance or the Club Cricket Conference, but then lost a few seasons later due to fixture list conflicts. Long time opponents Pacific CC, who were based on the old record company, The Hollybush CC, who we've scalped several players from over the years, and Follies Farm and Vagabonds in Surrey. We met the lads from Follies on one or our international tours and have played them ever since.
The lion's share of stories and infamous Washington events come from overseas tours, this being a long tradition of the club. In the 90s there were some ambitious long haul tours, taking in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where games were played at some fairly prestigious grounds. In the noughties and 2010's, aside from the Thailand adventure, tours have tended to be end of season short-hall trips to places like Malta, Corfu, Cyprus, Spain and The Balearic's, Slovenia and Croatia, Holland and Portugal. All these tours have been successful, if not necessarily in cricketing terms, most definitely in terms of entrenching our reputation as an inclusive and partner / family friendly social club. Attendance for our recent tours has been growing wonderfully well.
There are too many amazing former and current club members to mention every contribution here, but just two more – Jimmy Wood who developed our original club.org website (thanks!), and life member Kit Cooper who designed all our earlier logo versions, this being the basis for the current, and what we hope will be the long term logo (thanks again!).
The club has no physical assets, aside from an assortment of old and new cricket kit that we lug around from game to game. The true value of the club, are the people who turn out to play and socialise and tour together, and in particular those that put their hand up to help keep the club ticking over. The club's sponsors, long time supporters, partners and families, who after all allow us to indulge our habit of playing this wonderful game, make the Washington Cricket Club what it is today...
The best social cricket club in London.
Come and join us.
Dave Walker now resides in Thailand, but returns to the Wash for a drink every now and then. Dave helps with Junior cricket in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and in 2017 the Wash toured there for a mini-tournament and a couple of one-dayers - a magical tour organised by then Chairman Luke Mitchell. Al Moffat pops up now and again (for example on tour in Corfu in 2006) and life-member David Gluckman (of That Sh!t Will Never Sell fame... Google this) of course still lives round the corner from the Wash. Dave and his 'new' wife Barbara still take an active interest in the club and indeed he was playing well into his 70s – an inspiration for us all. Other regular players from the 80s and 90s were Mike Walton, Taran Persaud (also now out in Thailand), Pete Demitri (hopefully coming back for some more soon), Nick Withers, Bryan Bailey, Tim Sparkes, Mick Nolan, Martyn Wells, Richard Minion and Grant McDonald.
When Dave moved to the Thailand in the early 2000s, the club set up more of a formal committee structure. Club Chairmen Gary Evans, followed by Paul Irons and latterly Peter Kloss all maintained and evolved the club in both cricketing and social terms. Numerous committee members and players have made important contributions – Matthew Cragoe, John Roche, Eric Stoughton (also now in Thailand - I see a pattern emerging), Justin Gurney, Aff Naseem, Brad Hitchcock, Lee Fogarty, Russell Pendry, Shawn Hill, Ash Cruickshank , Clinton Dugmore, Toby Mariner, the aforementioned Luke Mitchell, Mike Turner and more. Whilst some of these guys have moved on, many are still around and playing cricket for The Wash.
There's something in that... once you've had a good stint with the club, it gets in your bones or soul or something, and so the relationships forged on the fields in an around London and in the pubs after the game, continue for many years. The Washington C.C., like many of our opponents, play friendly club or social cricket. Our spiritual home, if you can call it that, is The Washington pub, situated on the corner of Belsize Park Gardens and England's Lane in London NW3.
The publican for many years, Terry Tidey, was an active player for the club, but the current publican Antonia is a great supporter of the club, offering yearly sponsorship. Terry and his wife Kate always welcomed and supported too, and their two sons, Nick and Robert, were also players of the past. The committee holds regular meetings and our AGM there, not to mention regular after game drinking sessions, and several of our current crop of players still live very locally. It is fair to say the pub is a huge part of the club.
There have been several main home grounds since the 70s and Hampstead Heath – Lyttleton Road, Alexandra Palace, and then North Middlesex ground near Winchmore Hill, where the club has played home games from around 2004 through to about 2021. More recently we've moved next door to Hornsey Cricket Club. The club has a regular fixture list, comprising around 25 matches per season, weather permitting. As is the way with social cricket, opponents come and go but we also have a large list of regular fixtures. Games are often set up through a chance meeting, acquaintance or the Club Cricket Conference, but then lost a few seasons later due to fixture list conflicts. Long time opponents Pacific CC, who were based on the old record company, The Hollybush CC, who we've scalped several players from over the years, and Follies Farm and Vagabonds in Surrey. We met the lads from Follies on one or our international tours and have played them ever since.
The lion's share of stories and infamous Washington events come from overseas tours, this being a long tradition of the club. In the 90s there were some ambitious long haul tours, taking in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where games were played at some fairly prestigious grounds. In the noughties and 2010's, aside from the Thailand adventure, tours have tended to be end of season short-hall trips to places like Malta, Corfu, Cyprus, Spain and The Balearic's, Slovenia and Croatia, Holland and Portugal. All these tours have been successful, if not necessarily in cricketing terms, most definitely in terms of entrenching our reputation as an inclusive and partner / family friendly social club. Attendance for our recent tours has been growing wonderfully well.
There are too many amazing former and current club members to mention every contribution here, but just two more – Jimmy Wood who developed our original club.org website (thanks!), and life member Kit Cooper who designed all our earlier logo versions, this being the basis for the current, and what we hope will be the long term logo (thanks again!).
The club has no physical assets, aside from an assortment of old and new cricket kit that we lug around from game to game. The true value of the club, are the people who turn out to play and socialise and tour together, and in particular those that put their hand up to help keep the club ticking over. The club's sponsors, long time supporters, partners and families, who after all allow us to indulge our habit of playing this wonderful game, make the Washington Cricket Club what it is today...
The best social cricket club in London.
Come and join us.
