Milden Pavilion

General information

Milden Cricket Club ..... A brief history

Milden Cricket Club was originally formed by Herbert Dowbiggin in the 1920s. He had spend time in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and was keen to give something back to the village. Many of the early scorebooks are still in the village with the Sparkes family who played a key role in the success of the club. It was a buoyant village club and had a full friendly fixture list until the 1996/97 season when the club finally took the step into league cricket when they joined the Bury and District set up. However, due to falling player numbers the club officially folded at the end of the 2000 season. This was incredibly sad for such a small village club with an interesting history.

The villagers, spearheaded by Mrs Tissa Rigby with the support of the late John Bailey, were keen to improve facilities on the Sports Field and worked tirelessly to raise the funds to replace the old cricket club building. The replacement, they felt, needed to be a village hall which enabled whole community usage but also left the door open for a cricket club to reform. By 2007 the funds were raised thanks to a variety of grants, donations and fundraising events and the building started to take shape. It was built by Suffolk Sheds Ltd and many representatives from the local community played important parts in making the pavilion the impressive building it is now.

In the summer of 2008, Richard Robinson made contact with John Bailey (who had been acting as groundsman at the Sports Field) to discuss resurrecting Milden Cricket Club. Richard had played at the Sports Field as a member of Raydon, Hadleigh and (most recently) Tendring Park Cricket Clubs and was keen to develop a community club. John discussed the idea with Mrs Rigby and by September 2008 the inaugural meeting was held. David Porteous-Butler was installed as Chairman, Alex Cunningham (who had played with Richard at Tendring Park CC) was elected Treasurer and other committee posts were filled by Richard (Secretary); John (Groundman) and Richard and James Harding (both Milden residents and keen cricketers). Ben Cunningham, Pete Whitwell and Ali Robinson (Richard’s wife) also attended the first meeting.

By April 2009, the club had been re-elected into Division Five of the Hunts Bats League and was set to play its first game. Fittingly, the new club played at one of the best venues in the region when they faced Sudbury CC at Friars Road. It was a glorious late April weekend (26th April) and although Milden lost their first game – sterling performances from Will Ward (36 and two wickets) and David P-B (33) saw the club battle to 111 in their first fixture in nine years. A few weeks later the pavilion was officially reopened by the Club President, Mr Philip Morley (who sadly died in May 2012) when Milden faced Monks Eleigh in the now annual fundraising event. The club now had a new home and a new team – with only one player remaining from the original Milden team (David “Tabs” Willis). In a nod to the past, Herbert Dowbiggin’s photograph hangs proudly in Milden’s pavilion and he gives his name to the Player of the Year Award.

Fast forward to 2012 and the club is now thriving with 35 registered players and regular league, friendly and T20 games. Milden now have an improving wicket, thanks to the hard work of the late John Bailey, Richard Harding (twice Clubman of the Year) and Graham Masters (who came on board in late 2011). The club is one of the smallest village teams in the region but has an enormous heart and a desire to develop – but in the same spirit and inclusive attitude that led to the rebirth in 2008.

It is important to note the loyalty and support of Paul and Graeme Ferguson, Martin Roffey, Chris Cherrington, James Charlesworth, James Wilton Ely, Mark Mason and Mark Harries who have also been with the club since it relaunched.