IN the Summer of 1946, Bob Lamb was invited by Wolsingham Steelworks to play for their staff team in the George Mann Cup.

Bob, who was a pupil at Wolsingham Grammar School, accepted the invitation along with a couple more pupils from the school. “I loved sport,” said Bob, “ and I played for the school football team at Wolsingham.

The Wolsingham Steelworks Staff team actually won the George Mann Cup that year but myself and the other pupils from the school were not allowed to join in the celebrations in the pub so we were given medals instead.”

George Mann had been a prominent tradesman in Wolsingham and owned a grocers shop, now converted into a house, roughly opposite the West End top of the Causeway.

George did not play cricket but took a keen interest in the game. He also lived in a way that no-one could ever say ‘that’s not cricket’ and because of this the George Mann Cup is inscribed ‘Play the Game’.

George, who was born in 1860 died in 1928 and his family donated the Cup in his memory. It was first played for in 1928 when the winners were The Tradesmen. The regular competition had two breaks and then ceased altogether when the Wolsingham Steelworks Cricket Club folded. The competition was resurrected by pupils from Wolsingham Comprehensive School who received the assistance of the Mann family, particularly from George Mann’s grandson, Alan Mann.

Without Alan’s tremendous support and enthusiasm the competition would not have been revived.

Alan died in 1992 and the players in the 1992 competition were so moved by his death that they raised £1,279 and bought another Cup called the Alan Mann Memorial Trophy so his name would live on for generations to come.

In 1951 Bob Lamb decided to form his own team. “A bunch of us used to play football together, sometimes we would play Stanhope in a friendly game, it was all just for fun. Anyway we entered a team which was called ‘The Celts’. I think the rules at the time were that you had to live, be born, or work in Wolsingham.

Well I lived all my life in Wolsingham until 1926. So we not only took part but won it which meant that I had played in two competitions and finished on the winning side twice.”