Moor memories recalled as Ushaw's men are reunited

There was Albert Whitfield, who'd never worn gloves while batting and only reluctantly when keeping wicket, John Shawcross who twice took all ten - "Murton here, Tudhoe away" - and five in five at Willington, John Parkinson, now coronary bypassed but still the heart and soul.

They recalled a match at Crook when disabled archers were using the next field and Parky enquired if he might have a go on the bow and arrer.

"Certainly not, it's worth £500," said the touchy toxophilite.

"Nee problem," said Parky, "can I have a go on your wheelchair instead?"

They also remembered a rainy Saturday afternoon when Parky slipped off to the dressing room and meticulously filled in the long abandoned score book.

J Parkinson had taken 10-29 and hit an undefeated 39 in reply. Under Match remarks was written "Win for Ushaw Moor", under umpires' remarks "Well done, Parkinson."

Formed in 1881, Ushaw Moor Cricket Club still plays in that jaunty manner. It was the sort of place where they played seriously but not too seriously, said Durham County League chairman Peter Metcalfe, where the main attributes were ability, good humour and fitness. The last one, he added, wasn't compulsory.

The club, said Peter, had probably more 25 year men than any other in the region.

So many pitched up, in their mind's eye once more playing it again, that they'd even contemplated a veterans' match. "We had to decide against," said George Thompson, the estimable organiser, "we couldn't afford the paramedics."

Jackie O'Connor, at Ushaw Moor when a bit bairn in the 1940s, recalled playing in grey trousers, cream, shirt and football boots painted white.

Jim Harrow, pronounced as in bow and arrer, had been there 24 years but never a day like the James Bell Cup final against South Shields.

"No one gave us a chance, the competition chairman had already written his speech congratulating Shields. He'd no idea what to say when we beat them."

Jim, they said, had been "nee arse and shoulders" when first he arrived at Ushaw Moor. He has plenty of both now.

Frank Proctor, now 76, had taken 6-0 but was too modest to remember against whom. It was against Easington, though, that he once hit 99. "I wouldn't care," said Frank. "I couldn't bat for toffee."

Raymond Ayre, a most able footballer with Shildon, Bishop Auckland and Crook Town, admitted to feeling his 72 years. "Like a lot more, I keep on tekkin' the tablets," he said.

They also recalled the days when they'd play nine cup games over ten nights, the word "conceded" still unknown in cricket's vocabulary.

"One Monday we were in a cup tie at Ashington, on the Tuesday at Guisborough and the Wednesday at Blaydon. I never went that far on me holidays," someone said.

The previous evening in the Captain Ramsden they'd played Stockton of the North East Premier League, chased 139 off 20 overs and knocked them off with just one wicket down.

Young local lad Craig Usher had his 40 in eight overs, West Indian pro Travis Dowlin finished unbeaten on 78.

"They were bronzed athletes and our lads just waddled about a bit," said Peter Metcalfe, Ushaw Moor lad. "If you can have controlled elation, then that's what we displayed."

Greybeards will recall it at reunions still to come, but if they live to a double hundred may never have as memorable a night as this one.

John Goodchild was Ushaw Moored, too, though perhaps better remembered as a Sunderland inside right between 1957-61.

Signed from Ludworth Juniors, scoring on his debut, he hit 21 goals in 44 Football League games before enjoying a lengthy stay beside the Brighton seaside followed by spells at York City and, briefly, Darlington.

Now 66, he lives in Carrville, Durham, affectionately recalls his summer times at Ushaw Moor - "bowled mainly, got my fair share" - and his winters in the red and white stripes.

"I always thought I did pretty well at Sunderland," he said. His fair share there, an' all.

Jackie O'Connor may better be recalled from his football days as Spennymoor United's outside right in the 1950s - where, invariably, he was known as the Black Rat.

"I still go dancing in Tudhoe club," he said. "Even now, people ask me if I'm the Black Rat."

It was something to do, he hopefully supposes, with his ability to fight his way out of a tight corner.

"Thousands watched us in those days," said Jackie. "It's hard to believe that they've all vanished, and that the club got into such a mess last season."

The column is happy to report, therefore, that the "What's in a name" dispute at the Brewery Field is finally over.

With FA sanction, Evenwood Town will henceforth change their name to Spennymoor Town - though the lineage is Evenwood's, not Spennymoor's - and start the new season on Friday August 12 with a home game against Arngrove Northern League newcomers Darlington RA.

"We're delighted it's resolved at last," says Town managing director Ken Houlahan. ""So far as I can tell, a great many people in Spennymoor are enthusiastically behind us."

The weekend's cricket small print included the 6-26 taken by N Sturman for Haughton II against Cliffe in the Darlington and District League division C.

Could it be the same Stormin' Norman Sturman, now 70, who won the Echo's overall Local Hero award in 2002 and who has retired more times than Sinatra?

"The same Norman Sturman," the gentleman replies, "who two weeks ago took 5-17 and a fortnight before that 3-4."

He has returned to the ranks, he says, in order to help bring through some very promising youngsters.

He continues, he says, to run in off his full two steps and to depend upon line and length. "Let's face it," adds Norman, "it's not going to be pace, is it?"

Open trip becomes unlucky break

For golf nut Theresa Dunn a week at the Open was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime - now it's simply the classic unlucky break.

This morning back at North Tees Hospital she faces surgery after discovering an unexpected hazard at the famed Swilken Bridge.

Terry and husband Brian arrived at St Andrews shortly before 7pm last Monday, enjoyed dinner and a couple of gin and tonics - "just small ones," she insists, "that's all they seem to do in Scotland" - and strolled back in the evening sunshine past the 18th hole.

At the bridge, Terry, 57, decided to photograph friends celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary - and ended up crash, bang, walloped instead.

"I just stepped back to get a good shot, slipped and fell down the side of the bridge," she recalls.

"I thought immediately that I'd broken my leg. On a scale of 1-10, the pain was 150."

Doctors in Dundee confirmed that she had fractured the limb in two places, but allowed her to leave next day on condition that she returned south at once.

She hadn't seen a ball struck in anger, nor even unpacked the bags.

"It was meant to be a fabulous holiday," says Terry, from Norton-on-Tees. "We'd looked forward to it all year, even arranged through friends to have a tour of the R&A clubhouse, a real privilege.

"Now every time I see that photograph of Jack Nicklaus on the Swilken Bridge it just adds insult to the injury."

Husband Brian stayed with her, returning to St Andrews only to collect their homeward suitcases.

"We were crossing the bridge when I heard an almighty clatter, turned around and saw her spreadeagled," he says.

"Everyone - police, ambulance, security staff and the R&A have been absolutely fantastic but it didn't help me to see much golf. We arrived back on Teesside at 10.30pm on Tuesday."

Terry insists she is philosophical, appears cheerful. "How on earth did you find about it?" she asked, gratifyingly, when the column rang.

By now, we said, it was an Open secret.

And Finally...

The Scarborough born footballer who won his only England cap against Portugal in 1951 (Backtrack, July 15) was the late and legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson, who scored on his debut and was never picked again.

Among those who knew was Brandon United FC secretary Brian Richardson and Keith Bond in Brompton-on-Swale, near Richmond.

Still with the N's, Keith today invites readers to name the first player bought by an English club - early 1980s - to have his fee settled by an international tribunal.

The Nth degree, again, on Friday.

Published: 19/07/2004