Ransome and Marles celebrate 75th anniversary
by Alan Rowley / Gary Lambert, 25th February 2006

Newark based Ransome and Marles Cricket Club celebrate their 75th anniversary in 2006. The club, based at Elm Avenue, was formed in 1931, and are currently members of the Bassetlaw League, the Newark Alliance and the Newark Evening League. Highlight of the year will be an anniversary dinner, to be held at Newark Town Hall, where the guest speaker is former Nottinghamshire and England batsman Derek Randall.

Club History

Cricket has been played at Elm Avenue, Newark since the ground’s formation in 1930. The changes of name have followed company developments and acquisitions over the years. The club was formed in 1931 and entered the Bassetlaw League in 1939, entering two Saturday sides.

The club hosted Lincolnshire Minor Counties Cricket at the ground from 1948 until 1966 and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club played ‘First Class Cricket’, one or two matches a year, at Elm Avenue from the mid sixties to the mid seventies.

In 1989 the parent company at the time, Ransom Hoffman & Pollard, withdrew all financial support to the sports and social club which then became self-financing.

The club also had teams competing on Sundays, beginning with friendly cricket, until the Newark Alliance Sunday League came into existence, which they were founder members of. They also entered a side in the Newark Evening League at its inception in 1978.

Today Ransome and Marles have sides in the Bassetlaw League Divisions 2 & 8 on Saturdays, their 1st X1 are in Newark Alliance Division 4 and the 2nd X1 are in Newark Alliance Division 6 on Sundays. Both their 1st X1 and Academy X1 are in Division 2 of the Newark Evening League.

The Ransome Cup, a knockout tournament that dates from 1956, has raised many thousands of pounds for local charities. It is now incorporated into the local evening league as a competition for the premier local sides and continues to be a major charity provider. The final has always been played at Elm Avenue.

Cricket Development

In 1997 the club decided that it was essential to formulate and write a development plan that would carry them forward. They introduced a Junior Section, with the intention of both broadening their player base, as well as stimulating interest in cricket in the Newark area. None of the three local secondary schools were providing cricket as a sporting option.

In 1997 the club offered practice sessions on a Friday evening for local youngsters interested in playing cricket with ECB qualified coaches and in the first season only nine children were attracted to the ground.

In 1998 the club ran Kwik-Cricket sides for under 10 year olds, an Under 13 and Under 15 side and to offer both boys and girls the opportunity to play cricket in a safe environment. They received support from Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in the form of a bag of Top Sport Cricket equipment.

The club approached four local junior schools to offer coaching in their schools for free, by qualified coaches, to re-introduce the game of cricket, develop club-school links and to recruit new members at the junior age group. The coaches that would be at the club on a Friday night carried out the visits for 12 weeks delivering leaflets detailing where, when, and what was on offer. This ensured that if an interested child came along to the ground there would be a familiar face to welcome them. The response received was outstanding!

On the night of the first training session of that season, 93 children were at the ground, whereupon they entered two sides in the Nottinghamshire Kwik-Cricket league for under 10s, and an Under 13 team in the Newark & District League. Now they have strong links with the following schools: John Hunt Junior, Barnby Road, Lovers Lane, Holy Trinity, Muskham Primary, St Peters (Farndon) and Coddington Primary.

The club visited these schools again in the Spring of 2005, after completing 21 visits at these schools they generated over 72 members again at the Friday training session. Currently they run 2 Kwik-Cricket sides, an Under 13 and Under 15 team, playing in the Newark Colts League.

Evolving from this since 1998 they have had over 20 players represent the District and three players representing Nottinghamshire at their relevant age group.They are also a base for Thrumpton Cricket Club’s Women’s side who play in the National Women’s Premier League.

The pavilion at Ransome and Marles' ground, Elm Avenue, Newark

Club Reorganisation

As the junior section began to develop and flourish it became a necessity to form a separate junior committee to deal with matters arising:

Colin Lambert (Chairman – R&M CC) was appointed Chairman of the junior section
Gary Lambert (Club Captain – R&M CC) the Director Of Youth Cricket.

Their prime responsibility was to oversee the continuing development of the juniors at all levels from Kwik-Cricket to the Academy side. They now have ten Qualified ECB Coaches, two at UKCC 1 and two at UKCC 2, two of these are at Level 1, two at Level 2 and two at Level 3 as well as an ECB Staff Coach. two of these coaches are women.

Membership profile

Ransome and Marles currently have 72 junior members using the ground regularly three or four times a week at night as well as weekends. Almost all the youngsters have been attracted through involvement with local schools and the local community.

They attract youngsters from a considerable catchment area and in so doing provide cricket facilities for children from the Hawtonville Estate in Newark that lacks any sporting provision. Other youngsters also travel from the surrounding villages of Balderton, Claypole, Long Bennington and Winthorpe.

English Cricket Board Recognition

In the summer of 2003 the club's achievements were recognised nationally when they were asked to stage a two day England Ladies Development Match at the ground by the ECB, the games governing body. During the past six years they have also hosted 15 Nottinghamshire representative matches at different age groups from Under 11 to Under 16 on the ground.

Resources

The club were in desperate need of equipment to run the training sessions. The senior section of the club initially provided £300 worth of equipment and a subsequent grant from ‘Awards for All’ of £2000 enabled us to provide equipment for all age groups. They also have been fortunate enough to again access the ‘Awards for All’ scheme with £5,000 towards the cost of an Artificial Pitch.

They have installed two permanent practice nets and bays and with assistance from the Nottinghamshire Community Foundation to the tune of £7,000 and now have two more artificial practice areas and a bowling machine for the players to use.  

ECB Accreditation

During the Summer of 2005 the club became only the third club in Nottinghamshire to be awarded the prestigious Clubmark accreditation, this shows that they have a well run club covering many aspects including having their own Child Welfare Officer through to having Fully Qualified and CBR checked coaches.

They have also been nominated by the Nottinghamshire Cricket Development Board as a Focus Club, which gives them priority access to courses run by the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board. Nottinghamshire currently has only 23 and Ransome and Marles are Newark’s only Clubmark accredited and Focus Club.

They have also been offered the chance to secure some permanent net facilities on their ground through the Community Cricket Development Fund (CCDF) through being one of the country’s better clubs in terms of development issues.

Chance To Shine

This year the club have also been nominated as one of three clubs in Nottinghamshire to be on the new scheme 'A Chance To Shine'. The club will be given £6,000 to run a scheme where they have to do 20 hours per week in schools coaching, they are linked in with five Primary schools and one Secondary school.

Anniversary Dinner

Ransome and Marles Cricket Club celebrate their 75th anniversary with a dinner at Newark Town Hall on Friday 14th July 2006 at 7:30pm for 8:00pm. Tickets, which are priced at £20 a head, are available from Wendy Leggett on 01636 681520. Guest speaker for the evening is Derek Randall, and the admission fee includes a buffet style meal and a live band. Dress code is evening dress, shirt and tie.