A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLUB
In 1982 local historian Elizabeth Knight offered to research the origins of the club using information gleaned from copies of local Almanacks held in the Cowper and Newton Museum. Her findings are summarised below.
"The first reference to cricket being played at Olney appeared in the Almanack of 1883 and refers to matches played by Olney Cricket Club in the 1882 season. By 1888 two clubs are mentioned, Olney Cricket Club and Excelsior Cricket Club, and both clubs were featured until 1894 when reference to Olney Cricket Club disappeared, leaving reference to Olney Excelsior Cricket Club only; this appears to suggest that the two clubs had amalgamated. In 1898 a second club appeared, Olney Baptist Cricket Club, but by 1901 only the Excelsior club is mentioned and in 1902 the Excelsior seems to have been dropped in favour of Olney Cricket Club. The transformation to the current name of Olney Town Cricket Club was completed by 1907.
In the early days cricket was played at several locations in the town; these included "Hatch Green" which was a field now occupied by the Carey Way estate; Cherry Orchard, now the site of the Conygere estate; then on a field in Yardley Road, believed to be where the Moores Hill estate is; and finally in 1898 the club moved to the Recreation Ground where they have been ever since."
More recently a chance perusal of archive copies of the local paper for 1875 revealed a reference to cricket at Olney in that year, so it would appear that Millennium Year coincides with at least 125 years of cricket in Olney.
Very little information is available concerning the early years, other than summaries of results, the names of captains and club officials, and that 1st and 2nd teams were fielded. Of the names mentioned several of their descendants still reside in Olney and some have a record of at least four generations connections with the club.
Fixtures were played against a variety of club sides, most games being friendlies but there was some league/cup competition and the earliest available photographic record shows what is believed to be the Olney Cricket Club 2nd XI of 1903 with a large silver trophy. This trophy has survived the years and is now awarded to the winners of the Citizen Knockout competition.
Travel to away fixtures has changed over the years and has ranged from horse drawn carriages in the early days, then train to either Northampton or Bedford, bus travel initially in a very ancient vehicle run by Sammy Downing, then more latterly using Souls Coaches. (Bob Soul was President of the Club for over 25 years). On at least one occasion the whole team cycled to Newport Pagnell, but nowadays the usual method of transport is by private car which has the advantage of flexibility but lacks the team spirit and conviviality of bus travel with players and their families. The Club has survived two World Wars and there were inevitably players who did not return after each war to continue the game they loved. Certainly after the 39/45 war it was clear to see the enthusiasm, pleasure and thankfulness which the players who returned from active service brought back to the game, particularly in view of the fact that families were poor and there was very little kit, balls etc available, and no pavilion.
Prior to the last war the club had a small pavilion situated at the Church end of the ground. There is no information as to when this was built but it was probably just before the 14/18 war. This pavilion served the club until 1939 when it was demolished and the ground ploughed up to produce food, potatoes etc for the war effort. The ground was resown with grass after the war and levelled; before this the area was extremely undulating with the "lands" effect of years of traditional ploughing methods. Cricket recommenced in the 1947 season with no pavilion but the use of a small hut belonging to the Rugby Club for kit storage and shelter from the inevitable rain. Needless to say it was totally inadequate for two teams. Teas were taken on the Market Square at Mrs Looms' Tea Rooms; she was renowned for the quality of her food and few opposition teams were as effective after the tea interval. By 1948 club members had put their collective skills together and built a new pavilion at the railway end of the ground in a very similar style to the prewar one. A few seasons later a small extension was added to create a kitchen from which teas were provided, courtesy of Alfie Harrison the local baker, and a playing member, who frequently departed the field of play 15 minutes or so before tea break to ensure all was ready. This pavilion was still far too small so by 1960 someone spotted an advert for an unused chicken broiler house for sale locally. The main attraction was its size, some 50 feet by 40 feet. The building was purchased and a military style operation to dismantle and re-erect it at the ground was masterminded by the aforesaid Alfie Harrison using all his expertise gained from his war service in Burma. This building was considered marvellous by comparison with what had gone before, the accommodation provided two large team changing rooms, a very large tearoom and space to store kit. This building proved adequate for many years with several minor improvements being added at intervals, but it became increasingly obvious that an ex chicken hut could not provide the standards expected by both club members and visiting teams as we passed into the 21st Century. Thus a New Pavilion Fund was launched, and with the help of local businesses, individual club members, the local town and borough councils and various other bodies, a new pavilion was planned, designed and finally built, with an offical opening on July 3 2005. The club has an excellent playing reputation, with two sides being fielded each Saturday for league matches, and one league side and a "Casuals" XI on Sundays, and with the opening of the new building, some of the best club facilities in the area. The club also has a thriving youth section, which offers coaching, and league games for both boys and girls.