Blaina Cricket Club is the first club to take part in Taking the Field, a collaboration between the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the University of Glamorgan. Taking the Field aims to create a collection of digital stories – short oral histories complemented with music, video and photographs – that reflects the importance of grassroots cricket to local communities in both the UK and Sri Lanka.
The project will run over two years and collect digital stories from local clubs that will be displayed by the MCC Museum both online and at Lord’s.
As part of a pilot project focussing on clubs with strong links to mining communities, Blaina CC in Blaenau Gwent have been working with Taking the Field for the past few months, and this week the first digital stories go online telling the club’s history.
Blaina have been researching their club’s history for 18 months after spotting a photo of a match at the club’s ground during the 1920s. Their interest was sparked because clearly thousands of people were watching the match. Since then, they have been hard at work digging up old photographs and newspaper reports as far back as the 1850s. The club’s first match took part in 1853 – a convincing 81 run win! Since then the club continued to have a rich history, with great periods of success in the 1920s and 1980s.
The club became involved with Taking the Field in September 2010, and the collaboration has been extremely successful. ‘The club have been wonderful,’ said Dr Emma Peplow of Taking the Field ‘Their enthusiasm has been fantastic and we’ve collected so many interesting stories and photographs that I have too much work to do! However, with the first digital stories online before Christmas we’re really pleased that we can begin to promote Blaina CC and their history. There will be many more to follow.’
Alan Williams, Blaina fixtures secretary and one of the leading figures behind the research, said that the club were ‘very excited about what has happened with the research. It is a great opportunity to be involved in this project; the history of the club is of great importance to the local area and it is brilliant that we can collect and share it.’ The club have worked closely in tandem with the Blaina Heritage Action Group, and hope that their findings can be placed in the Heritage Action Group’s Museum once finished.
Blaina CC are extremely keen to hear from anyone who has had a past interest in the club. So far they have tracked down old members (or their surviving relatives!) all over the country and as far away as the US. They would love to hear from anyone who can contribute to their history. Taking the Field will also return in the New Year for some follow up interviews.
