Historic Pateley Bridge Cricket Club to thank community for 'being saved' with exciting new event

One of Nidderdale’s oldest cricket clubs which was in danger of folding says it is fighting on and is to hold a Celebration Day to rekindle interest in the sport.

In existence since the 1840s, the Harrogate Advertiser was delighted to publicise Pateley Bridge Cricket Club when it came to us in March with a warning that it was “desperately short” of players to continue its participation in the Nidderdale Cricket League, a division it founded.

While not totally out of the woods yet, club secretary Rob Light says the club is bouncing back and there has been new interest and support since that last-ditch appeal earlier in the year.

“The coverage the Harrogate Advertiser gave to the plight of Pateley Bridge Cricket Club helped to generate some more interest in our historic club and, as a result, we are still going, although things still haven't been easy,” he said.

"The general support we have had from the local cricket community has also been tremendous with many people saying it would be a tragedy if the club ceased to exist.

"Some new players have joined and former players have returned to help us field a team each week so far this season.

"We’ve also received some great support from other clubs with loan players when we have needed them especially through the Nidderdale League Hub system."

The root cause of Pateley Bridge Cricket Club’s challenging situation lies not only in the loss of a number of players in recent years but to broader social trends in rural England.

In that this venerable sporting club is sadly not alone.

Rob Light said: “It’s ironic that clubs in upper Nidderdale appear to be the ones struggling most, when it was six of these clubs - Pateley Bridge, Birstwith, Ripley, Hampsthwaite, Glasshouses, Dacre - that formed the Nidderdale League in 1894.

"Those villages are now different places to what they were 130 years ago.

"From recent conversations, it’s clear that a lot of clubs find themselves in a similar situation to us, especially those in more isolated rural communities.

"But the difficulties we have had have really brought home what cricket and our club mean to us as individuals and the local community.”

To celebrate that shared experience with members of other clubs and people who have not yet been involved in cricket, Pateley Bridge Cricket Club is to hold a special event on Sunday, August 23.

Celebration Day will involve an adult six-a-side competition, cricket-based games for children, stalls, a raffle, and a bar and a BBQ.

"The aim is to get as many current and former players from our club and other clubs together to celebrate all the great times being part of a cricket club has given us,” said Rob Light.

“We hope it can play a small part in to revitalising interest in the sport.

"We still need to recruit more players for our junior team but our cricket club now has a thriving social media presence and we have plans for a women’s softball team."