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| In September the new dressing rooms had been
opened, although not completed to everyone's satisfaction. £1,975 had now
been spent and £260 was outstanding. In 1965 Solicitors were involved and
legal action was taken against the club. Still no progress had been made
with the Trustees, who remained unconvinced that a bar at the club was a
necessity, but by October, prompted by Mr. Albert Kay, who was chairman
during these traumatic times, the promised meeting with the Management
Committee had taken place and permission had been granted.
New rules were now legally required and these resulted in a shift in power. The control of the club was now vested in the Management Committee, elected as before in the proportion of three from the Cricket Section and one each from the Tennis and Bowling Sections, the Trustees, along with the President of the Club and the Secretary and Treasurer of the Management Committee, becoming ex-officio members. Trustees of the Club had through the years nominated their own replacements; now as in other matters this onus would be on the Management Committee. The new rules were approved in July 1966, and arrangements made with Threlfall's Brewery to have a bar installed in the new building which was being used solely as dressing rooms. The bar was opened on 2.11.1966 by Geoff Pullar the Lancashire and England cricketer. By this time a summons had been issued against the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Club for £190. Six months later £100 was offered to settle out of court. The cricket team, after the heady days of 1963, had lapsed into a middle-order side, but had won the newly instituted Crumblehulme Cup in 1966, a trophy awarded after taking into consideration the league positions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams of each club. Until this year, Sigsworth's 780 runs in 1954 had stood as the most any player has scored in a season for the club. Now, Brian Cole's bettering of this total, led him into the ranks of the professionals. Previously, in 1964, Tommy Hughes had shared the League catching prize in a three way tie. The new bar so keenly sought as a financial aid to the club, had brought its attendant problems of organisation and voluntary manning, causing irritations and a degree of discord. The year ended with the Chairman appealing for more harmony between members and a more united effort on club affairs. In the year that followed, a halt had been called to the legal proceedings, with the intervention of the liquidator of the building company, and a lack of support effected closure of the bar for the winter months. A minute from an August meeting in 1968 suggests relationships at the club were still strained, and it was at this time a decision was taken to employ a bar steward. |
In the spring of 1969, Mr. Syd Adams's offer
to run a coaching scheme for 10 to 14 year-olds was to lead the club into
the industrious 1970's. Just a couple of announcements in the local press,
stating that youngsters interested in cricket coaching should be at the
ground at a given time, brought an overwhelming response, and a
realisation that the future of the game would be secure if every club were
as lucky as Bradshaw in having a member prepared to give so freely of his
time. The benefits were not all one-sided, for youngsters inevitably bring
parents, some of whom, like what they see, stay and involve themselves in
the club affairs, witness present-day secretary Reg. Wharton.
New building projects, varying from £10,000 to £12,000 grant-aided sports complexes, to extending the new dressing-room building, were examined for an 18-month period, during which the cricket team suffered the ignominy of being dismissed for its lowest Bolton League total of 19 at home to Horwich early in season 1970. Frank Millhouse, fresh from completing a spell as club secretary, and one of the day's violated, sitting in the yet early afternoon, surveyed the empty cricket ground, and, his eyes straying to the club shield displayed on the wall, suggested ruefully the the motto (Stabilis) would be more appropriate written backwards. Finally in 1971 alterations to the new dressing-rooms were approved and facilities were made in the old pavilion for the players to return there. By the autumn a definite plan had been formulated: to extend the bar area, and build a kitchen on the back of the new building, which henceforward would serve as a club-House and tea-Room, with new dressing-rooms to be erected over a storage garage on the site of the old pavilion. It was considered the whole scheme would cost £7,000-£8,000. At this time Mr. Albert Kay, who had guided the club so successfully through the sometimes difficult but rewarding past ten years, retired from the chairmanship but not from the committee of the club. Commitments in other fields made this a necessary move. Mr. Arnold Hamer was elected his successor to preside over the next ambitious phase of the Club's new look. It was at about this time that Robin Marler, the Sunday Times cricket correspondent, was bemoaning the lack of any form of cricket coaching in schools. The secretary, in response to the article, had written him relating the Bradshaw Club's experience when Mr. Adams had started his coaching activities, at the same time pointing out that youngsters could show plenty of interest in cricket if encouraged. Robin Marler passed the letter on to the Lancs. Playing-Fields Association. the eventual lucrative spin-off being a grant from the L.P.F.A. and The Lords Taverners. A grant was also obtained from the Brewery, whilst the Club President, who had been closely informed of the Club's aspirations by the Chairman, offered an interest-free loan of £5,000. The Club was relieved therefore of the difficulties that had accompanied the first building scheme. |
Champions 1963
Back row: G. Broughton, A. McClymont, R. Sugden, H. Coupe, T. Croft, P.
Greenwood (pro), D. Hindle, K. Whittle, G. Stockton, G. Elson, A. Paxton, O.
Bradbury, G. Shutt, A. Kay.
Front row: D. Hobson, D. Morris, T. Hughes (capt), A. S. Wilson, B. H. Cole.