Players have come and gone at Armitage Bridge, but the Moorhouse clan are ever-present.
Their connection at Armitage Fold goes back a century and a half and, if proud club president Rob Moorhouse has his way, it will continue for a double century and more!
George Moorhouse played for the club in the 1870s, while his brothers, Robert and Fred, both started their careers with Armitage Bridge before going on to county cricket with Yorkshire and Warwickshire respectively.
George’s son, Abraham, played into his 60s for the club while Roy – a winner of both the Lady Sykes Candlesticks (1973) and Fred Stallard Cup (2011) – has been involved all his life.
Roy’s son is Rob, now 55 and a talented prizewinning bowler in his playing days, and his sons are James and Daniel (who is currently playing at Almondbury Wes after coming through the age ranks at the Bridge).
That’s quite a history of devotion, and Rob says there is a feel-good factor generally as the Bridge look to improve both on and off the field for the years to come. Rob explained: “The players themselves have put so much into the work we are doing here and it’s just such a friendly club both on and off the field.
“Ray Gledhill, who played junior cricket here and is the father of our current first-team captain, Andy, has been a revelation in giving us a kick up the backside, acting as works manager, gaffer, the lot, and he drove us into refurbishing the bar when we were thinking of possibly knocking it off.
“We are now getting a lot of visitors to enjoy the facilities, so the work is paying off, and the Foundation Day last summer with Huddersfield Town was a massive success.
“Everyone enjoyed what was a real family day and, hopefully, we will be able to do similar things in the future.”
Moorhouse’s next priority is to get the junior section up to full strength.
“We do need to get more youngsters down to play for us because, once they do and realise what a good club it is to play for, I’m sure they will stay,” he explained.
“At the moment we have only Under 11s and Under 17s, which is a great disappointment to us as a club.
“Because of the ethos of the club, it’s important we get players at Under 9s, Under 13s and Under 15s as well who will then progress into the senior sides. We can’t go out and buy a lot of players, so we would rather invest in bringing through our own young talent and in making the facilities better.”
New roll-on roll-off covers are on their way, courtesy of a three-year interest-free loan from the Drakes League, while in the clubhouse they hope to have completed new ladies toilets by the end of the season.
“It’s been a bit bowler-friendly down here in the past, but the wickets are much better now and, with the covers, I think they’ll get even better,” said Rob.
“We had Phil Redgwick down to re-lay some of the strips and they are much better now – even though our batting doesn’t always show it!
“Our teams are a bit further down the tables than we would like, but they are playing at a good, competitive level and enjoying their cricket, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Seb Allen joined from Holmfirth this season but got injured playing football, Haydn Charlton has made an excellent impact since joining from Kirkheaton, and the Bridge have Australian Brendan Walsh from Cricket Victoria as their overseas player for 2014.
“Brendan is a close friend of Hampshire’s Australia player Glenn Maxwell, and Glenn visited us a couple of weeks ago to see Brendan and watch a game,” said Rob.
“Everyone was delighted to see him and the good thing here is that we know everyone is enjoying both the cricket and the social side – that’s half the battle.”
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