In another local newspaper, there was a picture of Purnells Cricket Club, at the end of a season which took in the lows and highs of its fortunes.

This photograph is of the clubs 1st XI of approximately 1970. Pictured back row, left to right is: Bob Lomax, Tony Bray, Maurice Hoile, Chris Lancaster, Mike Dando, Jeff Jones, Tony Edwards, John Higgins, Reg Smith. In the front row are Derek Woodland, Gordon Minall, The captain Brian Harrington, Rex Padfield and Geoff Clare.

The photograph was taken near the end of the season, before a match, which never started. Wellington, the visitors, did not turn up.

There was no league cricket back then; the fixture secretary would try to fill every date, but even the best would have some gaps. Open dates would be advertised in the local press, and Wellington came to the rescue.

Home and away, with the first game down at Wellington, Purnells gave them a good thrashing, which is probably why they did not come to Paulton.

Games back then started at 2:30pm, with tea at 5pm. We ambled back out around 5.40pm until 6:30pm. At this point, twenty overs were then bowled until stumps were drawn. The bowlers were not restricted to a limit and inner circles for fielders did not exist.

When I started playing for the club at sixteen, we had the luxury of a coach to travel to away games, for both 1st and 2nd sides. They could be boozy affairs!

The wives and girlfriends and sometimes older children would never watch the game, but get the coach driver to take them to the nearest town. They would return, after the shops had closed, to see the later stages at the game.

John Higgins