The Gossamer Strand of Memory

 Hi everyone!

A Semi-Sesquicentennial Anniversary 

For those of us who grew up in the Tunbridge Wells area 

... But may not have lived there for many years

Well, I have long agreed with what Clive James wrote about Sydney, the city of his youth, in the closing words of Unreliable Memoirs:

“Pulsing like a beacon through the days and nights, the birthplace of the fortunate sends out its invisible waves of recollection. 

It always has and it always will, until even the last of us Come Home.”

Exactly 75 years on from my Favourite Game EVER, I was back at The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.

That Saturday  - now long, long ago -  at a moment or two after 6.30pm it had all come down – as it always should – to:

The Final Ball … 3 Needed !!!

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Please enjoy:

The Gossamer Strand of Memory 

“Civilisation hangs suspended, from generation to generation, by

the Gossamer Strand of Memory. 

If only one cohort of mothers and fathers fails to convey to its children 

what it has learned from its parents, then the great chain of learning and wisdom snaps. 

If the guardians of human knowledge stumble only one time, 

in their fall collapses the whole edifice of knowledge and understanding.”

Jacob Neusner

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Saturday 23^rd June 1951

Kent v Sussex

The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells

My Favourite Game EVER !!

I grew up hearing  - very regularly ! – the story of that day.

And in adulthood I surely must have told You the tale  - at least – a “Million” times !

And  … I want it to be the one Cricket story at my Funeral Service.

If You manage to outlive me, do come along !! 

So … What is it about the story that I so love?

Of course, when it came to the Final Ball the Sussex No.3 on strike was just 19 years old - my Favourite Player:

Young Jim.

 

But the story is about much, much more than Young Jim.

It is the story of …

Even though you may have had a lot of luck to get the Stars to Align 🌟🌟🌟

Right at the end there is still the need for the

“One bounce through midwicket into the marquees for 4”.

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Having walked the first half of the Tunbridge Wells Circular: Frant – Groombridge – Speldhurst – Southborough  on Tuesday 9^th June...

On Tuesday 23^rd June 2026  - 75 years to the day from the Final Ball of 1951 - I set off to walk the second half of the Tunbridge Wells Circular: Southborough – Pembury – Hawkenbury – Frant.

I was delighted to be joined by regular walking chums David, Martin & Roger.

The first game at Southborough was back in 1794

Pretty sure  ... The Lads were playing !

We called into All Saints’ Tudeley: the only church in the world to have all its twelve windows decorated by the artist Mark Chagall.

The windows are a memorial tribute to Sir Henry and Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid' Sarah, who died aged just 21 in a sailing accident off Rye. 

A reminder that Privilege & Wealth are no protector against Tragedy, which may - in  some small part - bring benefit & joy to those who follow.

Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.  

Psalm 150

As we passed by the ground where Hawkenbury CC used to play, I thought back 59 years & a couple of days …  

A young boy who  - on his 15^th birthday & on Club Cricket debut - was facing the Final Ball… 3 needed !

Match Report from Wednesday 21^st June 1967:

https://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-clock-of-life

Where have the Seasons all gone !!

But with 3 miles still to go … there was no time for dawdling.

We strolled on, with one last climb up to Frant, the highest point of the Tunbridge Wells Circular.

We planned to stop for a well-deserved Pint at the End at The Abervagenny Arms… which has been serving Pints of Best to weary walkers since 1450 !!

But not today; it was closed !!

For those who love their history ,,, the Marquesses of Abervagenny has owned the land around Frant and Eridge since 1448.

They have also owned land far beyond Frant …

Including The Nevill Sports Ground in Eridge Road, Hove, the home of the Brighton & Hove Cricket Club.

From Frant we took an Uber to the Nevill Cricket Ground.

We passed Forest Road, where almost 70 years ago I used to walk home from St Mark’s Primary School.

I always dreamt that I would live in one of the houses on the South side.

#StillDreaming !!

As we reached Warwick Park, I told the Lads that 75 years ago Fred & Isabel had parked on Forest Road just beyond Warwick Park & walked down towards The Nevill.

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For Fred & Isabel it had been very much a last-minute decision to watch the game.

The previous evening at just before 10 o’clock they were having a drink in The Queen’s Head in Landgate, Rye.

A friend of Fred’s from Rye CC was standing at the bar and had asked if Fred was going to the game.

Suddenly - and completely out of the blue - it was #GameOn !

Proof - not that it is ever needed - that the Best Decisions are so very often made in Bars !!

Even on the Saturday morning - damp weather meant that play did not start until after an early Lunch – Fred & Isabel were dithering about whether to travel the 30 miles from Rye. With the picnic packed & the pork pie purchased, they thought they should risk it.

But there was another late decision …

The Sussex No.3 was doing his National Service in the RAF.

Initially Sussex’s request for Jim to be granted leave was turned down by the RAF.

But when Kent asked the RAF for Squadron Leader Maurice Fenner to be granted leave, it was agreed that both Jim and Maurice could play.

That Saturday morning Maurice – who would become a Group Captain and Kent Secretary from 1977 to 1982 – gave Jim a lift from RAF Northolt to Tunbridge Wells.

Maurice & Jim 

The Nevill, 23rd June 1951

Forever Young

They knew each other well … a few weeks before they had been in the Combined Services team that played Glamorgan at Pontypridd.

That XI also had future England & Yorkshire captain Brian Close. 20+ years later as Jim’s Sussex career was coming to an end, it was Brian – now Somerset captain – who took Jim to play his final 3 seasons down at Taunton.

Just "lent" to Somerset !

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Fred & Isabel took their seats in the wooden stand on the Upper Ground side of the Pavilion.

Plenty of well-known players in the 2 XIs, including Test players for Kent: Arthur Fagg & Doug Wright and for Sussex: Captain Jim Langridge & Alan Oakman.

And players who would become well-known, especially the Kent No.4: 18 year old Colin Cowdrey.

 

When the first Sussex wicket fell at 16 - Don Smith caught Colin Page bowled Simon Kimmins for 7 - Jim made his way to the wicket.

I don't doubt that Lord Ted's description of Jim  - written for the introduction of Derek Watts's Young Jim in 2005 - was true back in the Summer of 1951:

You could pick out his style from a mile away, open stanced with his hands high on the handle.

No furrowed brow for this Prince of sweet ball strikers.

Young Jim & Lord Ted at Hove Actually

Both play in my Sussex Alltime Dream XI

In the story of that day I grew up hearing so regularly, Jim was quickly into his stride.

When Jim reached his 50, Fred - he would always claim, entirely unexpectedly – Proposed to Isabel…

as long as Jim gets a 100 !!

As his innings progressed, Jim survived a close LBW and then a dropped catch.

And as his score edged into the 90s, understandably he slowed. Such that by the time of the last over of the day Jim was stuck in the Nervous Nineties.

The Kent bowler for the last over was Simon Kimmins, bowling from the Railway End.

He had made his First Class debut for Combined Services v Glamorgan in 1950.

Brian Close and Maurice Fenner were both playing !

Even if you're a lifelong Kent Fan, you probably haven't heard of Simon Kimmins. 

He only played 16 FC games.

Runs: 563 at an average of 22

Wickets: 24 at an average of 41

Of the 22 cricketers playing that day, Jim & Simon were the last two to die, in 2022 & 2025

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As the Clock of Life ticked just past 6.30 pm, in the wooden stand news had spread of the Proposal …

No one had left early !

By the Final Ball of the day there had indeed been had a lot of luck to get the Stars to Align 🌟🌟🌟

But …

Right at the end there was still the need  - with Jim on 97 - for the 

“One bounce through midwicket into the marquees for 4”.

In the many years that followed, Isabel would always say that - though she had never heard of Neil Armstrong and had no idea that Men would walk on the Moon - her heart was racing faster than the First Man’s when he took One Small Step for Man !!

 

Bowling from the Railway End, Simon Kimmins's final ball was full of length and on middle & leg …

Over 60 years later when I spoke with Young Jim...

In sport, and more or less only in sport

We can cast our eyes once again over the sepia-tinted heroscape of lost youth.

Simon Barnes

Jim told me that  - facing the final ball of the day & needing 3 for his century  - all he was thinking about was ...:

“One bounce through midwicket into the marquees for 4”.

100 for Mr Parks !!

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So; what happened next ?

For Jim … 

On the morning of the next game (against Essex) Jim achieved his first major cricketing ambition.

Congratulations, said Jim Langridge. I've got something for you, and presented Jim with his Sussex cap.

True to tradition, the drinks were on Jim that night.

Young Jim by Derek Watts

And for Fred and Isabel, they too went off for a celebration drink - or two !!

By around 7.30 pm they were in the bar of The Greyhound in Wadhurst.

 What would you like to drink, Is ?

A Treble Gin & Tonic, please … Steady on the Tonic !

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 At a moment or two after 6.30pm it had all come down – as it always should – to:

The Final Ball … 3 Needed !!!

On strike the Sussex No.3 was just 74 years old !! 

Delighted to be joined my one of the great figures of Tunbridge Wells CC: 

Stephen Niker (on left)

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 Fred, What would you have done if Jim hadn't scored a 100?

We'd have had to count his runs in the 2nd innings !!

They had no idea that there wouldn't be a 2nd Innings.

Sussex beat Kent by by an innings and 94 runs !!!

In Life, it pays to: Go big, Go early !

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Four years on from the game in 1951 Mum, Dad & I moved from Northiam to Tunbridge Wells … barely ½ mile from The Nevill.

They would live there the rest of their lives.

Mum & Dad would often talk about Saturday 23^rd June 1951.

All those so familiar episodes of a well-loved story:

The RAF agreeing to Jim playing

The Queen’s Head

The Sun coming out in the afternoon

The One Bounce through midwicket into the marquees for 4 

They never ever wondered about What If the Stars had not aligned ⭐⭐⭐

And they never doubted that their Favourite Player was … Young Jim !

Mine too !!

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Plenty of Season 2026 still to come…

I really hope you will come down to Hove Actually … I’ve Saved a Deckchair for YOU!!!

I can’t promise you that Young Jim will be playing, but I can promise you that

it will all come down to the Final Ball … 3 needed !

Sussex win final Ball Thrilla !!

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own. 

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Dozing … Up in the Deckchairs

PS

“Civilisation hangs suspended, from generation to generation, by the Gossamer Strand of Memory.

If only one cohort of mothers and fathers fails to convey to its children what it has learned from its parents, then the great chain of learning and wisdom snaps.

If the guardians of human knowledge stumble only one time, in their fall collapses the whole edifice of knowledge and understanding.”

On Wednesday 20^th May 2026 my Grandson Young JJ was watching Sussex v Berkshire in a T20 game at Horsham … his first Cricket Match EVER.

Young JJ, have I ever told you about Young Jim going to his century on the Final Ball at The Nevill back in 1951 ?

Yes, Grandad Ric ... Many, Many times !!!

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Ol’ Ric, we all know who your Favourite Player is.

But do you have a Favourite Bus ?

The Brighton & Hove bus fleet is around 220 in number.

Funnily enough … I do  have a Favourite one !!!