Home Ground: Kinson Manor (The Manor ), Broadway, Kinson, Bournemouth. Tel: 01202 580293
Home Ground 1st XI: Dean Park, Cavendish Road Bournemouth.Tel: 01202 55872
Honours: De Zoete Charity Cup 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, runners-up 1997-2002 and 2007. Rashleigh Bowl 1994, 1997-2000. Campbell Cup runners-up 1998 and 2005. CSSA Six a side Tournament 1990 and 1993. DCA Fair Play Award; First XI 2007. Repesentative selections; numerous including Captains of BDCA Under-14s, Paul Kendall; Under-21s, Lee Hopkins; Seniors, Andy Fitzjohn and Over-50s, Derek Hopkins.
Championships: BDCA Junior League 1972 then various [across four teams] through to BDCA Premier League in 1996,1998-2000. DCA Division 5, 4, 3, 2 from 1999-2002, then Division 1 in 2005and 2010 with promotion to DCA Premier League.
Coaches: 6 ECB Qualified cricket coaches:Garry Coffin, Darren Cowley, Andy Fitzjohn, Frankie Fitzjohn, Derek Hopkins and Adie Ward, and 3 Qualified Umpires in its membership: Colin Brickell, Richard Fagence, Barry Rawlings ( and others in the past: Bill Foord and Clive Parsons)
OSCA [Outstanding Services to Cricket Award, ECB/Nat West project] Derek Hopkins 2004, Services to Dorset Cricket; Andy Fitzjohn
Outside of school cricket in 1967 there was very little choice apart from playing for adult sides in the local leagues or in club cricket, which to many young people, especially those endowed with little confidence, was somewhat daunting. Derek Hopkins was one such person who, with support from a workmate, Alan Simpson, decided to form his own club and make it up with his brothers, school friends, workmates and their friends and relations. Too soon he realised that they needed money [a rare commodity then], some kit and a name. The latter two were solved by the one man, the pastor of the United Reform Church in Sutton Road, Bournemouth. He allowed the young cricketers to forage around the church hall for some kit that had been used, pre war, by their now defunct cricket team. The hunt was successful, uncovering two pairs of small pads, a set of stumps, a couple of well used bats, four batting gloves complete with green rubber spikes and a lump of mildew within which was a ball. When cleaned, with the exception of the ball, these items did as our kit and, out of deference to the pastor, so too was our name, Suttoners.
With help from Jim Godwin and Steve Young, two BDCA stalwarts, we joined the Junior League, a fifth division of the league proper, originally intended for second elevens, where we very gradually acclimatised and more by luck than design, and very much on the back of two excellent all-rounders, David Hopkins and Neil Hussey, we gained promotion, for the 1973 season, into the big boys league. The original intent, of giving anyone who wanted a game of cricket a chance, stayed and to this end, in 1978, we formed a second eleven and the first of our evening sides. By now we had a number of sets of brothers, fathers and sons, nephews and cousins, a peculiarity that is still, happily, with us today. In 1988 we formed a third Saturday side and a second evening team and in the early 1990's a fourth adult eleven. In addition to these teams we, from the outset, enterd the DeZoete Cup, The Culmore Cup, The Rashleigh Bowl, the Indoor League and the Campbell Cup as well as entering, although not sustaining for longer than seven years, twice, the Sunday league. We entertain touring sides and have played loads of friendlies including those when we have gone on our travels. Tours undertaken have included visits to Cornwall [3], Kent, Channel Islands [5], Home Counties and, with the help of Andy Kent and Peter Hargreaves, Denmark. The forming and running of all these extra sides took much work and we have been especially indebted to, then members of the club, Steve Perry, Mike Feeley, Dave Fox, Andy Martin and Clive Parsons.
We realised, early on, that to survive, we needed a regular injection of new players, specifically youngsters. We, therefore, decided to start an Under -14s side and were one of the founder sides of the first youth league in Dorset, played under the auspices of the BDCA. Other age-groups were added through the years and although they chop and change to suit the playing strength [numerical] we will be fielding four sides in 2009, Under -11s, 13s or 14s, 15s and 16s. Formed initially by Derek, the colts set-up has grown in number and importance over the past dozen years, or so, due to the massive effort put in by Andy Fitzjohn supported, obviously by a team of coaches, managers and helpers, albeit there are never enough! We never win trophies in Colts cricket and, in fairness, don't try very hard but, what we do do well is to give everyone a game, keep all the players interested and, therefore, keep a bigger percentage of them in the club, at least until work, university or women take them away!
We have an excellent social basis and following the taking in of the old Civil Service football section, the club has grown very quickly with year round activity at the Manor. We have, with support from the Council, without who's help we wouldn't have been at the Manor at all, changed the pavilion quite drastically from being , basically, a breeze block shell with showers into a pavilion housing a large, comfortable club room with a bar, Sky tv and pool table, modernised ladies and gents toilets, reshaped and secure changing rooms and a loft area for storing whichever kit is not needed at the time. An asphalt path has also been laid, from the car park to the pavilion, into which we intend placing lighting. This, we hope, will encourage the ladies to attend the various social functions we hold without ruining their 'heels'! All this takes a lot of work and organisation and we have a Management Committee, chaired by Andy, to oversee this and keep control of the bar and canteen. Both the cricket and football sections have their own committees and Chairmen whilst Derek is honoured to be President of the Suttoners Sports and Social Club.
Our club, also, has been involved in whatever Association we have played in on the administration side of things. From 1969 when Derek first sat on the BDCA Junior League committee, we have been heavily committed to doing our bit for the game of cricket locally.Members of our club have served on the BDCA [supplying two Chairmen and numerous other committeemen] for 35 years, DCA Board, Executive and League, Dorset CCC, WEL, East Dorset CA [a Chairman and others], Coaches Association [as Chairman], Youth Managers [as Chairman], CCLA {Cricket Centre}, Dorset Cricket Society, Youth Forum [as Chairman] and the DeZoete Charity Cup, helped found the First youth league in Dorset, produced the BDCA handbook for 28 years, organised the BDCA Centenary week in 1996, helped to smoothly merge the BDCA into the DCA in 2003/2004 and amongst other things, organised, captained and were selected to play in numerous representative matches at all ages, ran the BDCA Sports quiz and instigated the Double Wicket Tournament which ran for 18 years. Not a bad record for a club formed only forty years ago.
When the BDCA merged with the DCA, Suttoners became, for a while, the only club with four teams in the new set-up, their golden-yellow banded sweaters and caps appearing all over Dorset rather than just the locality of Bournemouth and it's suburbs. Subsequently, we have moved two of those sides into the Hampshire League in an effort to widen the club's horizons, possibly giving us another ladder to climb in a never ending challenge to improve ourselves and to give all the players a change of scenery. One of these sides has already climbed a division and is close to moving up again. This arrangement also gives players from a wider area a better chance of playing on a Saturday without being caught in the ever increasing volume of traffic that snarls up across Dorset. The A31 across the New Forest is no better but the direction in which we are travelling to and from the matches in Hampshire is usually 'against the tide'. So, plenty of cricket, nicely varied, two sides in the DCA, two in the HCL, one in the WEL, a number of friendlies and cup matches and the Indoor league in the winter, plus, for the youngsters, four age groups with league and cup matches with Tuesday night coaching at the Manor. The adults have organised nets from February until the end of April in the cricket centre at Hurn Bridge.
In 1998, after thirty years of being self-sufficient, the strains, mainly financial, were increasing and were it not for a local firm of Turf Accountants, Parsport, becoming involved, initially through Clive Johns, we would not have been able to improve ourselves to the required standard and, consequently, we would not have achieved all that we have. We are still very grateful to Tony Parsons and his family for their valuable support. Following the selling of their business to Corals, we became indebted to the company for whom our club Treasurer, Steve Warwick, works, Merlo UK, who produce heavy plant equipment and are based in Ringwood. They sponsor the club, as a whole, but their continuing input has been invaluable to our progress. Currently, the cricket section is being supported by Jem Racing. All help is appreciated and we thank these three companies and others who have assisted in the past. Feel free to donate to a good cause!
For forty years we have consolidated, grown, consolidated, grown and so on but, it has been noticed, allied to modern day living, impatience is creeping in....to win this, to win that, get him to play-he's really good, etcetera....quickly, quickly. We will be doing everything possible to do as well as we possibly can but, what we won't do is ride roughshod over the hordes of willing youngsters, some of who are already showing their worth in the first eleven, or the fringe players who may already have had a go at the top level and but for that iota of luck/bad luck, could do it again. We are proud to have attracted the likes of Darren Cowley, Paul McCann, Martin Finch and Andy Coleman and others to the club and hope, that with the support of the rest of the players within the club we can continue to improve. Other players may want to join, of course, and this will only enhance and strengthen all the sides in the club. We have had small number of captains in those forty years, Derek initially, skippering [the first team] for twenty one seasons, Andy taking over for the next, very successful, ten, Kenny Morgan leading us up into the Premiership through seven and Chris Rawlings taking on the mantle for the past two. Clive Johns takes over for 2009 which will allow Chris to concentrate on his all-round abilities. Derek, Andy and Kenny all continued to be involved with captaincy, colts or administration following their first team spells, a total of over seventy years of stable and experienced leadership that has kept the club steady. In earlier years, Steve Perry, Jack Baveridge, Mike Feeley, Clive Parsons and Dave Fox had good spells with the lower teams. In addition to Derek, Andy, Chris and Kenny,Jim straight, Garry Coffin, Neil Corbin, Lee Hopkins, Colin Brickell, Bill Nicholls, Jack Baveridge and Paul Rendell have all been with Suttoners for well over twenty years, some for more than thirty and Jack, forty. A number of those named started in the colts in the early 1980's which, we believe, goes to show how addictive it is being a Suttoner!
We held a Fortieth Anniversary Dinner Dance in March 2008 to which nearly a hundred attended including a number of those from the past. Scott Charlton stepped in at the last moment to provide excellent entertainment which ensured the evening was a marvellous success. Past players who attended included Roger Bazeley, Clive Parsons, Julian Wyatt, Steve Perry, Gary Bazeley, Karl Geary, Colin Brickell, Jack Baveridge, Barry Rawlings although the timing of the event disallowed Richie Buckland, Bill Foord, Dave Baveridge, Barrie Johns, Bill Nicholls and others. Possibly one of the best evenings the club has ever enjoyed, the plaudits must go to Lisa Ward, the club Secretary, for the phenomenal workload she took on in arranging it all. Thanks also to the Woodcroft Tower Hotel, our regular haunt for their cooperation.
We look forward to every season knowing we'll have problems with commitment from some, over- or under- levels of confidence from others and the resultant displeasure of being at a certain number in the batting order or only a change bowler or, even, in the wrong team but, armed with the experience previously described we'll work our way through it. We won't be surprised if we don't succeed at every or any level and we won't be surprised if we do well, what won't surprise us is that we'll cope, stay together, stay a club, stay Suttoners.
Many people have been thanked in this history but it is impossible to mention everyone; needless to say that, each season, at our presentation we make mention of all those valuable people, be they scorers, helpers, drivers, managers, tea ladies, bar staff, scoreboard operators, committee persons. Without them clubs will not survive and Suttoners, in this regard, are no different. The listings of current [2010] club officers and the past season's [2009] award winners are to be found elsewhere in this website. Finally, we are accredited with the Clubmark, are a Focus Club and our Development plan has been logged with Keith Brewer, the CDO, at the Dorset Cricket Centre.
2010 ended dreadfully for the club, having lost Dave Fox, the instigator of our Fourth Team, in the summer to cancer at the age of only 62, we were hit by the still unbelievable loss of Andy Fitzjohn on Boxing Day, to complications arising from pneumonia. Andy was just 46 and had completed twenty five years with the club and was, without doubt, one of the most influential and inspirational members the club has ever and, probably, ever will have had. In addition to this sadness we had been informed by the Council that Zurich Insurance had 'done' a Risk Assessment at the Manor and had found it too dangerous for cricket to continue to be played there [including little 10-year-olds!]. This so-called Assessment was carried out without any discussion with us or our neighbours, or relevant data regarding accidents [or lack of] being supplied by us. Over the Christmas break, therefore, some members of the club petitioned the neighbours and found, heartwarmingly, much support. The local MP, Conor Burns, various Ward Councillors, many correspondents and a slot in the Echo all supported our right to stay at our home. A few weeks into the new year, some concessions have been gained but the battle proper still continues.
Thank you for being interested.
Derek Hopkins
