GETTING THEIR EYES IN: Allan Beaumont, left, Conservation Manager for West Yorkshire Archive Service, and Yorkshire County Cricket Club Archives Committee chairman David Hall inspect progress on the scorebook which records Yorkshire's first-ever match against Surrey at The Oval on June 5 and 6, 1863.
Fred Trueman's widow bounces Yorkshire's first day into the 21st Century
Words: DAVID WARNER
Pictures: GARY LONGBOTTOM,
Yorkshire Post
A £1,000 gift in memory of Yorkshire and England fast-bowling legend Fred Trueman has more than covered the cost of superb renovation work on Yorkshire's original scorebook and minute book.
The gift to the Club's Archives Committee has come from Fred's widow, Veronica, following the sale of some of Fred's extensive library of cricket books, and work on the minute book which records the Club's foundation in 1863 has already been completed.
The work was commissioned by the Archives Committee, who were represented on a visit to Allan Beaumont, Conservation Manager for West Yorkshire Archives Service, by chairman David Hall, Ron Deaton and James Greenfield. Allan's Wakefield team are expected to complete restoration of the scorebook in a few weeks.
The minute book - which contains all the minutes from 1861 to 1878 - will be exhibited on suitable occasions at Headingley Carnegie, along with the scorebook, and will be on display in the East Stand Long Room during this season's Championship match against Surrey from July 30 to August 2.
Veronica Trueman is understood to have made generous donations from book sales to other charities close to Fred's heart.
The Archives Committee receives an annual stipend from the County Club to cover the cost of storing memorabilia, but most of its income is derived from private donations and money raised from selling items which are not considered to be of outstanding interest to Yorkshire.
It was mainly through private donations that the committee was able to obtain Hedley Verity's blazer for the museum, an item which probably would have fetched between £3,000 and £4,000 at auction.
David said the first attempt to place Yorkshire County Cricket on an organised footing came at a meeting on March 7, 1861, in the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield - the site of the Crucible Theatre.
The Adelphi was run by Harry Sampson, a local cricket celebrity and a member of the United England Eleven.
The purpose of the meeting was to set up a Public Match Fund Committee.
Details of that meeting are in the minute book, along with the meeting at the same venue on January 8, 1863, at which it was resolved that "a county club be formed, the annual subscription to be no less than 10s 6d per member".
That resolution sowed the seeds for what was to become the most famous cricket club in the world - and the piece of paper upon which it is written, above, is in the eyes of many Yorkshire aficionados of more importance even than The Ashes!
The Archives Committee is doing excellent work in cataloguing the scores of items which belong to Yorkshire County Cricket Club, most them stored at the West Yorkshire Archives headquarters, Sheepscar, Leeds, and many will be housed at Headingley Carnegie once it acquires its own museum.
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David said the committee really started work four years ago, and was the inspiration of Yorkshire's former Chairman and President, Robin Smith, who is still a member of the Board.
The first chairman was Harold North, who remains a member of the committee, but who stood down as chairman on health grounds.
"We have now listed all the memorabilia, and put into the right place everything that had been squirrelled away," David said.
"We made a specific decision to record and retain anything that was part of the heritage of Yorkshire CCC, and to dispose of everything not Yorkshire-related.
"It is the sale of these items which meets the costs of acquiring things relating to Yorkshire cricket.
"As custodians of the Club's archives we have a responsibility to ensure that the collection is properly maintained, and we are extremely grateful to West Yorkshire Archive Services for their help and advice regarding all aspects of storage, conservation and display. Most of the several thousand items we have in the collection are currently held on our behalf by WYAS. We plan to display many of the more visually interesting items in a new museum at Headingley Carnegie Stadium in the not-too-distant future."
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