Tichborne Cricket Club

[sadoldgit]

I am taking a punt here so bear with me. Back in the 60’s my dad worked and played cricket for The Times. Every year at Whitsun (late May bank holiday) they would do a small cricket tour taking in Tichborne CC and Follands CC. I think they used to stay at the Albany Hotel which may well have closed in the 80s?

The Times had a lovely sports ground at Ravensbourne near Bromley in Kent and I think Tichborne may have played some return games there too. I have a vague recollection of Follands being the manufacturers of the Gnat jet? I think there was one at their sports ground?

Just wondering if any one here knows anything about those old cricket matches? I still have a picture of my dad being applauded off the field after getting 98 not out. That would have been mid 60s.

[Badger]

Nice bit of nostalgia there SOG, hope you find the info you're looking for.

 

Can't help about the cricket etc, but if its The Albany off The Avenue then I think it closed mid-late 1980's. It used to be one of our meeting and parking points before matches from time to time.

 

Nice to see it referred to as Whitsun as well.

[Guided Missile]

I am taking a punt here so bear with me. Back in the 60’s my dad worked and played cricket for The Times. Every year at Whitsun (late May bank holiday) they would do a small cricket tour taking in Tichborne CC and Follands CC. I think they used to stay at the Albany Hotel which may well have closed in the 80s?

The Times had a lovely sports ground at Ravensbourne near Bromley in Kent and I think Tichborne may have played some return games there too. I have a vague recollection of Follands being the manufacturers of the Gnat jet? I think there was one at their sports ground?

Just wondering if any one here knows anything about those old cricket matches? I still have a picture of my dad being applauded off the field after getting 98 not out. That would have been mid 60s.

 

In 1959, Folland was absorbed into the Hawker Siddeley Group who eventually dropped the Folland name by 1963. Latterley, the facilities on The Hamble became part of British Aerospace (Aerostructures) concentrating on fuselage design and construction. My Maintenance Engineer worked there. Your Gnat is still there. Check it out on Google Maps, here.

 

Titchborne Park Cricket Club is still going strong. Check this out.

 

During the 1960s, charity matches at Tichborne Park between Sir Anthony Tichborne’s XI and a Celebrity XI featured film stars including John Mills, Kenneth More and David Niven, and from America, Gregory Peck and Bert Lancaster. And before the advent of one day county cricket, Hampshire played the International Cavaliers a number of times at Tichborne Park in front of big crowds. England greats such as Colin Cowdrey, Fred Trueman and Geoff Boycott appeared for the Cavaliers, alongside overseas players such as West Indian legends Garry Sobers and Clive Lloyd.

 

Wallow in the nostalgia with this image.

[Guided Missile]

 

The Albany Hotel, a free house, which stood on the corner of Winn Road and The Avenue, was known as the Stafford House Hotel from 1925 until December 1962, when it changed to the Albany Hotel. At the same time it was modernised and greatly extended to include a bar the Venetian Bar that was open to non-residents.The hotel closed for good in the spring of 1989 and the building was demolished to make way for luxury apartments.

[sadoldgit]

Thanks John. The picture of the Albany rings a bell. I also remember being very impressed as a young lad that Follands were responsible for the Red Arrows in those days. During one visit I remember a fair in the park close to the Albany. I may well have been an annual thing as it was a Bank Holiday. In later years when I used to drive down to see Saints games at The Dell from the Bromley area I used the Albany as a land mark as to where to park my car (a red and white Triumph Herald no less!).

Happy days!

[Guided Missile]

During one visit I remember a fair in the park close to the Albany. I may well have been an annual thing as it was a Bank Holiday.

 

Easter Fun Fair still going strong:

 

 

The fun fair was set up quite close to the old race course. (Southampton had horse racing years ago ...and greyhound and a speedway track)