The idea for this anniversary booklet was conceived at a Cricket Committee Meeting when the matter of how to celebrate the Club's 40th Anniversary Year came up on the Agenda. Since I joined the Club in 1977 I have collected many souvenirs and taken innumerable photographs to assist my recollection of events on and off the field when advancing age ultimately overtakes my ability, if not the will, to continue playing.
It seemed an appropriate time to investigate the earlier years of the Club's history, how it was founded and how it has developed into one of the most well known and respected Cricket Clubs in the area.
What is common to all cricketers who have the honour of playing for the Woodpeckers Club is a sense of unmitigated pride when walking out onto the field and whilst the success rate of the Club will inevitably vary from year to year the spirit of the Club always hovers high.
As Richard J. Witcomb, high quality batsman and raconteur, has often commented, "If we don't beat them, (the opposition), on the pitch we will beat them in the bar". In my experience that has often been the case but not out of any intention to be competitive, more the desire to take in greater quantities of alcohol and exercise our heavily selective memories when recalling the greatest moments from previous matches.
The Woodpeckers' spirit will thrive and grow for many years and I hope that some enthusiastic cricketer will produce a sequel to this booklet in years to come to continue some form of record of the Club's achievements both on and off the field.
I must emphasise that the booklet is not intended to be a complete outline of the Club's history, more a "taster" of some of the more significant events, developments and characters over the first forty years.
I would like to offer my personal and special thanks to Ron (Cashflow) Jones, who has unstintingly offered me his support and encouragement often moving me up and down the batting order with such frequency that I have batted anywhere between Nos. 1 and 8 solely in order to enable him to borrow my heavy bat. Ron's consistent determination to occupy the batting crease for as long as humanly possible is quite amazing and if it was not for the prospect of negotiating a very satisfactory deal (from his viewpoint of course) off the field, I suspect he would be batting for most of each summer. I hope that Ron has many more successful years of batsmanship to come and, just as importantly, that his son Darren is in a position to drive him to and from all matches.
Whilst the material in this book has been prepared in the belief that it is factual, inevitably I cannot vouch that all material is absolutely accurate and due to the lack of archive material it is by no means complete. I hope that the production of these notes will provide interest and amusement and also serve to stimulate new historical material to come forward. I also hope that sometime in the future a sequel will be produced, perhaps at the 50th Anniversary in 2001.
