Meet the Team

The 2024 Hampshire Cricket Heritage 

Volunteers Team

We hope to give you on this page in due course an introduction and small insight into each of the main volunteers who all help to run Hampshire Cricket Heritage. 

Firstly, there is Dave Allen who really needs no introduction to anyone who has followed Hampshire cricket over the past forty years. He is featured in the History Tab on this site on the sub-page entitled HCCC's Current Historian. The first Heritage Group at the time of the move from Northlands Road at the turn of the century consisted of various individuals who took on specific roles – principally

• Dave Allen (Chairman) – Curator plus publications & fund-raising

• Richard Binns – Rose Bowl displays, (Members’ Committee)

• Neil Jenkinson - Archivist

• Bob Murrell – Statistician

More than twenty years later, Dave continues to be the driving force of HCH to this day. He is  very experienced and skilled, both as a writer and commentator, who has shaped the heritage on display at Hampshire's new home since 2001, in a totally unique and special way. He has the finest scrapbook collection ever imaginable on Hampshire Cricket. He is also hugely proud to follow in the footsteps of so many great former Hampshire historians. Sharing his fount of knowledge in so many different ways is one of his greatest gifts. Dave's Hampshire History Blog which is updated every week throughout the year is a firm favourite with so many Hampshire fans.

https://hampshirecrickethistory.wordpress.com/

The current Chair is Richard Griffiths who travels down from West Yorkshire and has been pivotal in forming and then reviving HCH after COVID-19. Among his many roles, he oversees and facilitates all the new acquisitions to the expanding Archive Room Collection. As an avid collector himself, Richard is passionate about all aspects of county cricket and the intrinsic value of all our memorabilia. 

David Ackland will also be very familiar to many of you. He misses very few matches, watching Hampshire home and away throughout the season. He is both the Secretary and Treasurer of HCH, taking on everything that both roles entail. David has also donated significant amounts of his own book collection to HCH. 

Ray Stubbington is a retired local former club cricketer who has spent countless hours over a number of years digitising scorecards and photographs in the Archive Collection. Ray has been instrumental in the ongoing recent reorganisation of everything in the Archive Room.

Glen Williams is another local boy in the team. He has taken ownership of cataloging all the books and  organising the book sales; he, again has been instrumental in the ongoing recent reorganisation of the Archive Room. Glen has donated very generously a number of valuable Hampshire Handbooks which predate 1939 to his beloved  Archive Room  which he has christened the Batcave.

John Winter, like Glen and Ray, is a relatively new recruit to the team. John also lives in the North of England. He has become increasingly involved with HCH over the past couple of years and has helped to set up this website. He is the editor of the site and the e-Magazine. 

We have included some interviews below for you to learn a bit more about each of us. Please feel free to engage with any of us about anything to do with HCH, on match days at the ground,  if you so wish.

Why Hampshire?

Although I was born in London, and have lived most of my life there, I have been a lifelong Hampshire supporter. I inherited this from my father, who, like me, was a lifelong Londoner, although his father was a Hampshire man, as were uncountable generations before that. My son has inherited the bug!

What are your earliest memories of supporting Hampshire?

I bought my first Hampshire Handbook in 1966 (since donated to a Heritage book sale) and became a junior member in 1970. Living in London, I caught only occasional games, but did watch Hampshire at Northlands Road, Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Basingstoke, as well as matches in London. Playing truant I saw Richard Gilliat felled by a bouncer from Keith Boyce at Valentine's Park. Unfortunately I wasn't back the next day to see him hit a century - which he tells me was the fastest of the season. 

What are some of your stand out memories following Hampshire?

I saw the last day at Northlands Road - a Sunday League game against Nottinghamshire - and sat in the car watching the rain on what should have been the first day at the Rose Bowl: a B&H Cup game.

How often do you get to watch the team now?

Since retirement 10 years ago I have seen virtually every day's play at the Bowl in all formats, and most of the Championship matches away. 

Where is your favourite spot to watch the action at the Utilita Bowl?

I am usually to be found in the front row of the Shane Warne stand, in the block closest to the Pavilion.

First ever Hampshire game?

I’m told by my mum that dad used to take me as a baby to Portsmouth whilst he watched the cricket. I have no recollection of these times and my first ever Hampshire game I remember was a John Player League game between Hampshire and Leicestershire in Bournemouth. Dad took me and my two cousins and we watched the mighty Barry Richards score a century. I guess Dad took us as Hampshire were top of the table and winning this game meant just one more game to go to win the title which we duly did. This was, however, not the first cricket match I remember attending. A month previously, Dad had taken me to Lords to watch England V Australia. It ended up being a draw but more importantly for me I fell in love with Lords that day and it has remained my favourite ground ever since. I still have the original ticket from that match. As a collector, I still have almost all my original tickets and I’m definitely not in favour of mobile tickets on phones!

Reason why you originally decided to volunteer to help with Hampshire Cricket Heritage?

I happened to be chatting to Richard Griffiths at one of the previous Heritage book sales and it suddenly dawned on me I could be of help in updating and cataloguing some of the areas in the current archive room. For me it’s a real pleasure not only immersing myself in the archive but also cataloguing and listing books and ephemera which is something I have always enjoyed.

I have had an interest in books, firstly reading and secondly, once I could afford it collecting. I have collected books on many subjects over the years but these days I mostly focus on Local history both Portsmouth and Southampton and everywhere in between. I also collect Southampton Football Club and of course Hampshire Cricket. The more obscure the better. I even have a couple of books which focus purely on floodlights at football grounds! I suspect not bestsellers, but I love them. I also especially like books on books, bibliographies. Cricket has been served well with bibliographies including the mighty Padwick tomes which are invaluable to collectors. Stephen Saunders a fellow Hampshire fan and an original Hampshire Heritage member, author of a number of books on Hampshire cricket has produced two excellent bibliographies on Hampshire. Both of these are hard to find these days, although the original bibliography appears in the 1996 Hampshire Handbook

Best day at the cricket watching Hampshire?

Has to be the last ball win in the CB40 final at Lords in 2012. I was with my son which always makes games a little extra special for me. A thrilling game from start to finish and to win on the last ball after 80 overs of cricket, was as my Aussie cricket mates would say “sensational”.

Favourite all time Hampshire XI based on players I have seen.

Richards, Greenidge, R Smith, Turner, Vince, Mascarenhas, Dawson, Aymes, M Marshall, Warne, Roberts,

 Best innings seen by a Hampshire player?

Robin Smith 191 V Australia at Northlands Road. I think as he was on our books and with some poetic licence we can also include Kevin Pietersen’s 158 to help win the Ashes in 2005. I wasn’t there but I watched every ball!

Opposition teams you enjoy watching most and least?

Sussex of course as they are our local rivals and as you will have gathered from some previous comments I love to hate Australia. I have even travelled there to watch England V Australia at Melbourne and Sydney. I told my wife it was just a family holiday to see our best friends and it was just coincidental that England were on tour and we had tickets.

Favourite away ground to watch Hampshire?

Again, because it is Sussex it’s probably Hove. I do also enjoy some of the smaller lesser used grounds like Old Deer Park at Richmond.

Most interesting item owned by Hampshire Cricket Heritage in the Archive Collection?

Well for me it is the Hampshire Handbooks as they contain so much information about our great club and players. The additional articles contained within the Handbooks give the reader access to some very rare original publications. John Arlott privately published some player tributes in very limited numbers. Whilst the originals are very hard to find they were mostly all reprinted in the Handbooks between the 1950’s and 1960’s

What would improve a day watching county cricket?

Free beer!

Player that you wished you could have seen play for Hampshire and why?

I don’t have one. The greatest player I’ve ever seen was Shane Warne and I was fortunate enough to see him Captain and play for Hampshire many times.

Strange thing that few people would know about you regarding Hampshire Cricket?

It's not strange but for a decidedly average player , I did manage to play at Northlands Road and the United Services Ground. The former when my school got thrashed in a Hampshire final and the latter in a charity match back in the 1980’s

Name a historic game - above all others - featuring Hampshire, which you wished you had seen live and say why?

Who wouldn’t have wanted to be there to witness “Crickets Greatest Comeback” against Warwickshire in 1922. Hampshire all out for 15 in their first innings and coming back to win. If you haven’t read Neil Jenkinson’s excellent book, get yourself a copy as the entire story is fascinating.

Favourite current Hampshire player?

I’m not answering or I might get a visit from some other players in the archive room!

Best cricket book you would recommend?

Anything by Dave Allen our amazing Hampshire Historian. If I was pushed, I would go for “Hampshire County Cricketers” as it’s a great book to delve in and out of. I also love “Cricket Books - Great Collectors Of The Past” it’s a limited edition of 200 signed copies by Irving Rosenwater. Hard to find a copy but as collector of books myself it is a must have in the collection. I could go on and on but will stop with the book “ With the Bookplate of A.E.Winder” by David Rayvern Allen. Yes, a different Dave Allen from our very own historian. It’s the true story of a fanatical cricket collector who wanted to have the best collection of cricket books and criketana ever. As part of the process, he acquired John Arlott’s collection. I wont spoil the rest of as you will enjoy the read when you find a copy. Again, it’s a limited edition of 175 copies but it does come up on the secondary market. 

Three guests you would love to sit with at the cricket for a day?

My dad has gone up to the big cricket ground in the sky now but he would most definitely be first on my list. Second of course would be Shane Warne and lastly, I would choose Ben Stokes.

Boyhood hero(es)?

Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge

Why does HCH matter?

HCH matters because we are preserving the history of nearly 140 years of Hampshire Cricket with rare and unique physical items from the past and yes we do have items which dates back to the 1800’s. The vision is that we will over time, as we get more and more organised will be able to give more access to some of these items, to other Hampshire members, set up a book lending library and help historians and scholars of the future to continue to write about the history of our club. At the same time, it is vitally important to ensure we have enough material about what has happened to Hampshire in the recent past since we moved to the Bowl. This is just as important as what happened many years ago and even more important to our younger fans. My personal wish is to see everything we do within Heritage and with the help of Hampshire Cricket lead to the creation of a museum so we can show to the rest of the cricketing world what a magnificent club we are.

Biggest hope for Hampshire in the next five years?

A County Championship of course!

When did you first become a Hampshire fan?

As an eleven year old attending my first game at Portsmouth way back in 1974, I was lucky enough to see the reigning champions at the time. I caught the train from Cosham with a couple of mates back then and, some fifty years later, I have still not lost the buzz of seeing the team play live. At home, it is invariably with the same friends who have I sat with for years. Swapping Cosham for Cheshire makes that a bit harder, but the ground at West End is always so special to visit. My friends in Winchester, who always host me now when I stay down to help HCH in the Archive Room or watch any day in the summer, deserve a very special mention of thanks!

Where does your interest in heritage come from?

As someone who has always collected football programmes and cricket scorecards, looking back at past games and taking an interest in the history of the clubs I support has always been a big part of being a fan. Hambledon, Arlott, Mead, Shackleton, Marshall, Richards, Smith, Warne…. the list is endless of greats that are part of the fabric of this unique club. 

Why is Hampshire Cricket Heritage so important?

HCH is just a brilliant concept. I owe so much to Richard Griffiths and Dave Allen for all their encouragement to join the team. Run by dedicated volunteers, it is there to try provide context about so much of our rich cricketing past. It is also there to preserve so many things that would maybe get lost otherwise. It also promises to become the biggest collection of Hampshire Cricketana anywhere in the world. 

What are your hopes for HCH?

By sharing the HCH collection more widely online via the website, and by organising the collection neatly in the Archive Room, we want to increase many Hampshire Cricket fans' enjoyment, by helping them learn far more about our club.  As a former teacher, passing on knowledge and understanding to future generations has always been hugely rewarding. I believe we are all doing something which hopefully others, both now and in the future, will  genuinely appreciate, as we strive to curate professionally this already fine collection. That said, I hope many of our supporters and other members of the public will instinctively want to donate to HCH further items of cricket interest that would help to tell another important chapter in the unique history of Hampshire County Cricket Club.

What would be your favourite Hampshire XI from all the players you have seen play live?

Richards, Greenidge, Smith RA, Jesty, Vince, Dawson, Pothas (w/k), Marshall, Warne (capt.), Abbott, Roberts. Imagine fielding in the covers against that top order or trying to survive - let alone make runs - against that attack!

Favourite item in the HCH Archive Room?

This is tough to answer with so much to choose from. Obviously the two framed Championship winning pennants, any of the early Hampshire County Cricket Guides or, indeed, any of the official Hampshire Scorer’s original score books that are in there. Ask me in twelve months time - when we will have finally gone through looking at and cataloging all the items in the room  - and I will, no doubt, have discovered far more treasures to challenge that list. 

Finally, which three Hampshire players from the past would you have loved to see play?

Definitely Phil Mead for his run making, Derek Shackleton for his control and wicket taking, and then probably either Roy Marshall or George Brown for the shotmaking and entertainment.