Princes Risborough Cricket Club

Although - like many others - PRCC was re-formed after the Second World War there has obviously been a long tradition of cricket in the town. There are tangible links back to 1837 but the earliest reference to cricket in Risborough goes back two and a quarter centuries... 

In July 1774 Jackson's Oxford Journal recorded that the gentlemen of Buckinghamshire were to play the gentlemen of the Risborough Club on the Rye at High Wycombe on the 27th of that month (a Wednesday).
The entertainment the following weekend included 'backswords' - the term covers a stick (often with a basket handle) as well as a sword with a single edge . It is unlikely that the 'gentlemen of the Risborough Club' would have indulged in this activity but it seems certain that substantial amounts were wagered on both events.

Click here to see a potted history of cricket in general and where the earliest mention of cricket in Risborough (and Buckinghamshire) fits in.

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The Post-War Years

The modern history of the Club really starts immediately after the Second World War when it was re-formed. The leading light in this was Alan Copcutt (pictured right), assisted by a number of stalwarts of the Club.

Immediately after the war the cricket and football clubs each occupied the area which the other now uses; the tennis courts were already established in their present location.

Round about 1948 a work party toiled in the close season digging a trench across the outfield to lay water pipes branching off to the cricket square from the main line which continued on towards the PRCC pavilion. This was a large wooden shed which contained changing rooms (partitioned by a hardboard-faced wall) and a tea-room which, when not in use, doubled as the garage for the outfield mower (more about that piece of equipment elsewhere on this page in due course). The toilet facility consisted of a single loo contained in a brick-built structure immediately 'behind' the pavilion - in other words between that building and the entrance on Horsenden Lane!

Without the temptation of 24-hour television and longer drinking hours,the stalwarts even managed to plant a row of trees alongside the railway boundary. These Pollards eventually reached a great height and were a beautiful feature of the ground until 2001 when the railway authorities removed them because they were a potential danger to the station and trains.

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The Early 1950s

By 1950 the Club had a new square laid in its present location, funded with the aid of an interest-free loan of £4.000 which had to be paid back over 10 years (a massive amount in those days).

Alan Copcutt, a building inspector at Wycombe Rural District Council (later incorporated into Wycombe District Council), possibly recruited a large part of the playing strength over the next 15 - 20 years from people employed there. These included Jim Milton, Harry Simpson, 'Monty' Banks, Gilbert Beauchamp (scorer) and Don Crisp, but there was also a number of occasional players who came and went from time to time.

There was also a strong contingent of 'locals' - including Jack Pearce, Danny Richer, Fred Herridge and Alfie White. Frank Cutten became an honorary local, having married Mary, daughter of Teddie and Mary Coleman who ran the White Lion at the junction of High Street and Bell Street. This was the meeting point for travelling to away matches and the after-cricket venue for the teams; in those days the 'match' didn't finish until closing time - and often way past that!

Younger locals starting to play included Alan's brother Brian Copcutt, well-known local footballer Alan Vickers, Mike Witney, Eric 'Cruncher' Stone and Mike Orchard.
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Early History       The Post-War Years      The Early 1950s

1955 - 1960      1960 - 1970  

In the mid 1950s the Club, which still used the wooden pavilion-cum-tea room-cum mower shed, had expanded to have a regular 2nd XI although it was often a struggle to fill the second side. The mainstays of that team were ...
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The start of the new decade saw a decided turning point for the Club; 1960 saw the construction and opening of the new brick-built pavilion - or at least the first phase of it. With a suitable sense of what was important the Committee decided that the tearoom and bar were the first priority so that we continued to sweep out the mower shed before matches to use as a changing room.
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