If the walls at Leeds Caribbean CC could talk, you’d need a library to do justice to their memories. Yet those recollections, dating back to 1948’s pioneering status as England’s first West Indian cricket club, were in danger of becoming little more than sepia-tinged snapshots.
A proud beacon of the local game had fallen on hard times: a Caribbean club with virtually no Caribbean players.
Such was the sorry state of the clubhouse, batting stalwart and club chair Harwood Williams conceded that “when it rained, you were better off outside than inside”.
Now, thanks to an impressive partnership between the club, ECB and Sport England, those 76 years of history get an exciting fresh chapter. Hopes are high that the new £500,000 clubhouse, officially opened in April with guests including club founder Alford Gardner, astonishingly sprightly at 98, and England legends Devon Malcolm and Ebony Rainford-Brent, will serve as a rallying call to the local Caribbean community to return to cricket.
Collis King, scourge of England’s bowlers in the West Indies’ 1979 World Cup final triumph, was on hand to cut the ribbon: the culmination of a heartwarming, multilayered tale of twists, turns, compromises and commitment to shape a new future.
Few know the long road walked during the past two and a half years better than club treasurer Diane Flemming. As well as working at Leeds City College – one of the country’s largest further education institutions – by day, Flemming has been a driving force on this project.
When she’s not been sourcing odds and ends online to help give the club the right look and feel, she’s had to smooth ruffled feathers with those reluctant to face change – the alternative was arguably extinction.
The straight-talking Flemming pulls no punches.
“We’ve had our struggles and battles – and we’re still struggling and battling,” she says. “The cricket club has always been about old West Indian men playing dominoes, drinking Red Stripe and swearing like troopers. But we need to be in a space where we’re attracting younger audiences, who maybe have expectations for higher standards, and different aspirations.”
Flemming is quick to concede the high-wire balancing act was greatly helped by the sensitivities of Sport England and ECB, with the latter asked to help after the initial project had hit the skids.
She’s keen to acknowledge the painstaking efforts of all involved, who went above and beyond the call of duty. There is also, critically, a balance she’s keen to see redressed.
“ECB have taken their licks around institutional racism, and to be fair that’s very one-sided,” she says. “I’m not saying it doesn’t or hasn’t happened, but I think that narrative has gone one way. We need that scorecard balanced.”
Dan Musson, ECB head of facilities planning, was part of the tight-knit team for whom the work became a labour of love. Alongside surveyor William Powell and project planning manager Richard Dixon, their passion for the grassroots game found strong echoes in tales of the past that could inform a brighter future.
Flemming says: “Dan Musson, Richard Dixon and others at the ECB – as well as at Sport England – put their necks on the block. This is not just about funding, they’ve actually been able to inspire a whole new generation of people, breathing life back into it.
“I’ve never seen such resilience in terms of their confidence, strength of character and trust in us to pull through.”
The ECB ultimately invested upwards of £250,000, walking the club through each stage of the process.
“What was really important to us was that the club’s voice was heard throughout,” says Musson. “If you look at the club’s interior now, they’ve given it a feel that really retains the history of the place, a modern twist on what a Caribbean facility looks like – something to be proud of and to inspire the next generation.”
As this piece was being written, Leeds Caribbean’s first XI – the club runs two Saturday sides and a flourishing junior team – was sitting at the top of the Dales Council Cricket League Division B; a view from a perch not only far more comfortable, but attractive once more to those who either drifted away or may now want to get on board.
Yorkshire CCC president Jane Powell, also present at the opening, recalls the benefit of a multicultural approach.
“As a child, I remember going along to Sheffield Caribbean CC,” she says. “I have fond memories of life in abundance coming out of that club. To embrace the style of cricket played by our different communities can only enhance the game – and that’s central to a Yorkshire person’s heart. As Lord Harris said, ‘You do well to love cricket’ – and that is the unifying characteristic.”
Club founder Alford Gardner, who still enjoys a can of Red Stripe, really has seen it all. A young engineering recruit in the RAF, he came to these shores two days before D-Day in 1944, returning on Empire Windrush to make Leeds his home in 1948. He and his mates founded Leeds Caribbean from scratch.
“We put in ten shillings a week to buy gear. Eventually we got enough to buy a bat and ball,” he recalls. The club joined the Yorkshire League in 1949. A legacy that appeared threatened is part of the present once more. “Looking at the new clubhouse, it’s beyond my wildest dreams,” he says.
Two years short of his century, Gardner’s playing days are long gone, but he can look towards that landmark with a fresh glint in his eye, proud of a new home, made with love and fit for heroes.