PAVILIONS IN SPLENDOUR

The cricket pavilions and grounds of Cheshire by Geoff Wellsteed

Geoff Wellsteed’s eagerly awaited publication will be available from Easter 2018. The book will be

A4 size, 200 pages in a hardback cover with an attractive dustjacket and will feature 133 clubs. Each

entry will include a history of the club along with anecdotes and reminiscences and a colour

photograph of the existing pavilion. Other photographic material will be liberally used throughout.

A review of the book appears below.

Subscribers Discount Offer

The book retails at £25.00 but subscriber copies will cost just £18.00 (including postage).

N.B. The deadline for subscriber purchases is 30th November 2017.

To secure your copy and an entry on the subscribers’ page in the book please order online or by

post using the form below along with the following information:

Name of buyer (to be included in the book)

Your town/ village or, if preferred, your cricket club (also to be included in the book)

Your name and full address for delivery purposes (plus a telephone number and email

address – optional)

HOW TO ORDER

Online:

Available from www.max-books.co.uk using our secure online PayPal service.

By post:

Return this completed form below along with a cheque for £18.00 made payable to Max Books, to:

Max Books, Epworth House, 34 Wellington Road, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 7BX.

Name (please print): .....................................................................................

Address: ........................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................... Postcode:........................................

Tel: (optional) .............................................................

E-mail address: (optional) .....................................................................................

Subscriber details to be included in the book:

(N.B. PLEASE PRINT IN CAPITAL LETTERS TO AVOID ANY ERRORS)

Name .............................................................................................................................................

Town/Village OR Cricket Club: ......................................................................................................

Book Review

The historic county of Cheshire may be the native

soil of 14 England cricketers, but in a modern

version of Cobbett’s Rural Rides of a couple of

centuries ago, Geoff Wellsteed has travelled its

length and breadth to document in minute detail a

more humble level than the Test arena, visiting in

person an eye-watering 133 clubs, speaking with

officials and members and poring through club

histories, records and pavilion memorabilia of all

kinds. A more detailed history of Cheshire club

cricket would be difficult to imagine.

Few are better qualified than Wellsteed to write

about this subject, given his position as Honorary

Secretary of the Cheshire County Cricket League

and Vice-Chairman of the Cheshire Umpires and

Scorers Association, together with his regular

umpiring duties around a county which has

officially lost areas to Greater Manchester,

Merseyside and Derbyshire, although clubs from those parts continue to be within the remit of this

book. Villages and towns with evocative names like Over Peover from the leafy lanes around

prosperous Knutsford, or Tintwistle (Tinsel to locals) from that north-eastern part of the traditional

county which hints at an industrial past, still boast clubs which continue to survive in the face of

economic pressure, counter-attractions and changing family habits.

The writer has, commendably, made lavish use of primary sources, and the results of his

indefatigable research are evident in the detailed club histories, where the feats of local cricketing

heroes sit side by side with the difficulties, financial and otherwise, experienced by those who have

struggled to keep their club afloat whatever the odds. Indeed, this book is not only a social history of

local cricket (and society), but also a tribute to all those players, officials, members and umpires who

devote their lives to helping the game flourish at grass-roots level.

Illustrated with colour photographs of each club’s pavilion and a miscellany of other pictorial

material, this book is, indisputably, the definitive record of club cricket in Cheshire.

Geoff Thomas

Mastermind Champion 2006 and Brain of Britain Winner 2008

Recommendation Through his meticulous research, his humorous anecdotes and his eye for a telling detail, Geoff Wellsteed has produced a wonderfully entertaining and revelatory exploration of Cheshire's cricket clubs.

I enjoyed every page and was fascinated to learn so much of interest that was new to me about the history of Cheshire cricket, with its multitude of influential club characters and its many scenic grounds, which he so colourfully brings alive. I thoroughly recommend this book to all cricket lovers and historians of the noble game.

Richard Cragg Bramhall C.C.

About the Author

This is Geoff Wellsteed’s third book. In 2010 he jointly authored the much acclaimed Inns & Outs a

book about 334 cricketing pubs spread over 37 English counties. In 2015 he wrote Inside the

Boundary, a book about the 26 first-class cricketers born within the Reading town boundary. A

native of that Berkshire town, Geoff is the Secretary of the Cheshire County Cricket League and also

an umpire on the league’s premier panel. He is a member of Lancashire CCC, the Association of

Cricket Statisticians & Historians, the Merseyside Cricket Society and the Cricket Memorabilia

Society.

Editor’s note: Please note the published book cover will be different to the one depicted above.