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It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Our Lincolnshire project on social media. Having launched on twitter and Instagram just over a fortnight ago, we’ve received lots of fantastic photos of from across the county via the … Continue reading
The first record of cricket played by a Lincolnshire county side is in 1828, when a Norfolk v Lincolnshire match took place at East Dereham. (Lincolnshire won by an innings!)
We know, though, that village cricket in Lincolnshire dates back further than this. The first mention of Stamford Cricket Club, for example, was in 1770. A Spalding v Boston match took place a few years later, in 1792. It rained (nothing changes!), and sadly this “occasioned the grass to be slippery, and one gentleman by a fall dislocated his knee, another had a broken leg, and one a black eye”!!
From these slightly uncertain beginnings, Lincolnshire cricket has grown into its present day state where there are 29 ECB ‘Focus Clubs’ in operation and many more besides, as well as a number of flourishing leagues. International cricket even came to Lincolnshire in 2013, when England Women played Pakistan at Louth Cricket Club, thanks to the efforts of one Arran Brindle.
Lincolnshire Cricket therefore has a rich history – and the ‘Our Lincolnshire’ project wants more people to know about it! For that, we need your help…
Arran Brindle, one of England Women’s star performers of recent years, hails from Louth in Lincolnshire. Photo credit: Don Miles.
Are you involved in cricket in Lincolnshire? We want to tap into your expertise. Have you or someone else at your club done research into its history? Have important things happened at your club which you think we should know about? Share it with us!
Would you be prepared for us to come and visit you at your club and interview you or any of your club members about your experiences of Lincolnshire cricket? Who are the stalwarts of Lincolnshire cricket that we should be speaking to? Let us know!
Ultimately our aim is to produce a website with information about the history of cricket in Lincolnshire. We’d love to work with you on this, and hear your ideas about what you think should be included on the website. Get in touch!
You can also submit images of any objects which you have at your club relating to cricket history – such as old bats, balls, or caps – for inclusion in the ‘My Lincolnshire Collection’.
For more information on the cricket heritage section of the ‘Our Lincolnshire’ project, or to share information about the history of your club, contact Dr Raf Nicholson at the University of Lincoln – rnicholson@lincoln.ac.uk (telephone number: 01522 835 117).
As part of Our Lincolnshire’s aim to engage digital audiences, the project is working towards the launch of ‘My Lincolnshire Collection’, a new web app that will enable users to access a virtual gallery of heritage objects complete with compact and informative descriptions.
Images of these objects are being collected from heritage sites all over Lincolnshire in the hopes that, in addition to the historical artefacts that draw thousands of visitors to our town and city centres each year, the collection will also represent the county’s lesser-known treasures.
Now for the fun part. From a panel of approximately 100 objects, users will be able to choose up to ten favourites, curating a collection to reflect their own tastes and priorities regarding Lincolnshire’s rural heritage. Objects can be selected by dragging the relevant thumbnail from the main gallery up into the green bar at the top of the page.
If users would like a closer look at an object, they need only click on its thumbnail to bring up a larger image of it. They will also find a description of the object beneath the image to help them in making the all-important decision of whether or not to include the item in their collection.
Indeed, we would love to hear about how and why our users have chosen their objects, so on the web app’s final page we have left a space for them to let us know their thoughts before their collection is submitted.
Our Lincolnshire will analyse submissions to ‘My Lincolnshire Collection’ regularly, so that we can keep track of any objects that are proving particularly popular amongst our users. We hope that the data collected by the web app will enable us to ascertain the areas of heritage that appeal most to the public. But, in the meantime we want our users will have a great time putting together their collection, so would love to hear any suggestions you may have on how we can make the experience more fun. Please feel free to voice your opinions in the comments box below!