‘Salute to the few’ by Geoff Nutkins
Shoreham boasts one of the loveliest cricket grounds in the district.
Set among trees in the Darenth Valley, on the edge of the golf course and about a mile from the village centre, it has seen many stirring games against fellow members of the village cricket league.
One stand-out fixture is against neighbouring Farningham when members of both teams pray that this annual and long-standing clash will not be affected by rain.
It wasn’t rain that worried the cricketers on August 24, 1940.
The Battle of Britain was in full swing and this area of Kent with its proximity to the ‘dummy’ airfield at Lullingstone and Biggin Hill airfield was already getting a reputation as the most targeted area in the country; in fact Shoreham was later to be known as ‘bomb alley’.
John Drew, the son of one of those 1940 cricketers, has been looking closely into the extraordinary circumstances behind this 1940 cricket match – how Shoreham were thirsting for revenge from the unexpected defeat three weeks earlier by Farningham, and how the weather was bright and clear.
He writes: “The distinctive memorial cross incised in chalk on the hill had been blacked out with bracken but the players wore white so they would have been clearly seen by any raider that came this way.
“There was a full fixture list for 1940 though some old rivals were unable to field teams and special permits were required both for petrol, presumably to mow their sloping hillside ground on the Mildmay estate, to transport them to away games, and for margarine and sugar for the cricket teas.
“Farningham was less lucky. Its ground was rented from the farm and shared with cows.
“With the outbreak of war, the farm land was needed and the wicket was dug up to be used as an emplacement for a barrage balloon.
“Both teams had their own cricketing families.
“Farningham had the Mills brothers. Shoreham could call on four Dinnis brothers at any one time and Jack Summerfield, fast bowler and big hitter, was one of four generations to play for the village as well as keep the George, the ancient inn that commands the entrance to the village.
“The match on August 3 had provided a memorable victory for Farningham, and Shoreham were determined not to allow a home win slip through their fingers a second time.
“In the interval between the two matches, the war had become more of a reality. German aircraft were beginning to make daylight raids, not just on coastal towns but further inland.
“Only the previous Sunday, a Hurricane from the fighter base at Biggin Hill had been forced to make a crash landing near Sepham Farm.
“Farningham had only just recovered from its own nasty war scare: the church bells had rung late one afternoon to announce the German invasion had begun.
“It was a false alarm, what were thought to be German paratroops landing turned out to be ack-ack smoke over the Medway, and the vicar, Freddie Wiltshire, was severely reprimanded for ordering the bells to be rung.
“This was not before several residents had shut themselves up in their houses.”
John Drew tells me that he was on the boundary as a baby in a pram on August 24 when the second match between Shoreham and Farningham took place.
He doesn’t remember any of the details but the old scorebook tells him that Farningham, one short, batted first.
He writes: “In its sports columns, the local paper reported laconically that “owing to circumstances” Farningham were forced to declare at 80 for six (Gordon Wood, retired 11, Bruce Couchman 20, Bill Mills 23, my father Bernard Drew left not out on 5).
“Shoreham, with Harry Saker’s 39 proving decisive, passed the Farningham total with just three wickets down. Carrying on to give everyone who wanted a chance to bat (the custom in those days), they scored 106 for 9.
“My father took the last Shoreham wicket (one of two, one caught and bowled, plus another catch, all too late to be of use but still a good day for him).
What were the untold ‘circumstances’ that led Farningham to make such a reckless declaration?
The answer is provided by an (anonymous) news piece in the local paper that was clearly written by my father (in spite of all names, including those of the villages, being censored).
It is published under the heading: “Raid Stopped Play”.
“The Farningham batsmen had just settled in to their innings when one of the umpires became restive, looking at the hilltop horizon rather than down the wicket.
“It was he who first sensed that ‘Jerry’ was about, although so intent was their concentration on the game that no-one could recall hearing any warning air-raid siren. After an over in which a series of increasingly loud thumps, bumps and bangs were heard, play was suspended while everyone stopped to watch a terrific aerial battle going on some way to the north.
“The players did eventually drift back towards the pavilion but at least one elderly spectator, when it was suggested he join them, refused to leave his shady spot on the boundary.
“Though Shoreham and Farningham weren’t to know it when they arranged their fixture, August 24, being fine and clear, was a perfect day for the German air force to step up their efforts to win the Battle of Britain.
“At 15.00 hours, just after Farningham had gone in to bat, the Luftwaffe began a massive raid on East London.
“The RAF were stretched to capacity, squadrons of Hurricanes and Spitfires from the nearby Biggin Hill base being scrambled all day to engage the enemy.
“Although the centre of the action in the afternoon was some miles away on the Essex side of the Thames, looking north towards Farningham from the Shoreham ground, it might have seemed that all hell was breaking loose over Farningham itself.”
John goes on to say that when the match resumed Farningham had to declare because they were now four short.
The men hadn’t run away because of the action overhead but had reported for duty in the Home Guard.
“During the stoppage caused by the raid there may well have been some discussion about the wisdom of continuing at all while battles went on overhead.
“Fighters scrambling hill-top high out of Biggin Hill must have been unnerving enough.
“Dog-fights, anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire, shell-bursts, shrapnel, even though further away, rather more so.
“The scorebook shows several changes of handwriting and betrays in its gaps and slippages some degree of uncertainty.
“Unusually, four of the Shoreham regulars who had been selected did not actually play and it may be that they had wisely taken evasive action in advance – though two of the Dinnis brothers almost certainly had to give priority to war-related work on the farm, the bumper harvest and the hop-picking.
“Other Shoreham players were ready to hand. Farningham, away from home, were quite literally caught at sixes and sevens and were simply outnumbered.
“My father had no doubt that the German raid had robbed Farningham of a fair chance of completing what would have been a unique ‘away’ double over Shoreham.
“At the end of an extraordinary day of cricket, my father commented that, from Farningham’s point of view, Hitler had a lot to answer for.”
I thank John Drew for the story of this last village wartime cricket match to be played on Lord Mildmay’s lovely ground, until one week before VE Day.
John says that Farningham’s ground was in such a state that it could not be restored until 1947, largely due to Gordon Wood.
He writes: “When play resumed after the war both teams were men short, among them Edwin Bowen who, bowling for Shoreham as a 17-year-old took the crucial wicket of big hitter Bruce Couchman on August 24. Edwin had been killed flying in a bombing raid over Germany.”
Written by John Drew
Edited by Bob Ogley
