Personal Email: Fairwarp.stoolball@gmail.com
Fairwarp was fielding a mixed stoolball team until the 1970s. Sadly as people’s lives changed and organisers and players went their own way, the wickets were put away in the pavilion, along with the scoreboard, and the bats disappeared into dark forgotten places, never to be seen again.
But after a couple of years of underground murmurings about fielding a team again, Ellie Rowland (then just 13yrs) took the murmurings and supported by close family and friends picked up the stoolball bat and ran with it – from one wicket to the next…Well, not quite, but with Ellie’s enthusiasm for the game and interest from a wide range of villagers, Fairwarp Stoolball Club was re-established in 2015.
Wisely, without a firm team, Ellie concentrated on training those villagers who had never played (old and young), and developing skills of those who did have prior knowledge. In this she had huge support and help from Jo Hoadley, herself a player from Nutley Stoolball Club and Rick Mason, a Maresfield Stoolball Club player and Stoolball England representative.
Practice nights could bring 15 or 5 people – Rudi the dog helped with fielding when numbers were low!
By the end of the season, a team of sorts was holding together and sufficiently for us to enter a tournament at Maresfield where we proudly fielded a team that performed admirably given their newness to the game and team.
2016 saw us building on this small kernel of enthusiasm and a number of friendly matches were played, with the season ending on a high by drawing their last match (as opposed to losing as in the earlier matches in the season!)
2017 and again with such a mixed bag we are continuing training and friendlies. Wednesday evening in summer (post Easter to September roughly) from 6.30 at the QE2 Field. £1 pay per play and anyone and everyone is welcome to come and join us.
Why don’t you join us?