Peter Hammond and Belstone Cricket: An Appreciation

Peter, Angela and family moved from South Zeal to Belstone in 1978, a couple of years into the second iteration of Belstone Cricket Club. The first club had a very short history, formed in 1938 it was ended by the Second World War, a year later. He soon became a regular player at matches in the field between Brenamoor Common and the current Rew Meadow ground – where there were no facilities, the pitch was dangerously uneven and the outfield had its share of boulders, sheep droppings and stinging nettles. Batsmen struggled to get into double figures, totals very rarely reached three figures. Looking now at the score books from those far-off days, I see that Peter and I made our debuts in the very same game, played on 27 August 1978 away at Drewsteignton. We must have batted together for he was No 7 and I was No 8. It was a brief partnership as Peter was out for duck; I was run out for 19, we made 85 all out, and they knocked the runs off for the loss of three wickets. We were probably in the Drewe Arms by opening time.

Peter made another 28 appearances, as either a middle order batsman or opener, before the club had to close before the start of the 1982 season. His stats were not impressive (but nor were anyone else’s); Played 29, Total runs 141, Highest score 21, Ducks 9, Average 4.8. He hit his first six in that top score of 21 against Halwill on 30 August 1980. His finest hour was probably his match winning 19 not out as opener away against Sticklepath on 2 September 1979 – it doesn’t sound much but as the home team were all out for 28 there weren’t many to get.

Peter was never a bowler but he did turn his arm over just once in those 29 games, opening the attack on 21 June 1981, again against ‘Lower Belstone’, when he returned very credible figures of 7-0-26-3. Behind the scenes he must have been responsible for getting the team together – how else to explain the £5 telephone payment to him in the 1981 annual accounts.

Then came the lost decade when there was no cricket at Belstone. Peter was a key member of the team who re-formed the club at Rew Meadow in 1993, becoming the first Chairman (1993-98) with Angela equally important as the first secretary and dedicated scorer. He appeared on BBC Spotlight to publicise the club, with the new pavilion in the background. Next morning he opened the post to find to his horror a letter from West Devon Borough Council saying that ‘Building Regulations approval will be required prior to commencement of the pavilion’ – he was proud of how he overcame that problem. At his first Chairman’s speech before 90 guests at the annual dinner at the Waie Inn he could justifiably say; ‘I believe our venture has captured the imagination of the village. The support received from the community has been overwhelming.’

The seasons rolled on. Peter was one of the wicketkeepers, never bowled a ball and wasn’t a batsman to set the game alight with swashbuckling strokeplay but he was reliable and always enthusiastic. He retired as a player after just four summers, with a 1993-6 career average of Played 95, Total runs 1141, Highest score 50, Ducks 8, Average 14.26. One moment he no doubt remembered was scampering a bye off the last ball of the game to tie the 1995 match against Jack Reddaway’s President’s XI. And that highest ever fifty, which included three sixes and was made as part of a then record Belstone total of 236 for 8 against the Elephant’s Nest pub team. In 2000 he became President himself, a position proudly held for the rest of his life. For nineteen years he and Angela arranged the President’s Day match – Belstone won 12, Peter’s XI won 6 and one was tied.

He took up umpiring and then, when standing in the middle in a white coat for 80 overs proved too tiring, he loved nothing better than to be a spectator, watching the games unfold from first ball to last, appreciating the ever-changing dynamic between bat and ball, happy that village cricket was alive and well. On 4 September 2022 he travelled with me to Heathcoat where we shared in the excitement as the team ended the season with their best ever finish, champions of Division One in the North Devon League.

No figurehead President, he attended every committee meeting, tirelessly promoted youth cricket and was closely involved with developing the club, not least in his long-held ambition to build a new, much improved, pavilion. By 2018, the year the club surprised him with a well-deserved Good Servants Trophy award, he had finalised the design and obtained planning approval from the National Park – and three years later dug the first sod of the groundworks. His endless enthusiasm for the project through grant applications, approaches to MPs, buy a brick schemes, JustGiving pages, beetle drives, quiz and race nights put the rest of us to shame – and how he must now wish from beyond the boundary that his dream one day becomes a reality.
Chris Walpole