GOLCAR CRICKET & ATHLETIC CLUB
Est. 1871 - Founder member of Huddersfield & District League

1871 - Club founded as St. Johns Golcar Cricket Club; Played at Scar Bottom

1872 - Moved ground to Low Westwood Bottom

1874 - Moved ground to Knowle Bank

1877 - Moved ground to present site, Swallow Lane (Town End)

1879 - Undefeated in challenge matches all season; Bowled Slaithwaite out for 8

1882 - Changed name to Golcar Cricket Club

1886 - Joined Huddersfield Cricket Association (an organisation, not a league)

1891 - Founder members of Huddersfield and District Cricket League; League is brainchild of Golcar’s Alfred Shaw (More Info)

1894 - Bazaar raises £264

1895 - Ground re-laid; bazaar raises £300 and erases debts

1903 - Huddersfield League champions

1905 - Huddersfield League champions

1907 - Percy Holmes makes debut for Golcar (More Info)

1916 - Arthur Shaw, founder of St. Johns Golcar Cricket Club and Huddersfield League found dead in River Colne following accident

1921 - Buy Swallow Lane End of ground for £625

1924 - Bazaar raises £900 1928 Bowling Green End of ground bought for £400

1931 - Golcar placed in Section B when Huddersfield League splits into two divisions

1932 - Promoted to Section A

1933 - Wilfred Rhodes plays for Golcar at Slaithwaite; bazaar raises £677

1934 - New clubhouse, built at a cost of £1254, is opened by Yorkshire captain Brian Sellers; Joint Huddersfield League champions with Slaithwaite; Schweppes Cup runners-up;
2nd XI share Paddock Shield with Linthwaite

1935 - Huddersfield League champions; Joint 2nd XI champions with Lockwood

1938 - 2nd XI champions

1939 - Sykes Cup runners-up, losing final to Lascelles Hall by 7 wickets

1940 - Club raises money for Golcar Comfort Fund, sent to servicemen abroad; All members serving in forces granted free membership; Andrew Taylor wins club batting prize for 11th time in 12 seasons; John Brearley wins club bowling prize for 9th consecutive season

1944 - Huddersfield League champions; Members vote to permit bowls on Sundays

1945 - Relegated to Section B; play in first tied Sykes Cup match, Golcar and Almondbury both 85 all out; Almondbury win replay

1946 - 2nd XI champions

1947 - Promoted to Section A as Section B champions

1948 - All debts, including mortgages on ground and buildings, liquidated; Improvements made to premises

1951 - First of 7 seasons without a professional as club keeps tight control on expenditure; £150 spent on ‘sodding the ground’, which is still recovering from lack of resources in World War II

1957 - Relegated to Section B

1958 - Raymond Hall wins league bowling prize, ave 8.18

1961 - GK Chadwich wins Lady Sykes trophy; members vote for Sunday cricket

1963 - Promoted to Section A; Sykes Cup runners-up, losing final to Paddock by 7 wickets before record crowd of 3638

1970 - Social club renovated

1973 - Relegated to Section B

1980 - Professional Brian Turner tops Huddersfield League bowling averages for third time in four seasons

1981 - Promoted to Section A as Section B champions; Examiner eight-a-side champions

1982 - Runners-up in Yorkshire Champions Trophy, losing final to Bradford League champions East Bierley

1989 - Financial difficulties; Club trading on understanding that Lloyds Bank overdraft facilities remain extended

1992 - Huddersfield League runners-up; Successful six-match tour of Barbados begins bi-annual visits to the island; Two building plots sold at Swallow Lane End to repay bank overdraft and restore economic viability

1993 - Relegated to Section B; Clare Taylor (More Info), former Golcar scorer, earns winners’ medal in Women’s World Cup Final

1997 - John Cooper becomes highest run-scorer in history of League (More Info)

1998 - Northern champions of ECB Indoor six-a-side tournament; Losing semi-finalists to eventual winners, Broadstairs, in national finals day at Lord’s

2000 - Clare Taylor, dual England cricket and football international, receives MBE for services to women’s sport

2002 - Overseas professional Atul Bedade hits Sykes Cup record 234 not out against Hall Bower, sharing unbeaten 9th wicket stand of 162 with Richard Hall, a Huddersfield League 9th wicket record

2003 - Golcar adds under 11 team to junior teams at under 13, 15 and 17 levels; Four junior teams is the most in the club’s history

2004 - Promoted to Section A as Cedar Court Conference Champions 2005; Changing facilities complex and scorebox opened costing £75000, funded by sale of land occupied by old Victorian pavilion at Swallow Lane End