1932-1933 ANECDOTES

ANECDOTES 1932-1933

The Club entered into a new 50 year lease with the Recreation Ground Company.

25/7/1932 MANCOM

Selection Committee to be Messrs Anderson, Considine, Lewis and Scott Reid.

Supporters Club investing £50 in Grand Stand Fund.

£700 to be paid to Rec. Ground Co.

Whole of new West Stand to be fitted with tip-up seats. Lavatory to be provided under stand. Provision for Press seats considered. Total seating to be 1,150. One member of Management to accompany the 1^st XV on each away game.

MANCOM 8/8/1932

Alderman Colmer presented a ‘Granny Clock’ to Norman Matthews on the occasion of his marriage. Names of subscribers would be listed on parchment.

23/8/1932 Training commenced at 7p.m. and each Tuesday and Thursday thereafter.

News that R A Gerrard had written from his home in Bosham, near Chichester, for a rugby ball to be provided for his close-season practice.

3/10/1932 Redruth v Bath

Early morning training was on Penzance sands: “An amusing incident occurred when the ball was kicked into the sea and floated out with the tide. Ivor Brooks divested himself of his clothes and swam out to rescue it.

The rest of the morning was spent in a putting competition and a bowls match.”

There was another episode involving ‘four men in a boat’ at Elford Passage on the Sunday. They were somewhat lucky to get back to shore!

COMMUNICATIONS

25/2/1933 a home game v Llanelly postponed due to severe weather conditions. The wire from Llanelly read: “Train arrangements cancelled by G.W. Railway. Letter follows.” The Bath Stationmaster advised: “The service from South Wales is in a dreadful mess.”

The Rec. was certainly playable, but the problem was letting players and public know of the cancellation. A notice was posted in the Bath Chronicle & Herald window.

News that the game was off did not appear to have spread so quickly as the earlier advice that the game was on! All was confusion! Crichton-Miller wired: “Presume no game; at any rate, I can not get there.”   “At any rate, quite a number got to the Rec. before they were aware of it, and these included players who had come from Bristol, bandsmen and stewards.” Rumours were rife: “Llanelly were stranded at Cardiff” was one version, but in fact, they never left Llanelly. The train was on the platform, the team was ready to board, Supporters had paid their 6/6d return fare, but no one got away, owing to signal failure – a direct result of the South Wales blizzard.

Spectators turned up, only to turn around disappointed.

One can reasonably assume that the nearly pubs had an early increase in trade!

There was a later provision, that if there were any future match postponements, bills would be posted on all the City’s tram cars.

AGM 15/7/1933

1^st XV caps presented to Messrs. Eastcott, Handford, Brooks, Barber and Williams, and United caps to Messrs Curtis, Shipp, Jenkins, Sampson, Buse and H W H Considine.

Votes of thanks to W T Davies for his continued interest in the club and in the junior clubs, and to Mr A L Cutler for good work for Bath ‘A’; also Mr Eddie Simpkins on reaching his 21^st year as Honorary Secretary.

ROLL CALL:-

Full-backs: R Banks 28, H T Buse 7, L St. V Powell 2 and F J Dyke one game,

Threequarters:- A E Merrett 33, W E Hancock 27, L St. V Powell 23, R A Gerrard 18, D W Pickles 11, F J Dyke 10, J S Bartlett 7, E J Eastcott 6, C E Gough 5, L G Matthews 4, H T Buse 3, T Babington 2, and R P Northway, L D Wardle and R James 1 each.

Half-backs:- C E Gough 24, T J FitzHenry 16, W C Handford 9, F J Dyke and H Handford 9, F J Dyke and H Davies 7, T Blanning 5, R P Northway and D W Pickles 3 each, and A E Neale and L D Wardle 1 each.

Forwards:-  M Shaw 34, H I Brooks 33, L W Moore 28, N W Matthews and B C Barber 27, D Wilson and F H Hollister 21, P Moon 20, P Clothier 16, J Jones and J Wilkins 11, S Weeks 9, D Crichton-Miller 8, S Shipp 7, L J Tanner and A Francis 6, J G Mackay 5, L D Wardle and T Wilkins 3, P Curtis and R G Hurrell 2, and D Thomas and A G Smith 1.

Gate receipts were up £79 compared with the previous season. The totals were £1962 that season, and £1883 the previous season.

The new grandstand had attracted many more patrons and fully justified its erection

Bristol v Bath 4//1933

Correspondent comment:

“To Bath -Be advised:-

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot

That it do singe yourself. “

(Henry VIII)

***In the Bristol Evening World, former Bristol stalwart Sam Tucker recalled a game that Bristol won at Bath some years ago by two dropped gaols to two tries, and all against run of play. Along with another match, with a big Bristol score, he recalled his club’s single mindedness in ramming home their perceived superiority over the Bath side.

“That is the beauty of the game between Bath and Bristol. There is no letting up for one single instant. While they are the best of  friends off the field, there is no quarter during the progress of the match, and consequently –some of the finer points of the game are never allowed to come out on top, but in the match I am quoting, Pickles Corbett and Quick had a regular field day, and I suppose it was one of the most dazzling displays ever seen between the two sides, and I think it must have been that game that gave a pointer to Bath as to how rugger should be played because ever since then Bath have come on by leaps and they must

GERRARD SET-BACK

20/3/1933 Chronicle reported on Gerrard’s bad luck in damaging his leg in the Scotland v England match. DAILY EXPRESS: “Burland and Gerrard did good defensive work, but even before their mishaps they were slow and ‘heavy’ in attack.”

BATH CHRONICLE 1/4/1933.  Twenty clubs were now affiliated to the Bath Combination, and at least three-quarters of them were to be represented at the Seven-a-Side Tournament for the “Colmer Cup.

QUESTION

WHEN DID CONSIDINE AND GERRARD PLAY TOGETHER?

 ANSWER

13^th May 1933 on North Parade Cricket Ground versus Cardiff. Bath scored 203 for 4 declared.

R A Gerrard scored 64 in his first game.

S G U Considine not out 37.

AGM 15/7/1933

1^st XV caps presented to Messrs. Eastcott, Handford, Brooks, Barber and Williams, and United caps to Messrs Curtis, Shipp, Jenkins, Sampson, Buse and H W H Considine.

Votes of thanks to W T Davies for his continued interest in the club and in the junior clubs, and to Mr A L Cutler for good work for Bath ‘A’; also Mr Eddie Simpkins on reaching his 21^st year as Honorary Secretary.

ROLL CALL:-

Full-backs: R Banks 28, H T Buse 7, L St. V Powell 2 and F J Dyke one game,

Threequarters:- A E Merrett 33, W E Hancock 27, L St. V Powell 23, R A Gerrard 18, D W Pickles 11, F J Dyke 10, J S Bartlett 7, E J Eastcott 6, C E Gough 5, L G Matthews 4, H T Buse 3, T Babington 2, and R P Northway, L D Wardle and R James 1 each.

Half-backs:- C E Gough 24, T J FitzHenry 16, W C Handford 9, F J Dyke and H Handford 9, F J Dyke and H Davies 7, T Blanning 5, R P Northway and D W Pickles 3 each, and A E Neale and L D Wardle 1 each.

Forwards:-  M Shaw 34, H I Brooks 33, L W Moore 28, N W Matthews and B C Barber 27, D Wilson and F H Hollister 21, P Moon 20, P Clothier 16, J Jones and J Wilkins 11, S Weeks 9, D Crichton-Miller 8, S Shipp 7, L J Tanner and A Francis 6, J G Mackay 5, L D Wardle and T Wilkins 3, P Curtis and R G Hurrell 2, and D Thomas and A G Smith 1.

Gate receipts were up £79 compared with the previous season. The totals were £1962 that season, and £1883 the previous season.

The new grandstand had attracted many more patrons and fully justified its erection.