A village cricket match was regarded more as a contest than a pastime; each side feared the censure of his parish, if conquered, so nothing had to be given away likely to prove an advantage to an opposing team.  I once saw a member snatch a bat belonging to his own club from one of the other side who was about to appropriate it for his innings with, “No you don’t.”  How different is the feeling, and how ready to help, a member of a really sporting team would have been in similar circumstances!  Referring to help or advice in cricket matters, a story is told of the late Dr. W.G.  Grace.  The incident happened in an adjoining county to Worcestershire.  The great batsman, crossing Clifton Down, came upon some boys at cricket.  Three sticks represented the wickets, arranged so wide apart that the ball could pass through without disturbing them.  Ever ready to help, Dr. Grace pointed out the fault and readjusted the sticks; as he turned away he heard, “What does ’e know about it, I wonder!”

This carries me to a parallel happening at Stratford-on-Avon.  The late Sir Henry Irving and a friend fell in with a native on the outskirts of the town, and being anxious to test the local reputation of the poet asked the man if he had heard of a person named Shakespeare.  The man assented and volunteered the information that he was a writer.  Did he “know what Shakespeare had written?” Their informant could not say, but, a moment after they had parted, he called back that he believed he had written “part of the Bible.”

An ancient villager, who was secretary of our Club and always acted as umpire, gave me “out,” incorrectly, for accidentally touching the wicket when the ball was “dead.”  I retired without contesting his decision, as I had been taught.  Next time we met he apologized, having discovered his mistake, but he was greatly impressed by my practical example of “playing the game.”

Cricket, though popular in my first years at Aldington, gradually became difficult to arrange.  As the market-garden industry superseded farming, the young men found full employment for the long summer evenings on their allotments and those of their parents.  In the winter, when horticultural work is not so pressing, they had plenty of time on their hands, and a football club was formed.  It flourished exceedingly, and Badsey became almost invincible among the neighbouring villages and even against the towns.  They distinguished themselves in the local League matches, and on one occasion, something like two thousand spectators assembled to witness a final which Badsey won, in the meadow I lent them; and I had the honour of presiding at a grand dinner to celebrate the event.  I notice in the local papers that in spite of the interruption of the war they are now again thriving and earning new laurels.

Our most important fete day was that upon which the Badsey, Aldington, and Wickhamford Flower Show was held.  The credit, for the original inception and organization of this popular festival, is almost entirely due, I think, to the public spirit and determination of my old friend and co-churchwarden, Mr. Julius Sladden, of Badsey, and it gives me much pleasure to record the debt of gratitude which the three villages still owe him.