A Review of the 1904 Season
The Annual General Meeting of the members of The Forest CC, Chingford was held at the Parish Room on Friday evening (15th January 1904) Mr L. Le Vierge presided, and there was also present Messrs FW Warner, H Smith, R Jackaman, H Greenwood, G Hamlyn, Roddick, HS Gain, Verdon, WT Plume, L Clark, W Longden, O Blackmore, J Longden , J Heal and FW Thom (hon. Sec).
Mr J Heal moved that the name of the club be changed from The Forest CC to the Chingford CC, pointing out that the old Chingford Club no longer existed, and the title was consequently unappropriated. The proposition was unanimously agreed to. The Hon. Secretary reported that nearly all the dates for the forthcoming season had been filled up and amongst the clubs to be met were Wanstead Town, Epping, Loughton, Central Hackney, Thornhill, Hale End, Monkhams etc.
A report was submitted by the sub-committee appointed to make arrangements for the acquisition of a private ground. It was stated that a field had been rented situated at the top of Buxton Road, and the work of preparing match pitches and levelling the ground was making very satisfactory progress. The report was accepted and adopted. The election of officers resulted as follows: Captain, Mr FW Warner; vice-captain Mr J Heal; treasurer Mr H Smith; hon.sec Mr F W Thom; assistant hon. Sec. Mr H Greenwood; committee Messrs W Longden, J Longden, Verdon, G Hamlyn, O Blackmore and R Jackaman
The Buxton Road ground was ready for the opening game of the season, which was to be a practice match on Saturday 30 April with an old tramway car to be used as a pavilion. Incidentally Buxton Road was named after a man of that name who had been prominent in saving Epping Forest.
The Club was not particularly strong at this time, reflected in the fact that the fixture with Loughton saw them field their second XI.
Results in the season from the games we know about were:
Willie Longden took the first hat trick for the newly formed club on 21 May v London County Council (Valuers Dept)
He was also again the Club’s leading bowler with 50 wickets in 9 games at 6.06 each. Harry Greenwood was the next highest wicket taker with 22. Both of these bowlers took 7fers – Longden v Woodford Green and Greenwood v Mazawattee
Runs were again hard to come by, with Willie Longden scoring 142 runs @ 15.78 being the only batsman to average double figures. Herbert Gain with 49 v Loughton had the highest individual score
The occasional match was a 2 innings affair, with Willie Longden capturing nine wickets in both matches played in this format v Mazawattee and Woodford Green.
On 4 June v Woodford Green, Chingford were all out for 25. Opener WT Plume carried his bat, but was marooned on SIX not out !
In November the first annual concert was held in the Parish Room under the chairmanship of the Rector, the Rev AF Russell, which proved one of the most successful gatherings ever held in Chingford at this point in history. The hall was filled to its utmost capacity and a large number of persons who applied for admission had to be refused. This success was in great measure due to Oscar Blackmore who undertook the duty of concert manager, and not only arranged an admirable programme, but spared no effort to dispose of the tickets. At the close of the evening Mr WT Plume (now Hon. Sec) proposed a hearty vote of thanks to The Rector for presiding and to the artistes for giving their services and this was unanimously accepted.