A Review of the 1956 Season
The need for funds to extend the Clubhouse heralded the birth of the Square Cut Society in 1956. This took the form of a football lottery and was a joint venture with Chingford Rugby Club. It replaced the old Rugget (RUGby and crickET) guild which had served the Club well in previous years.
The summer was ruined by rain, and from 150 scheduled fixtures, 38 were unfinished
The First XI won 10 out of 19 games completed, with the top run scorers being Ken Dowding and Ted Sandrock. Best individual score came from Cliff Crafer with 78 v Chelmsford. Laurie Roseman led the way with the ball, capturing an impressive 33 wickets – and Derek Tonge took 7-54 v Chelmsford and Les Warner 6-15 v Northampton Poly
Somerset star Ken Biddulph played his last games for Chingford at the end of September
In the 3rd eleven , Bixby returned one of the best set of bowling figures of all time for Chingford when he captured 8-19 as Barnet were bowled out for 43. According to the Guardian, “ A youngster with a bright future”, one Peter Brown hit 102 , his maiden century in the away game at Essex Venturians. Also in form with the bat was Rex Stubbings who hit 122 v North London and Noel Attwell made 96 v Buckhurst Hill
In the Extra 3rds both David Jones and Robin Snook had 7 wicket hauls
Bryan Hart gave a sneak preview of things to come when he captured 8-58 for the Sunday B XI v Enfield
Midweek, the club entertained the MCC for the first time ever on 14 August where they came up against Test Player Yewar Saheed who captured a hat trick for the visitors in their win, despite a tremendous bowling spell from Don Johnson who took 6-50 from 22 overs.
The season ended with the interclub 6 a side knock out on 14 October and the booby final was abandoned in disorder as it was considered too dark to continue safely despite floodlighting from all the cars on the ground !