150th Anniversary Celebration
2025 was Berkhamsted Cricket Club’s 150th anniversary.
We celebrated this major milestone with a year of events and
activities concentrated on the summer. The aim for our celebration was to
improve the town’s awareness and engagement with the Club as well as
helping all our current and past members to feel proud to be associated
with our Club. We were delighted to see more of our members and
people from the town come down to the club to watch matches, enjoy our
beautiful setting and sample the drinks and food on offer from the
pavilion through our new partnership with Mad Squirrel Brewery.
A Special 150th logo was designed (see top of page), a new flag commissioned and there was a huge range of special 150th merchandise organised with the help of Berkhamsted Sports Shop; hoodies, polo shirts, caps water bottles and prints of the new painting of our clubhouse and grounds commissioned from famous local artist Mary Casserley.
As well as a full programme of League and Sunday matches for Men, Women and Juniors, we held a number of special events as set out in the programme below (click on each event for more details):
Anniversary Programme 2025
#FamilyFridays, T20 Matches, Food, Bar
Friday evenings from May to the middle of August
The big weekly social evening in the town, taking advantage of our beautiful setting, safe grounds for children to run around and cricket matches and practice going on all over the field. The Kitchen and BBQ offers excellent handmade pizzas, flip burgers and children’s menu rounded off by ice creams from Max on his bicycle. Full bar serving Mad Squirrel ales, including the special 150 Anniversary Ale.
There's something for everyone: toddlers, youngsters, teens, Mums & Dads and Grandparents.
Events completed included:
Talk – A History & Celebration of Berkhamsted Cricket Club
12th March, Wednesday, Town Hall, Wellcome Great Hall
Spot the Cricket Ball Competition
26th April to 2nd June, results were announced on June 13th
Six-a-Side Tournament
26th May, Bank Holiday Monday
U11 Girls’ cricket festival (years 5 & 6)
16th June, Monday
This festival opened with the Town Crier and finished with Medals awarded by the Town Mayor. over 80x U11 girls from eight local junior schools took part in this competition with every team playing multiple games, enjoying the chance to put their developing cricket skills to the test.
Members’ Family Fun Day, Cricket, Games, Food, All-day Bar
22nd June, Sunday
Our fantastic Family day included Cricket Olympics, quick cricket games for the whole family to join, a giant marquee, face painting and crafts for the younger ones, full Mad Squirrel kitchen and BBQ, ice creams and coffee stall and an all-day bar all set in the safe grounds of the Cricket Club and Kitchener’s Field. It was a glorious sunny day when the whole Club came together to have fun celebrating its 150th Anniversary
Cricket in the Church
28th June, Monday
On 28th June 2025, the Club held a new first, a nets practice session in the nave of St Peter's Church in the High Street. Part of the 150th anniversary celebrations, the event attracted a degree of media interest with Three Counties Radio sending along a reporter to capture some interviews with the Rector, Stuart Owen, as well several members of our Club. For the full set of pictures click here
Grand Reunion Day, Cricket, Music, Food, Bar
29th June, Sunday
Our Grand Reunion was a wonderful opportunity for players from every era to renew acquaintances with former team mates and oppositions to share memories and enjoy the Women’s Premier League Match played against Chesham on our main square. Another giant marquee to provide shade from the scorching sun, full kitchen, BBQ and bar all day with food wagons, ice creams and coffee. There were historical exhibits by both the Club and the Local History Society. With over 350 guests, the day was crowned with the announcement of Vice President status for Brian Collins and Life Membership for Ian Putman. After a few short speeches, the crowd gave three cheers for the Club as we hoisted the special 150th Anniversary Flag for the first time at the Club’s new flag pole. For the full set of pictures click here
Berkhamsted Men’s XI and Women’s XI Matches v MCC
25th July, Friday
A unique event with both our Men’s and Women’s XIs taking on the mighty MCC in matches both of hich were played on our beautiful ground, side by side on yet another wonderful warm and sunny day.
The day offered a spectacle of excellent cricket with an all-day bar and full kitchen and BBQ offering. This event segued into a full Family Friday evening and was the biggest evening of our special year!
Legacy Outcomes
In addition, to provide a lasting legacy from the 150th Anniversary, we completed a number of special projects:
- Compiled a detailed history of the Club thanks to amazing efforts by the Berkhamsted Local History and Museum Society
- Set up a Digital Archive to capture all the photos, newspaper articles, scorebooks, histories and personal memories of members so that they can be viewed at any time, from anywhere (and not just be limited to browsing the photos in the clubhouse)
- Establishing ourselves as a Disabilities Cricket Hub, making our sport available to all, regardless of ability, with the help of Herts Cricket and the ECB
- Adding some physical legacies such as a new flag pole, trees and benches to improve the facilities for watching cricket at our ground
All of this was organised by a dedicated committee drawn from all parts of our club to help plan and organise everything Anniversary and they certainly made sure 2025 was a year to remember. It was a fitting tribute to their herculean efforts that the whole committee were awarded Clubman/woman of the Year.