Summer Sports - Cricket
Tony Bowhay
they could not hang - having survived three attempts to end his life thus. He was a known thief and, in 1885, was convicted of the brutal murder of his employer, Emma Keyse, at her home at Babbacombe Bay near Torquay on 15 November 1884. The evidence was weak and circumstantial, amounting to little more than Lee having been the only male in the house at the time of the murder, his previous criminal record, and being found with an unexplained cut on his arm. Despite claiming his innocence, he was sentenced to hang. After three failed attempts to end his life, all on the same day, his sentence was commuted to life. He was later released from prison and made his living by narrating his story to anyone who would listen. Just a few years after all this notoriety, in 1898, the village cricket club was formed on
T
he village of Abbotskerswell lies a few miles south of Newton Abbot in typical ‘patchwork’ Devon countryside. Its most famous son is John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee - the man
land provided to them by a Miss Hillard adjacent to her Marystowe house. She also donated ‘kit’ for the gentlemen of the village to go about their game. I stumbled upon this quaint little cricket
ground whilst driving through the village on my way to Newton Abbot racecourse. Not one for missing a potential article, I called in to find three of the club’s longest serving members hard at work getting the ground ready for the new season. Eighty-two year old Tony Bowhay has
served the club for the best part of fifty years as a player, groundsman and chairman and is the current president still actively doing what he can for the club. Working alongside him was Joe Clowes, the current fixture secretary, and Barry Hedger, a former player who continues to serve the club, racking up over thirty years service. Tony was keen to explain the virtues of the club and fill me in on the history of the club and ground and what work they had done, over the years, to improve the facilities.
Our editor calls in unannounced on the volunteer members at Abbotskerswell Cricket Club in South Devon and finds a hive of activity as they prepare for the new season
All’s well at Abbotskerswell
86 I PC JUNE/JULY 2014
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