Notable Servants of Ushaw Moor Cricket Club
Dickie Hope and Peter Metcalfe – Notable Servants of Ushaw Moor Cricket Club
Although Mr Metcalfe has recently passed away his sterling service to cricket will linger on for a very long time and rightly so. I did not know Peter personally but am fairly well informed about his admirable work in cricket circles. Comparing and contrasting Dickie Hope and Peter Metcalfe are not particularly difficult tasks – first and foremost they were the gel that held the essential administration of the game together during their respective decades within cricket.
Of course they operated in very different periods. In the case of Dickie he was one or more of secretary, player and captain during the 1930s, 40s and early 50s He sits proudly within a photograph on the wall of the cricket club bar to this day. During Dickie’s pomp coalmining dominated the landscape in terms of noise, dirt and injuries. Peter came a little later but for a similar length of time. Unlike Dickie Peter ventured beyond club administration into league work that included the disciplining of players. I am given to understand that he was not always impressed with the style of play of Kimblesworth Cricket Club and that came out at his naturally sad but nevertheless celebratory funeral service. Peter had a sense of humour and that is worth a lot in this world! Humour tends to linger when the man has left.
Dickie tried so hard shortly after WW2 to get Ushaw Moor into the prestigious Durham Senior League and I understand that only the lack of some facilities at the ground thwarted that ambition. They were both sticklers for the rules of cricket but were not so bookish that they could not think on their feet when a tricky decision or comment was needed. I love the comment that Peter, during poor light, was determined for a home match to carry on whilst New Brancepeth could still be seen – absolutely priceless! Dickie had a big fall out one day with a player called Trotter – a school teacher – I suppose Dickie and Peter were adverse to bullshit. They call a spade a spade in Ushaw Moor and always have.
As for their respective wives it might be a case of making the best of it. Both Ethel Hope and Ann Metcalfe were tea ladies at the club for many years. In the case of Ethel her situation in the order of the cricket universe is best seen within a local newspaper report celebrating their Golden Wedding in 1973. Dickie got about 280 words about his life followed by about 20 words that explained that Mrs Hope was tea lady at the cricket club! In the case of Mrs Metcalfe it seems that it was a case of if you cannot beat them join them!
Wilf Bell
