As the players of Denton Cricket Club take to the field during this 1999 season, whether at first. second, third or any of the junior levels, they will first and foremost be setting out to enjoy the day - or evening - to the full. Enjoyment enhanced, of course, all the more by attaining the desired victory. That is as it should be.

During the course of the year, though, they and the general club membership, as well as the public in Denton at large, will become all too aware of the magnificent efforts of those down the years who have worked hard and made no small sacrifice to ensure the well-being of Denton Cricket Club.

Celebrating its 175th anniversary since its formation back in 1824, the club has provided cricket for players and spectators to enjoy for all but a few of those years. Wartime has intervened to deny an unbroken spell of play. Hardship too. Yet the club is still very much alive.

On its expansive Egerton Park ground, the club's fifth 'home', it has facilities second to none in local terms. Apart from the fine playing area which the club enjoys, there are first-class changing rooms, a spacious lounge bar and a comfortable function room in which numerous social events take place.

It would be false to suggest that the club is prospering to the extent that it is rich. It is true to say, however, that Denton Cricket Club has seen harder times. In looking back over the past one-and-three- quarter centuries this will become evident. It will also become clear that the club has meant much to many over the years.

In tracing Denton Cricket Club's history, it has not always been possible to find authoritative testimony. That which does exist, however, has been utilised. Here, then, is the first part of broadcaster John Gwynne's meander through the first 175 years of Denton Cricket Club, for whom he played in the 70's and 80's.

It would appear that Denton might have been one of the first places to form a team on an organised basis in the north of England. Like most other villages (for that is all Denton would have been) cricket would have been played on the green or some other available and appropriate place, like most sport, for small and often not-so-small stakes!

No doubt spurred on by local and civic pride, ambitious men were determined that Denton's cricket team should be organised formally and fixtures against neighbouring teams to be played. One can imagine that up and down the land there was a fermentation of such enthusiasm as the game of cricket took on a much more competitive guise. Village against village; town against town.

It was the village schoolmaster, John Hyde Beeley, who encouraged the cricket lovers of Denton to form a side, with their headquarters at the Angel Inn, Broom Lane - still there but on the renamed Hyde Road, they formed the Victoria Club.

William IV was on the throne at the time but Princess Victoria, the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, who died when she was only one year old, was soon to become heiress. By 1824, it must have been common for Victoria's name to be used for such ventures. The five year old would have been the talk of the town!

Vacant ground at the back of the Angel Inn was used for matches and quickly the team's reputation spread. John Hyde Beeley must have devoted much of his spare time in the running of the club. He died in 1830 but by that time the team was up and running.

Indeed, it continued to grow in stature over the following decade and, in 1837 - the year of Queen Victoria's accession, Denton took on a Stockport Eleven in a money match. Nobody quite knows what the outcome was but one can imagine that a sizeable amount of cash changed hands, not always willingly!

Such was the attraction of the Denton Club by 1840 that the great Tom Marsden, one of the best cricketers in the north - and probably the whole of England - came to play for the Angel Field men. A Sheffield man, Marsden must have commanded a substantial fee. He must have had somewhere to stay, the Angel Inn more than likely, since the trans-pennine journey, though little more than thirty miles, would have taken several hours. A left-hand batsman and left-arm medium bowler, Tom Marsden had a reputation wherever the game was played for his fierce competitiveness. He achieved only the second double-century in 1826 whilst playing for Sheffield against Nottingham, and went on to make several appearances in the annual Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's. Needless to say, he was not considered by the authorities as a 'Gentleman'.

He had failed in his bid to become the unofficial 'Best Cricketer in England' when, having challenged the great Fuller Pilch to a £100 single wicket contest in 1833, he lost. It was in 1840, and doubtless because of Marsden's connections that Denton played the famous Sheffield Wednesday Club - today best known, of course, for its soccer exploits - on the Hyde Park ground in Sheffield. It was June 29th, it lasted the whole day and each side batted twice.

The Sheffield Wednesday Club contained the finest of Yorkshire's cricketers, and matches between Sheffield and Denton continued for a number of years. Joe Wainwright, an observer and scribe at the time, recalls the match at the Angel Ground in 1847;

``It was during Denton Wakes and it seemed as though all Denton folk were there. One side of the path through the field was exclusive to those wishing to watch''.

Names such as Jim Knowles, Joe Knoll, Old Barnes and Matt Jackson mean little or nothing to us today, but in 1847 they were the local heroes of the day.

Jim Redfern, a feared fast bowler, joined the club around this time. George Parr, one of the finest batsmen and shrewdest of men, was bowled for only a five by Redfern in a match at Ashton-Under-Lyne. Parr was captain of All-England at the time and his demise on this occasion greatly enhanced Redfern's reputation. He played for Denton for many years, still plying his trade with the ball in the 1860's, by which time the club had moved on to pastures new.

When the owner of the Angel Inn, a Mr Taylor, died in 1860 his widow, Anne Taylor, decided to move, and the club found itself without a ground. The site of the old field is occupied by houses and the M67 motorway, but Cricket Street stands as a reminder that many a happy day was spent in the vicinity during the nineteenth century by cricket players and spectators alike.

For reasons unknown there was an attempt by the local authority Denton Parish Council, possibly - to change the name of Cricket Street to Florence Street, but this was vehemently opposed by the general public that things stayed as they were. When one considers that this was 1907, 47 years after the move from the Angel ground, one appreciates the feeling there must have been for Denton's first cricket ground.

Records are sketchy but some results are known of matches played where the Cricket Street site is. On June 26th 1858 Denton scored 84 and dismissed a Stockport side for 46. Six weeks later, on August 7 - and no doubt in front of a big holiday crowd - Denton only mustered 39 in reply to Salford Sunnyside's 89.

Between 1861 and 1865, the club played on vacant ground behind Wilson's Hat Factory, known as the Lad's Club Field. How many games were played at 'home' isn't clear, but it may well be that most of the team's matches during this five year period were as visitors. Two local 'derbies' played in 1861 saw Denton beat Openshaw Wellington by 14 runs and, two days later, get the better of Haughton Green Victoria by eight runs.

It was in 1866 that a more permanent move was made to a ground at the back of where Denton Labour Club now stands, near Lake Road. Indeed, the Old Oddfellows pub stood where the Labour Club is. It would certainly have been the team's new headquarters.

Such was the quality of the ground - it had obviously been prepared for the very best cricket - that well-renowned and established clubs like Manchester, Nelson, Todmorden, Ramsbottom and others would visit. The Manchester Club played at Old Trafford, which became the headquarters of the Lancashire County Club when it was formed in 1864.