My reminiscences are not about a certain match but about my early days as a Gloucestershire supporter. I saw my first match in 1963 and have been a member since 1965 when my Junior membership cost One Guinea (£1.05). A couple of years later a school friend got a job on the ground-staff working for Dave Bridle and through him I managed to get a casual job helping to work the scoreboard. In those days it was on the far side of the ground from the pavilion roughly at the extreme left of the flats. It was custom made by a local engineering company called Brecknell, Dolman and Rogers, where one of the directors (Harry Dolman I think) was a cricket enthusiast. The technology was pretty basic with bicycle chains turning large bands on which the numbers were painted. The main operator was a very large gentleman called Jack who had a struggle to get to the first floor where we sat and looked out through a rectangular opening. If there was a problem with the score which needed runs to be taken off, it was my job to climb the narrow steps to the second floor and physically pull the bands back to the required score. Not sure what Health and Safety would have thought of it but I loved it. We had a telephone link to the official scorers so, if it rang, we knew we had made a mistake.
Dave Bridle was a very good employer and gave me 10 shillings (50p) each day I helped with the board. I have met him on a number of occasions over the years and he has always had time to talk to me, a splendid fellow. The groundstaff would have a brew in advance of the intervals and left the tea in the pot for us after we had walked across the ground at the start of the intervals. The tea was extremely stewed and consequently I have had a life long aversion to strong tea! My most memorable moment came when David Shepherd and Jack Davey came up to the scoreboard (probably 1968) to have a look and a chat. I was a very shy youth and was in awe of the players. The next day I was walking into the ground to take up my duties when David Shepherd drove in, recognised me and waved, I felt 10 foot tall.
I spent a lot of our almost championship winning summer of 1969 helping with the scoreboard as I was doing my 'A' levels and had time off to 'study'. I did OK though and went off to University so my opportunities to help out were limited after that and stopped in 1973 when I moved away from Bristol. I have followed Gloucestershire faithfully though even when I didn't live near the county ground (I was only 20 minutes walk away) being a country member for many years and managed to become a life member before they withdrew it. I have many happy memories of the one day finals as I attended all but the Warwickshire one and I have travelled far and wide for days of championship matches. I have now retired and, with my senior railcard and bus pass, try to attend these games by public transport where possible.
One regret is that I can't find a photograph of the old scoreboard. If anyone has one then it would be great if it could be posted on this forum.
John Moroz
Memory added on May 27, 2014
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