The Sussex Cricket Museum opened it's doors to the public for tours as the club as part of the Heritage Open Days. Mark Dunford goes behind the scenes to find out about the history of the club
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00:00Hi, I'm Mark Dunford and I'm here at Sussex Cricket Club and I'm having a tour about the history of Sussex Cricket Club thanks to Heritage Open Days.
00:08So I'm going to be giving a tour around the ground and giving some brilliant facts and interesting insights.
00:13The history of the club, who's played for the club and interesting facts about those players.
00:18And yeah, have a look at the ground and go behind the scenes.
00:21Take you around into the media centre, up around the back of the scoreboard.
00:26We're cut over on the outfield, they're cutting it and trimming it in preparation for the next game.
00:33So we've got permission just to walk on the outside.
00:36If you have a lawn at home, that would be the time to look away because you'll look at even the outfield and it's immaculate, absolute credit.
00:46We'll take you up to the players' pavilion and then bring you back down through the main pavilion.
00:51Have a look into the boardroom where all the important decisions are made.
00:56And then we'll end up in the museum where you'll be able to have a look at the history of the game.
01:00We've been here for about 10 years. We won an award four years ago for the quality of our output and the depth and breadth of what we do.
01:09So feel free to have a look around there.
01:13We have a little box here which looks just like an old rusting box.
01:19This is the all-important cabinet that when Sky TV come along and start filming, they don't reinvent all their cabling and lay cabling out all around the ground.
01:31A lot of it is already pre-laid.
01:34So if you watch cricket and you see stump cam, then that's already pre-wired into two or three strips.
01:43The wiring comes down and ends here.
01:46So all Sky needs to do, there's no parking here normally, they'll bring their big trucks down here, open up the side and it's like multi-socket point glory.
01:57They then plug one end of the cable into that and the other end of the cable into the various sockets there.
02:03They then get a direct feed into all the camera points around the ground.
02:08So the question that Tim's come up with is, what is the connection or how did Paul McCartney reference Ted Dexter during their last Open Top concert?
02:21The infamous one where they were playing Get Back etc.
02:25So we'll give you the answer at the end of the tour.
02:29So these will be the stairs that we go up and we take it all the way to the top.
02:50We're on top of the South Stand, on top of the media centre here.
02:54This used to be the indoor school. We had a gentleman called Sven Carmer.
03:00When he sadly passed away he left a multi-million pound legacy split between our club and Preston Nomads.
03:08We used the money to develop the ground and part of that development was recognising that the indoor facilities that we had for the professional team,
03:18although they were good, they weren't the best they could be.
03:22It was agreed that we would build a separate indoor school with better nets, indoor physiotherapy, bathing facilities, physiotherapy, you name it, they have it there.
03:38And then they would knock this old indoor school down and turn it into a media centre.
03:44Media over the course of the day is becoming more important rather than just the written media that we used to have.
03:53On top of that they decided to top off the stand here by providing this wonderful facility which Nigel here has taken advantage of.
04:06Nigel is a seats member here that we can look over the ground.
04:11If you look at the strip which is marked out with the white edging, that will be being prepared for the next match.
04:18If you're lucky enough to be along that level, you're probably nearly there behind it,
04:24then when people bowl and the art of cricket is seeing whether they're swinging the ball, whether they're turning the ball,
04:32if you're fortunate enough to be right behind the bowler's arm, it adds to the quality of the game,
04:37it adds to your enjoyment of the game, particularly if you're an avid cricket fan.
04:50Adrian Harms will come in here with his fellow colleague from whichever council you're playing.
04:57We'll use the two for a meeting room, so if the staff need to have a confidential meeting they can come up here, have a chat,
05:04a room with a view absolutely immaculate for that.
05:07They can see the radio commentary team there as well.
05:12It's an interesting thing to see now that they're talking about radio and the real media.
05:17I always thought it would be the sports, but this is like real, there's a split between the two.
05:25A woman MCC president, a prime minister, three Indian princes and a bishop.
05:34I'll tell you the answers at the end if you don't already know.
05:40When the ground was purchased and built in 1871, this concrete wall was built all the way around the ground.
05:49It's a fascinating object. There's about 12 different layers of concrete, about 20-30 feet long.
05:56Imagine that each layer would have taken a day to build and settle.
06:00It would have taken at least a week for each segment.
06:04You work your way around the ground, we worked at something like 400-500 yards.
06:09It would have taken the best part of a year.
06:11Now you just put a fence panel up and take it around.
06:15The fence here is partly hidden. It's all still intact, apart from the northern part where the modern flats were.
06:22The developers took the wall down and put their own brick wall up.
06:27We're now at the back of the scoreboard, originally built in 1930.
06:31The inside of the scoreboard would have been the old-fashioned rope and pulley method.
06:36You'd have had two people in there watching the game intently to make sure that they counted every run,
06:43they counted every wicket, made sure everything added up.
06:46That's where you'd probably see the odd famous photo of people looking at the scoreboard,
06:51looking up just to make sure that if it should read 35, it does read 35 and not 53.
06:59Even if you're on the pulley system, it's possible not to get it quite right.
07:04It became digitised about eight years ago with the front of the board, and then it was re-upgraded about two years ago.
07:14I think water, electronics and wind don't always mix well, so they've improved the whole scoreboard.
07:22They've made it a little bit brighter too, so on a bright afternoon, if you're watching it, it becomes a lot clearer.
07:29This is used for the occasional memorial to sadly people who have passed away.
07:36A tragedy with the Rashid brothers here, April 2002, where Uma lost his life trying to save his younger brother from drowning.
07:48Just before the start of the cricket season, the club were devastated by that,
07:54and it felt appropriate just to put a little plaque just to remember their name.
07:59Other people, Peter Cotter, who's the chairman of the supporters club,
08:03Keith Partridge, who is a character and a great supporter of the club,
08:09and Alan Oakman, who played for the county, who is the founder of the Sussex Cricket Society.
08:15So we'll take you round through and we can walk on the outfield and do just have a look to see the quality.
08:22It is absolutely immaculate, apart from the little weed there, nothing going on.
08:30They pay attention to it almost every day of the year.
08:34They'll cut it even through the winter, so they don't allow any growth to happen.
08:39It was noticeable that when they cut the grass just now, there were no real grass clippings that came off.
08:47They're just shaving it literally every other day to make sure that where the grass is worn a bit thin, it'll grow back.
08:54They want to give it a good start. Normally grass will continue to grow up until about the end of October,
09:00so they know they've got a narrow window before it'll bed down for the winter to really put it to bed.
09:07It's not like the Lord's Slope though, it's the wrong way.
09:10No, the Sussex Slope goes north-south. The Lord's Slope goes across the road.
09:17They leased it off the Bennet-Stamford family, who were the major landowners around here at the time.
09:27They'd obtained a private act of Parliament to be able to sell off their land,
09:32which is why they were able to move from the ground that used to be almost on the seafront about half a mile in that direction.
09:39They moved here in 1872. At the time, Eaton Road wasn't even a made-up road along in front of there.
09:47Eaton Road was made up as far as the entrance to the club.
09:51All these places around here were built later, after they'd moved here in 1872.
09:59It was a ploy of the Bennet-Stamford estate to enhance the prestige of the area.
10:08Following that, big houses were built all around the ground.
10:12As you can see, they've gradually been bought up by developers and redeveloped into flats,
10:19so they acquired two at a time, but it's much harder to do that now.
10:24Two Sussex players have appeared in three Oscar-nominated films, one of which won Best Picture.
10:33Both these players are buried locally, and one is buried very local to where we're actually standing now.
10:44It's not according to everybody, but obviously it's not the actual body, it's the ashes.
10:57Individually, they need committee chair and approval, and you need to have done something quite well for the club.
11:05Rupert Webb used to be a wicket-keeper, and he's buried at the northern part of the Strips.
11:13Jack Hobbs is buried just off Old Shore Road.
11:17Yes, and Rupert Webb appeared in four weddings and a funeral, and Robert Webb was Duckface's dad.
11:27Right at the end scene, when they have that fight, that's Rupert Webb.
11:31And the other person is Audrey Smith. Audrey Smith is a player.
11:35She's an actor.
11:36Went to Hollywood, helped form the Hollywood Cricket Club, then became an actor, appeared in films, fought Feathers, etc.
11:43And you imagine being a Hollywood actor, when he died, his remains were in some huge mausoleum.
11:50It turned out, we found out, that there's a tombstone with his name on it at a church along New Church Road.
11:58Sunday afternoons in Hollywood was a big social thing.
12:01You had David Niven, Boris Karloff, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
12:05They all used to go and play cricket or go there to socialise.
12:09Elizabeth Taylor, they all did.
12:11Relatively undeveloped area, so they wanted to build an indoor school.
12:15Much improved facilities, so they built the changing rooms, indoor nets over to the right.
12:22Outdoor nets are behind the stand there.
12:27So this is the new players' pavilion and changing room areas.
12:37Again, the players have a great view of the ground.
12:40They don't need to be behind the bowl of his arms because, as Keith Greenfield mentioned,
12:47they've got all the stats on various people.
12:50Part of the performance director's role over the winter will be to analyse the teams that we're going to be playing next year.
12:58With any sports ground, you have a home team and a visitor team, an away team.
13:04The home team will build upon their facilities and they'll improve them to a good standard.
13:12The away team will be given a more spartan, a more basic facility.
13:18It's all part of the game, all part of the sport.
13:21So if we were allowed into the changing rooms, it would have a much bigger changing room.
13:28The facilities would be better.
13:31If you go to the away changing room, it'll be like a tiled floor, a tired wall, a very small table.
13:39It's still enough to keep everyone happy, but not enough to make them feel at home.
13:46When Sir Winston Churchill was at prep school at Brunswick School, he used to come here to watch cricket.
13:53Ian Fleming, who wrote James Bond, spent his last summer watching cricket here in 1964.
14:00Of course, his two nasty characters, Blofeld and Skarmunga, have cricket connections.
14:09Blofeld's son is Henry Blofeld, the Test Match Special commentator.
14:14And Skarmunga played for Sussex Amateurs in the 1930s.
14:27One of the other facilities at the start of play, they normally have a bell which they can ring.
14:33The umpire might come down and ring it.
14:36Just to signify the start of play.
14:39So anybody chatting away, maybe not paying attention, they hear the bell and they know the game's about to start.
14:47Do guest celebs ring the bell for Test Matches usually?
14:50They do. We've had the other one at Lords.
14:53They've turned it into an event now.
14:57And they almost invite people who are doing something at the moment to come along and make a big feature of it.
15:04We've actually purchased a similar bell down in the museum, which you can give a ring.
15:11And when we open the museum before play, lunch and tea, we take joy in ringing it.
15:20Just to let people know that it's almost like the pub landlord times up.
15:25And it lets people know that it's time to go out to the field of play and watch cricket again.
15:31Welcome to our museum.
15:36Keith is here. Keith's our curator.
15:41It has been, again, the benefit of the Spencarmer legacy.
15:45In that prior to the pavilion being restored and upgraded, and the facilities being upgraded, believe it or not, this is where the groundsman used to be.
15:57So we've seen the tractor mowing and dabbling the pitch.
16:02We've seen all the work that they do and carry out.
16:05They would have had all their equipment in here.
16:08The heavy roller, this would have been for, they would have had a tractor.
16:12And part of the reason for them wanting improved facilities is that if you really want to bring the ground up to the condition that you see it today, absolutely A1, you really need modern equipment.
16:24So it was agreed that they would have a purpose-built set of huts over the north end where they can keep all their mechanical equipment.
16:32So when it comes to preparing the ground, it's in a much better state.
16:36So we were the beneficiaries of them moving out.
16:40It's a long, thin museum.
16:43We've divided it into Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3.
16:48And we've got Gallery 1 where we have the Golden Times, the history of the cricket, which we can't really change.
16:57We represent the pitcher over on the wall is the match against Australia.
17:02And that's where we were.
17:04The building on the bottom left is the back of the scoreboard where we had the plaques to former players.
17:10You can see the difference there.
17:12The media centre is that building over on the far left.
17:15They used to call it the cow shed.
17:18The pavilion in the main part of the building is still recognisable today.
17:22That's where we are.
17:23We're on the left by Tim's thumb there.
17:30We should have rehearsed that bit more, shouldn't we?
17:32And then interestingly, if you look at the ground, the top of the ground now has been shaved off a little bit.
17:39So they have the outdoor nets there and the seating area.
17:43Originally, it would have gone up a little bit more.
17:46But the fascinating point about this photograph, you look at the representation of men and women.
17:53There's a large contingent of women as well as men.
17:57All the men have like a boater hat on.
17:59And the ladies are invariably in their refinery.
18:03What year was that?
18:051909.
18:08And the Australian team will feature in another little story we have up at the end,
18:13which again is a nice little twist mixing aviation and cricket.
18:21And again, there aren't that many clubs that can bring the two in together.
18:26But it's a great national story, if not international story.
18:29When they did the rooftop concert, they played Get Back twice.
18:35And at the end of the second one, there was polite applause.
18:40It's a bit like a cricket match.
18:42So Paul McCartney said, looks like Ted Dexter has scored another.
18:50And in answer to the questions, who was the first lady MCC president?
18:56Claire Conner.
18:58No, with the Sussex connection.
19:00Claire Conner.
19:02Who is the prime minister that's played for Sussex?
19:06Ted Heath.
19:09A couple of you guys have mentioned his name today to me.
19:13Imran Khan.
19:18Who we don't talk about much, do we?
19:20The three Indian princes.
19:23Nawab Bhuttoli.
19:25Ranjit Singh.
19:27Ranji and Dulip.
19:30And the bishop?
19:32Nigel Shepherd.
19:34We had two glider pilots who took part in the Battle of Arnhem in World War II.
19:42Johnson was the first female aviator to fly from England to Australia.
19:49When she landed in Australia, she was lord of this being an international hero.
19:54She made her way back to the UK and wanted to do a tour around the UK, a celebration tour.
20:01Brighton Hove Worthing Airport had just opened, so they invited her to land there.
20:08Brighton Council, who part own the airport, invited her for a civic reception.
20:14At the same time, we happened to be playing Australia.
20:18It's a cricket match here.
20:20When the Australian team got to hear of her arrival, they said that they wanted to meet her.
20:29And that they would be happy to delay the tea interval until she actually arrived.
20:40So I've just finished my tour of Sussex Cricket Club and learned so much about the history of the club.
20:45You've seen from all the videos, just seeing the memorials behind the school box,
20:50going into the media centre, the great view from the top of the media centre.
20:54And also learning all those great facts about Paul McCartney's connection with the song Get Back and Ted Dexter.
21:02All the Bond things with Ian Fleming.
21:06It's amazing, really.
21:08So really good, lots of history.
21:11And the museum's great, so many good artefacts.
21:13I recommend you, if you're ever down here for a game, give it a look.
21:17And ask someone about the history and some of the facts about some of the players, because it really is fascinating.