This month John recounts the move from Boughton Hall Cricket Club to our own ground at Hare Lane. It was a big call for a junior club with just 40 years of experience to undertake a risk of this magnitude. It needed courage and self-belief. Above all, it needed leadership and ambition.

We were fortunate to have two individuals, very different in their approach to life but able to put together a convincing case to persuade their fellow members that this was their big opportunity.

The seeds had been planted in 1948 when Jack Barber, a WW2 fighter pilot from New Zealand, proposed that the money raised for a war memorial to remember the seven members who had lost their lives should be ‘ring-fenced’ and used to kick-start a campaign to buy land, build a pitch and erect a club house- ‘surely that would be a better memorial than another stone cross in a quiet corner of a foreign field’. It took 13 years to achieve the goal when an inaugural game between an invited Cheshire President’s XV narrowly defeated a Lancashire Presidents XV at our new home at Hare Lane, in front of an ecstatic crowd of over 1000 spectators.

The two leading lights of the Club Committee in the early sixties were Arnold Mills and Dai Morgan, who both appeared in the 1936/37 1st XV photograph and by the late 50’s were running the club’s affairs between them. Through their extensive business networks they let it be known that the club were on the look-out for suitable land and a portable building which might serve as a clubhouse. The land turned out to be a 15- acre site on the outskirts of Vicars Cross which had formerly been the grounds of a large country house, acquisitioned during the war and developed into a vehicle and supply unit under US Control.

Finance details don’t seem to be available from club records, however it is clear that mortgage re-payments to the bank and loans from the RFU and others were met in full over the successive years. Anecdotally, both Dai and Arnold each put in a £1,000 of their own money, which in those days was about equivalent to a year’s salary for many people.
Having acquired the land, the first challenge was to remove all the debris and foundations of previous buildings. Next, they had to identify a source of light sandy soil (from Old Caldean RUFC) transport it, level, seed and roll, hoping it would grow into a rugby pitch. The next stage, having located a former RAF Officer’s Mess at Hoylake, was to make it into a clubhouse. It was a wooden, sectional building and had to be dismantled and then transported in sections to the new site. About 25 lorries or tractors and trailers were involved in the cavalcade with the last one stopping regularly to pick up the bits which fell off as they proceeded at a leisurely pace towards Chester. One of the most complicated tasks was then to identify and fit all the bits back together. There were no left-overs so they succeeded in playing ‘all the right notes-but not necessarily in the right order’. Nevertheless, with scores of helpers, Tony Holden, who led this determined band of builders declared victory. Chester Rugby Club now had a clubhouse of its own. By any standards it was an enormous achievement.

Once the bar, sunken baths and changing rooms were installed the whole edifice was painted inside and out. The club, aware of the publicity, ensured that the general public were made aware of the arrival of their local rugby club, admittedly in bits, but It made a ‘good news’ story. They wanted to be seen as part of the community open to everyone, not just an elitist bunch of upper class twits.

As the sixties rolled on and our club settled into their new premises, a more promising era began to dawn. It was a time for more enjoyment and opportunity. The Beatles arrived, as did the pill. England even won the World Football Cup. We launched the first Rugby Carnival with its 30 stalls encouraging the punters to win a gold fish or a tortoise. Over 4,000 local people arrived during the day and by the end of it the organisers announced a handsome profit of over £850. It was to become an annual fund-raising event for the next 15 years.

Neither was there any doubt that the move stimulated local interest in the game. New players joined from Caldy -examples being the Baty brothers, Brian Constable and Bobby Hooks. John Craven joined the club in 1964 on the same day as Kenny Clark who had been playing for Vale of Lune. Peter Hartley, a Cumbrian full back, also arrived to contribute handling skills and inspiration to the backs. Results against tougher opposition varied between a win rate of 80 per cent early in the decade falling to 47 per cent towards the end as our fixtures got tougher.

Another important new initiative was the building of our stand (girders from Deeside Metal; timber supplies from Joe Musgrave- a former captain, painters from club members and a steady supply of articled clerks recruited on their rugby talent from Walker, Smith and Way, our local solicitors and benefactors. The stand is another great club asset and is now well filled on home league fixture days. It was also full to capacity when the club entertained Cardiff RUFC on two of their north west tours in the mid-sixties. Both games were close and the matches featured in the sports sections of the Daily Telegraph. Chester Rugby Club was beginning to attract national interest and we should all remember the people that made it happen.