G.C.C. "Off to Standlake" July 31, 1900

From the Oxford Times, Friday September 9, 1955

Histories of Oxon Cricket Clubs
GARSINGTON: Tally Stick Scoring Recalled

Cricket is said to have been played at Garsington for over 100 years, but as far as existing records and human memories recall, the first organised cricket club was formed in the mid-1880s on the initiative of the Rector of Garsington, the Rev David Thomas. The first captain was Mr Peter Gale, the son of Mr Joseph Gale, who then lived at the Manor, and among the team were those bearing the name of Clinkard, Druce, Alder, Godfrey and Clanfield, which are still to be found amongst Garsington cricketers today.
Of the early achievements of the club there is, alas, little record. Scoring books were unknown in village cricket: the score was marked by notches cut on a tally stick, and there are still those in the village today who remember spending their summer afternoons keeping the talley. The club's early games were played on a field off Salter's Hill (Pettiwell) and later in Church Close, at the corner of Denton Lane - and later still, when this became the site of the present North Manor Housing Estate, on a field belonging to the Home Farm of the Manor.
When the Wyfold League was founded half a Century ago, the Garsington Cricket Club was one of the original affiliates and is today the only member of the league which has an unbroken record of 50 years membership. They were the first winners of the Wyfold Cup in 1905, and a member of the winning team, Mr James Clanfield is still active today and a keen follower of the club's activities. They have won the Wyfold Cup on six occasions since, and have also won the Littlemore Cup five times, the Fowler Cup five times and the Garsington Shield twice.
With the reopening of village cricket after the Second World War the need was felt for a unification of the of the sports activities of Garsington, and the Cricket Club united with the Football Club in forming the Garsington Sports Club, to which a tennis club was added later. Each component section of the Sports Club, retains its individual character, but the finances, and general direction of the whole, are vested in a central committee of management. The experiment has been highly successful and has resulted in the greater efficiency of all the associated bodies.
As members of the Sports Club, the Garsington cricketers have benefited by the provision of the new Memorial Playing Field, which, purchased by public subscription in commemoration of those who went out from the village in the two World Wars offers excellent facilities for cricket, football and tennis, in addition to a children's playground on one of the most beautiful sites in Oxfordshire.
In 1951, in recognition of the growing popularity of six-a-side, the Sports Club inaugurated the Garsington Cup Competition in celebration of the Festival of Britain. This venture has been well supported and there has been an average of 20 entries each year.
A popular feature of the club is the annual "President's Match", in which a team composed of the vice-presidents of the club and captained by its president, Mr J.W. Wheeler-Bennett, plays the Garsington 1st XI. This is an all day event and a cup has been presented to be held by the winning team for a year.
The present officers of the Garsington Cricket Club are: Mr E. W. Somerville, F.R.C.S., chairman; Mr E. Pym, secretary; Mr. D. Ruffels, treasurer: Mr. V.J. Ruffels, captain 1st XI; Mr C. Eden, captain 2nd XI. The club's motto, which it shares with the other bodies associated in the Sports Club, is "Bene et Fortiter" and its members endeavour to live up to it.

Hand written entry to the Garsington news cutting book by Sir John Wheeler-Bennett in March 1951:

When at the close of the Second World war village sport began to be re-organised in England there were a few in Garsington who cherished the dream that one day all the sporting activities in the village should be combined in one organization which should exist solely with the ideal of promoting sport and sportsmanship in general.
After nearly four years of quiet effort, not unattended by disappointment and set-backs, we eventually saw the realization of our dream on July 21st 1949 when, at a joint meeting of the cricket and football clubs, the Garsington Sports Club was founded.
A year and a half later on November 22nd 1950, the club held its first annual dinner, at which it was announced that the support of more than fifty vice-Presidents, including some names of national distinction, had been secured.
The history of Garsington Sports Club and its activities, as given in the press, appears in the following pages, and as the club's first President, a position of honour in which I feel deep and sincere pride, it is my great and confident hope that the record may be one of a consistently high standard of sportsmanship and that it may include as many triumphs as may reasonably be hoped for.
May good fortune attend the club now and always.