Back row (from left): H. Crowther (scorer), A. Robinson, M.T. Wade (coach), L. Bell, A. Horner, R.A. Walker, D.B. Mason, H. West, J.A. Naylor. Middle row: J.M. Barritt (secretary), C.S. Pickard, A.B. Moore, K.R.H. Hirst, H. Aspinall (captain), A. Hartley, E. Walmsley, G. Binns, W.A. Gossop. Front row: A. Pickard, P.W. Robinson (treasurer), G.M.C. Thompson (chairman), S. Thwaite, A. Heaton, J. Gomersall (president), H. Sharp, L.G. Taylor, W. Aspinall, J.W. Lees, A.W. Kay (groundsman). Seated: J.E.L. Holroyd, D. Garside.
On 1 August 1955, at Bradford Park Avenue, Lightcliffe beat Pudsey St. Lawrence by four wickets to win the Priestley Cup for the fourth time. Alwyn Gossop took six for 69 in 16.7 eight-ball overs as Pudsey were bowled out for 142. Albert Hartley scored 47 not out in Lightcliffe’s reply, having earlier taken two wickets. George Bottomley, one of the most accomplished all-rounders in the 132-year history of the Lightcliffe club, was a professional with Pudsey at the time, and so played on the losing side.
Members of the cup-winning side absent from the photograph, taken later in the season, are Johnny Hunter, better known as an Australian rugby league player who had come to this country to play for the Huddersfield club at Fartown, Tony Haigh, an Old Brodleian rugby player and future captain, and professional Peter Trevitt.
Harold Sharp, by then a committee member, had been a leading player with Lightcliffe during the first three decades of the century (see illustration on p.2). Wilfred Aspinall, father of Herbert, had also been a prominent batsman before the club joined the Bradford League. Donald Garside, then a young man in his first season at Wakefield Road, kept wicket until the end of the 1979 season, by which time he had made 554 first-team appearances.
Albert Hartley made his debut in 1925 as an eighteen-year-old and played his last game in 1959, although he spent some seasons as professional at other clubs, most notably Nelson in the Lancashire League, where he replaced Learie Constantine. Hartley played 572 games for Lightcliffe, scoring 10,490 runs, taking 1028 wickets and 306 catches, all club records at the time. Martin Radcliffe, opening bat from 1959 (he made his debut the week after Hartley’s final game) until 1981 has since scored more runs, ending with 10,722, while Roger Stead has made over 600 first-team appearances.
Back row (from left): H. Crowther (scorer), A. Robinson, M.T. Wade (coach), L. Bell, A. Horner, R.A. Walker, D.B. Mason, H. West, J.A. Naylor. Middle row: J.M. Barritt (secretary), C.S. Pickard, A.B. Moore, K.R.H. Hirst, H. Aspinall (captain), A. Hartley, E. Walmsley, G. Binns, W.A. Gossop. Front row: A. Pickard, P.W. Robinson (treasurer), G.M.C. Thompson (chairman), S. Thwaite, A. Heaton, J. Gomersall (president), H. Sharp, L.G. Taylor, W. Aspinall, J.W. Lees, A.W. Kay (groundsman). Seated: J.E.L. Holroyd, D. Garside.