OUR HISTORY

Season 2020 was a landmark year for our cricket club as it was the first year under our new name of Golden Hill Cricket Club.

Initially formed in the 1860s and then reformed in 1878, the club held the name YMCA Cricket Club until the membership voted to change the title to better reflect the diverse nature of the club in 2019.

The club had very modest beginnings, playing friendly matches on the Durdham Downs before renting various fields including the County Ground in Ashley Down. Golden Hill became the long-standing site in 1902 and is where our club is based to this very day.

YMCA achieved some notable early success including winning the Bristol Cricket Challenge Cup in 1891; a trophy which led to the club becoming a more recognised cricketing force in the Bristol area. Despite many YMCA players achieving selection for Gloucestershire, including W.H. Rowlands who captained the county side in the years following the First World War, the club had a fallow period – just the small number of 119 years – until the 1st team won the Bristol and District Knockout Plate in 2010!

Despite the lack of silverware, the YMCA held its own in the upper echelons of the Bristol and District League from its creation in 1973. The 2nds began their league journey in 1978 and the thirds in 1982 before adding a fourth team in 2000 and more recently a 5th team in 2009. During its rich history, the club has been lucky to have the services of so many talented and dedicated cricketers and more recently, a period of unparalleled success leading to five of its senior sides competing at their highest level in our history, including the 1st XI who have achieved promotion to the region-wide West of England Premier League.

Golden Hill Cricket Club has a proud reputation in local cricket – our youth sections nurture and develop our future cricketers and many of these progress to the senior men’s and women’s cricket teams as well as the boys’ and girls’ county representative sides. But of course, as desirable as team and individual successes are, it is not the be-all and end-all of a cricket club.

The strength of our club lies in its values, its ethos and its vision to provide sporting opportunities to all those in our community and we approach this next era, as Golden Hill Cricket Club, determined to build further on the proud successes of our past with the considerable help and support of all the coaches, parents, friends & followers that have given so generously of their time over the years.