THE CLASSIC OPENER
A Tribute To
Harry Cheetham
(1925-2009) By John Birch
We were all shocked and saddened to hear of the death of one of Mottram's
greatest ever batsmen, Harry Cheetham, who died under tragic circumstances
in a house fire at the end of October 2009.
From a personal point of view, I find it hard to fully express what a great
influence Harry has made to my life and my involvement with the great game
of cricket.
He was born and raised at Hill End Farm, Broadbottom, the family business,
and attended Leigh St School in Hyde where he excelled at most sports but
with a particular liking for cricket and football.
Harry grew up in an age where there was no junior cricket but was more than
happy to go along to practice nights and field the ball for the senior
players at Mottram, the club where he was to remain all his career. He made
his debut in 1938 at the tender age of 13 when, having turned up to score
for the 2nd eleven, he was to learn that the side only had ten
men and as a consequence was thrust into action against Hollingworth.
Unfortunately, the war years curtailed any competitive cricket activity in
the Glossop League and it wasn't until Harry was 20 that he was able to
resume his career. It certainly makes me wonder quite how good he would have
been were it not for the deeds of a certain Mr Hitler.
Harry became a highly rated goalkeeper and he played for many years at
Macclesfield Town in the Cheshire League. It was during this time he met,
courted and then married his wife of over 40 years, Margaret.
His cricketing career began to flourish and he broke into Mottram's 1st
team in the season of 1951. He was in good company. Such luminaries as Bert
Hadfield, George Oldham and Harry Thorpe graced the 1st team at
that time and Harry was a good listener and fast learner.
Former captain and chairman Harry Peel's sons, Irvine and Harry were
starting to come to the fore with their leg spin and considerable prowess as
batsmen and they along with “HC” were to become the backbone of Mottram's
great sides of the fifties and sixties.
Harry was a stylish right handed opening bat with a trade mark off and on
drive and a dogged approach to batting in an era when bowlers had very much
the upper hand on wickets which were less than friendly. No helmets, a
folded towel which served as a thigh pad and rubber spiked batting gloves
provided little protection against the spiteful deliveries from of the likes
of Tintwistle' s Harry Goddard, Hadfield's Ian Johnson or Dinting' Derek
Ash. Make no mistake, batting against these men on what were little more
than minefields was not for the feint hearted and demanded great skill and
courage. Fortunately, Harry had both these attributes in abundance.
A great help to Harry was the fact that he was surrounded for the best part
of his career by such great players- Harry and Irvine Peel, Jim Handforth,
Philip and Peter Bailey, Jack Brindle, Brian Williams, Bill Taylor, Joe
Hartle, Mike Byrne, John Jackson and Derek and Arnold Willerton, to name but
a few.
Harry forged a great opening partnership with Derek Willerton who was a
product of Mottram's highly successful first ever junior side of 1949 and he
was to become, like Derek, a keen follower and supporter of the youngsters
at the club.
He was later to become the club's groundsman as well as a keen and hard
working committee member during the difficult times of the late 60's and
early 70's when the pavilion fire and an incessant spate of vandalism
threatened the club's very existence. This group of men along with the
ladies at the club ensured that Mottram Cricket Club was to prevail for
generations to come.
Towards the end of his career he took up golf and became a member of Glossop
Golf Club then when his cricketing days were over he became an umpire in the
Glossop League.
I first was introduced to Harry at the age of eleven and he quickly became
not only my cricketing coach and mentor but my employer (at weekends
helping with the milk round and during school holidays, on the farm-
bottling, milking, egg collecting, hay making and mucking out).
I would hang onto his every word and loved his tales of great battles
against the old enemy Broadbottom and their fiery opening bowlers Jack
Heywood and Gordon Mellor (Phil's dad in case you didn't know) I was
captivated as he recalled epic encounters with “Tinsle” and Hadfield etc,
and reminisced about the many characters he had played with and against as
well as the countless friends he had made through the great game of cricket.
What entertainment this was for a starry eyed and impressionable young
master Birch!
Harry took a number of Mottram lads under his wing (Chris Shawcross, Jeff
Peel, Pete Donlan and Dexter Stubbs to name but a few) and would coach us in
the top shippon on Hill End Farm when all the numerous jobs around the place
had been completed.
“Straight bat, head over the ball, keep it on the floor, move your feet
early, stay balanced, high elbows, show the bowler the maker's name”, were
the basics he drummed into us relentlessly.
I guess we just became the sons he could never have.
He had no badges or certificates but was unquestionably the best coach I
ever had and I owe every one of the 12,000 plus runs I scored in my career
to the great man.
Harry Cheetham was my hero..........................HE STILL IS!
John Birch.
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