CRICKET IN IRELAND – ARCHIVE PROPOSAL – CAN YOU HELP?

In recent times, there has been an upsurge of interest in cricket as part of the cultural heritage/social history of Ireland, but access to archival material has proved to be very problematic due to the lack of a designated Archive.

This situation becomes even more difficult when officers retire from their roles within a club or Cricket Union and there is query regarding what might be done with all the material which they have accumulated over the years. Lack of a safe, storage facility has meant that many private individuals have facilitated the club/union by storing records etc in their own homes. For example, for some time, much of the Derek Scott Archive has been stored by Roland Bradley, a former President of Cricket Leinster, and while the Union is very indebted to Roland for providing this facility, this is a short-term solution.

The time is now opportune for a formal Cricket Archive to be established where minute books, scorebooks etc can be stored safely and made available on request.

Informal contact has been made with the Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 which has indicated that it would be interested in providing this facility.

Any material donated will be preserved in the Archive strong rooms, free of charge.

Once the material has been fully catalogued, it will be made available to the public for consultation in the Dublin City Library and Archive Reading Room.

The Board of Cricket Leinster is undertaking a study on the feasibility of this project, and it would be very appreciative of indications of interest or willingness to assist.

The project has been initiated by Jim Bennett in his capacity as President Elect of Cricket Leinster. The intention would be to mobilise the project over the coming months and to make significant progress in establishing the cricket archive at Dublin City Library during Jim’s term as President in 2022.

More details will be made available in due course – in the interim, please contact Jim or Cricket Leinster if you have any suitable archive material which you might be willing to donate in this context.

Jim Bennett - jamespbennett66@gmail.com

or

Simon Dyke – simon.dyke@cricketleinster.ie