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Peach Tin

The Peach Tin is awarded to the Player who has contributed most towards the Club that Season, whether in performance or general support. The cup was made out of an old peach tin and was designed and put together by Dick Jessop, a master tool-maker and life-long supporter of the Fiddlers. It is believed that Club funds would not stretch to a traditional trophy!

Previous Winners

2005 - Nigel Haines
2004 -
2003 -

The Club Medal (originally the Weekly Medal)

This award had little to do with playing performance and can be awarded for efforts either on or off the pitch, good, bad or indifferent! It is awarded by the Club skipper, with a small speech, in the opposition's clubhouse, summing up the days cricket and thanking the hosts for their hospitality. Awarded to the player who has provided the most entertaining performance, not only to his own team but his opponents as well. If awarded to a player, they were originally expected to wear it 24 hours a day, including in bed, until the start of the following week's match. A fine was issued for being spotted without the medal, usually in the form of standing a round of drinks or donation to Club funds. It is made out of brass and is fairly large in size.
The medal was once won by Harry Quantrell who attempted to take a high catch, missed it completely and the ball landed on his head, knocking him out!

Club Cap

The club cap was introduced for the Kent Tour for June 1964 and has the Fiddlers logo on the front. (This was the original design, the later one having the fiddle and the cricket bat.)

In the club minutes from 5th May 1964, it states “in order to go ahead with the cap so that we have them for the tour, please let me have your head size before next Sunday!"

Club Shirts

The fiddlers update emblem was designed by Dave Woodworth for the first Fiddlers tour of Malta in 1991 and is still in use today on the club shirt. The original design was a single fiddle and was only used on the club tie which is still retained and a few cricket caps.

Fiddlers Tie

Introduced in 1960. Displays 16 fiddles, one for each member of the team. These were the members who pledged to play for the Fiddlers if picked every week. By picking 16, they usually managed a team of 11. Guests were welcome, but only if they were short, as they didn't want any 'stars' in the side, as Bernard always thought it was agame for 11 people)

These were made at a Tailor's in Eton. In those days this was the only way to produce the Fiddler's motif. Quite unknown to the Fiddlers, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the USA had also ordered ties with a similar motif. Our ties were sent in error to Boston (32 of them) and we received their 200 ties instead, following a mix up of addresses!

Drinking Licence

Holders of this document were licensed to drink from Containers of Groups A, (Heavy glasses, light tankards, & Jam jars) Group B (Agricultural drinking conveniences, excluding Milk Churns or pig swill buckets), Group D (A saucepan), Group E (a pint tankard not equipped with means of pouring and having no visible means of support) and more!
Inside are several pages of endorsements, and sentences, for example "Failure to get drunk in a brewery", Sentence: "Remanded 7 days for a medical report!"

The Drinking Licence was discontinued when (according to a report) one member was stopped by the police and produced his drinking licence rather than his driving licence. Although not over the limit the policeman was not impressed and the club decided to abandon the licence from then onwards.

Physical fitness has never exceeded the strenth of being able to raise the arm from waist to mouth; in fact, the only test required of a new member has been the stamina to walk to and from the wicket and from thence to the Local Inn (before the breathalyser). The Club has, over the years, been instrumental in introducing the Drinking Licence, with its various categories (see artefacts section). Generally, however, the Club's ability seemed to deteriorate rapidly as the hour of seven drew nigh (opening time). It was felt, by the Club secretary at one time, to be a moot point as to whether the team had drunk more pints than runs scored in the season and that their opening partnerships may have been more successful had they not been conducted in a haze of Bitter. However, some members expressed the opinion that the batting was better under these conditions.

One well-intentioned but misguided member worked out the averages. Six players having an average of under 1, the scorebook was publicly burnt!

Club Bag

Many cricket clubs in the past provided their playing members with what was called the club bag. This was owned by the club and normally contains three or four sets of cricket pads, two or three cricket bats, batting gloves, cricket boxes and other items such as balls, stumps, bails, umpires coat etc.

Clubs each year raised money to purchase new gear and replenish the bag which in turn kept the cost of buying your own gear down to just your cricketing whites.

The Fiddlers bag which was dispensed with I believe in the earlier seventies had one major difference! The Fiddlers club bag had seven pairs of cricketing pads and one pair of wicket keeping pads making a grand total of eight sets.

Why so many you may ask! Bernard Hamilton once said that it was not unusual for up to four batsmen to be already padded up waiting to go in. He also wrote "On looking back through the score books over the last twelve years of my captaincy, one can see the difficulties in obtaining next years fixtures. However, these were happy times and we had a wonderful team spirit. We might have lost on the field, but never in the bar"

Fiddlers Jug (from John Stone's recollections)

A plastic watering can, which was regularly filled with beer and passed around. It was a green watering can with a brass plate riveted onto it, which fortunately made it instantly recognisable.

The Jug was lost during John Stone's first ever game in 1963, (during which he dropped three catches, one of which sailed over his head and hit the sight screen, demonstrating that he was eminently suitable for the Fiddlers). It being his first game, John was responsible for passing the jug around, but wasn't aware of this fact. Indeed, he thought someone else was looking after it, and the following week Cyril Short said "Young Man, where's the jug?". A desperate hunt began.

This advert was placed in the paper. Bernard Hamilton later received an anonymous phone call (as a result of the advert) to say that someone had been seen washing their car with it in Maidenhead! He went round and rescued it. It was duly returned to the club (after being disinfected!!)

The Unlucky Box

For some years the pride of the Club bag was a battered "box" donated by a Founder members who had grown out of it. Rumour had it that this "box" gave to the wearer physical prowess beyond normal. After one season there was marked increase in Baby Fiddlers. This was deemed beyond a joke, and some cunning members (a quality in the Club possessed to a high degree) ensured that the "box" was left in our opponents kit.

First Scorebook

First scorebook the Fiddlers had, from 1949.

Bernard notes (on the front of it) that he didn't play in that match, but was there for the second one! This photo has been retouched, since a mouse had eaten the corner of it! (top Left)