About the club
Founded in 1936, and now firmly established in the Thames Valley area. WNCC's ground and clubhouse is within Wooburn Park, providing a peaceful, picturesque setting for cricket.
Welcome from the chairman
I joined Wooburn in 1986, when a job move brought me here. I intended to join High Wycombe, a club I had previously played against, but a first stroll down to Wooburn Park the weekend after I moved revealed decent cricket being played with a smile in a lovely setting, and I was hooked.
Lots of clubs will claim to be friendly, but it is rare to find one which is as welcoming as Wooburn, and nearly 40 years on I couldn’t be happier with the decision I made to throw my lot in with the Narks.
We truly are at the heart of our community, and on summer Friday nights in particular, with parents winding down after a hard week, while their children enjoy our mini cricket sessions, we literally are at the centre of village life.
With the support of our wonderful Parish Council, a new pavilion was built in 2012, and it gives us a home which does justice to our setting. We have invested heavily in recent years in improving the quality of our playing facilities, with new nets and significant upgrades in ground maintenance equipment, all of which add to the enjoyment. But in the end, it’s all about the people. Our players are mostly products of our thriving junior system, and amongst our members are several families whose involvement goes back a generation or more.
If you are new to the area, or thinking of moving clubs, give us a try – and social members are just as welcome as those looking to play. Not everyone stays for 40 years, but who knows?
Life members
Life Membership is awarded to those Narkovians who show true dedication to making WNCC a phenomenal club.
Harold (Mac) Sheppard MBE
Mac truly dedicated his life to the Club. Instrumental in its founding in 1936, he was Secretary and Treasurer from its inception, and set up the junior section some 40 years later. It is no exaggeration to say that without Mac, the club would never have existed.
Ethel Sheppard
By Mac’s side throughout, but very much a part of the club in her own right, Ethel was the first of a legion of women who made Wooburn match teas famous, as well as an organiser of club dinners and supporter of fundraising events.
Alan Cuthbert
A talented batsman, Alan was the oldest of four brothers to play for Wooburn, and his proudest moment may have been the day he scored a hundred on one of those precious occasions when all four brothers played together. Al’s lasting achievement was the building of the club’s website, which, almost uniquely in club cricket, allows Wooburn players to relive past glories by interrogating their career records – a remarkable undertaking.
Angus Porter
A half-decent batsman (liked anything short) and wicketkeeper, Angus can these days be found umpiring and organising things. He has been Chairman since 1992, proving that whatever strengths he may have, succession planning is not one of them.
Bill Watts
Another life member who didn’t play for Wooburn, Bill started his relationship with the club as a spectator, before becoming Chairman, in which role a notable accomplishment – and one which funds the club to this day – was securing agreement from the Parish Council and the licensing authorities to a bar in the clubhouse.
Billy Hill
Bill was an outstanding sportsman in his early years, and at one time was on QPR’s books. He joined Wooburn towards the end of his playing career, before serving as first team umpire for many years. Bill was another handyman, who designed and produced metal grills to protect the front of the old pavilion. They worked extremely well, but were very heavy and putting them back was not a popular job at the end of the evening. We hope Billy would forgive us for saying the electronic shutters on the new pavilion are a welcome step forward!
Derek Milsom
A technically correct and elegant batsman, Derek made his debut for Wooburn in 1975, and still occasionally plays when pressed, on every occasion swearing the next day that he won’t do it again. Derek is our President, and a very fine one, too, whose longest innings these days are behind the bar on Friday evenings, alongside his wife and club secretary, Elaine.
Dick Keeble
Known by opposing teams as “Mr Wooburn”, Dick was a highly accomplished batsman who also maintained the ground as a volunteer for many years. So good was he at it that he eventually went to work as professional groundsman for Marlow and then Henley – but he remained a Nark at heart!
Doreen Townsend
Always by Ken’s side, Doreen has contributed much to the club over many, many years, whether raising funds with a tombola, making teas, or simply turning her hand to whatever needed doing. A measure of Ken and Doreen’s loyalty to the club is that both have attended the annual dinner for comfortably more than half a century.
Doug Nower
Doug spent many years bowling “into the wind” from the river end, and a fine job he made of it, too. His playing accomplishments were matched by his off-field contributions, and Doug served the club admirably for a number of years as Secretary and Groundsman.
Fred Baylis
Fred never played for Wooburn, having moved to the area after his playing days were over, but he gave long service as club scorer throughout the nineteen fifties and sixties, before the club had a bar, when he and the team used to retire after matches to the Working Men’s Club for a beer and a game of snooker.
Geoff Fowler
Geoff played for Wooburn Town, the current club’s predecessor – and therefore his cricketing appearances in the park pre-date the formation of the club. Although he never played for the Narks, he was able to offer valuable information and colour to the history of cricket in Wooburn, and it seemed fitting that he be appointed as a Life Member.
George Taylor
The classic “unsung hero”, George has played, captained, been groundsman, served behind the bar, and seen to whatever needs to be done. Recent examples are project managing the purchase of the electronic scoreboard, the new roller, sorting out the internet, and persuading Sky to give us a part-year subscription not seemingly available to anyone else! A real club man.
Ian Cuthbert
An outstanding batsman, Ian is, along with Paul Cooper, the most prolific run scorer in the club’s history. Thankfully, the ongoing battle for “top dog” status seems likely to keep both of them going for a while yet. Unsurprisingly for a batter, Cuthers’ happy place, when not playing, is on the club’s roller, and he is very pleased with the new toy we bought him in 2024.
Karen Savage
Any successful cricket club has an organiser-in-chief, and that is Karen. A quite awesome contribution on many fronts across many years. Ken and Doreen Townsend’s daughter, Karen first came to the club as a child and seemingly never left. Oh, and did we mention that she did the very best cricket teas?
Ken Townsend MBE
You could write a book about Ken, and hopefully one day, someone will. His career at Abbey Road Studios will form a lot of the content, but Wooburn will definitely feature in a chapter or two! An excellent player in his youth, and by all accounts an outstanding fielder, Ken’s greatest contributions to Wooburn were off the field as fixture secretary (for 25 years) and President (for 20 years).
Kevin Dolan
An unflashy but more than capable cricketer, Kevin has found joy in representative honours later in life for Buckinghamshire O60s – thoroughly deserved recognition. For many years, Kevin has been club Fixture Secretary, and has had long stints, too, as Second XI and Sunday Captain. It is in that last role that Kevin has played the vital role of introducing the next generation of junior cricketers to the adult game.
Mark Tennant
For many years the club’s strike bowler (a league 10-fer against Amersham surely the pinnacle), Mark (known as Gerry for reasons lost in history) was first team captain for a number of seasons, during which we received record numbers of league fines for administrative failures. These days, Gerry still plays when his hamstrings allow and is now nurturing the club’s first crop of female cricketers. If we were holding a competition for nicest bloke in the club, he’d definitely be on the short list!
Mary Harper
Mary was the backbone of the club behind the scenes in many ways for many years – and when there was a job to be done, Mary did it. She was a stalwart of pre-season work parties, and her contribution is best epitomised by the year she painted the entire clubhouse almost single handed. Mary died too young, and is much missed.
Paul Cooper
Paul is a prolific batsman, one of only two (Ian Cuthbert is the other) to have scored more than 20,000 runs for the club. But it is for running our junior section, a role he has held - scarcely believably - since 1987 that we are eternally in Coops’ debt. Almost all the current first team were coached as juniors by him. An extraordinary contribution.
Peter Harper
Peter played for Wooburn from 1975 to 2010, and in a remarkable fourteen-year period before and after the eighties, averaged no less than 38 games a season. Peter’s trademark was very crafty slow bowling, and many (595 to be precise!) were the batsman he lured into his web. Together with Mary, Peter organised a number of club tours to the Isle of White, which will live long in the memories of all those who participated.
Stuart Savage
There are arguments about who is the best cricketer to have played for Wooburn, but any nominee would have Stuart’s formidable record to contend with. Not many club cricketers, far less those who bowled first change and batted in the middle order, have done the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season. Sav did it twice. But it is off the pitch where his greatest contribution lies – with Karen, he has run the bar on a voluntary basis for over 40 years. A true club legend.
Stuart Wilson
Stuart is an Independent Councillor, who represents the Wooburns and Bourne End on Buckinghamshire Council. Thankfully for us, he is someone who cares deeply about his community, including the cricket club, and often provides us with valuable guidance. He can also be found serving coffees in the pavilion on Sundays from time to time. A proper public servant.
Ted Savage
Ted was born in Bourne End, and played for Jackson’s cricket club. He and his wife Pam moved away for work (during which period Stuart was born) before moving back to the area, joining Wooburn in 1971. His last game was in 2002, by which time Ted was 69. A physical memorial to Ted is “Ted’s Bar” in the clubhouse, which he built and then re-built in the new clubhouse; a fitting tribute to his craftsmanship and willingness to turn his had to anything.
Tony Purkiss
A stalwart middle-order batsman, and an excellent wicketkeeper, Tony holds the “long Service” record as Treasurer, having held that role for nineteen years. For many seasons after his retirement, Purks would be a regular spectator at Wooburn Park, casting a critical, but always benevolent, eye over those from the next generation of Narks.