Actonians Cricket Club

history

Old Actonians Cricket club was first formed in 1922 by a group of old boys from Acton County Grammar School playing as Oakdene Cricket Club. The Old Actonians Association was formed in 1925 as an association for former pupils of the school. That year also saw the Old Actonians Association Football Club come into existance and soon after the cricket club changed its name to Old Actonians Cricket Club.

In the early years all three clubs were independent of each other and it wasn't until 1964 that the Football and Cricket Clubs formed the Old Actonians Association Sports Club and took on a one year lease from Acton Borough Council for the Napiers Sports Ground at Gunnersbury Drive. A condition of that lease  was that membership was not restricted to Old Boys of Acton County but open to all residents of Ealing and Acton. The length of the leases were gradually extended and in 1974 the Club converted to a Company Limited by Guarantee  and negotiated a ten year lease with the now, London Borough of Ealing. The Council at that time still supplied three Councillors as Directors. It was not until 1979 that it was agreed that the Sports Club would take over all the costs of running the ground. In 1994 the Council offered us the chance of purchasing a 130 year lease for a pepercorn rent and the opportunity to refurbish a number of the facilities became a reality.

Old Actonians Cricket Club is recognised for its open and friendly approach both on and off the field. The senior teams play in the Middlesex County and Middlesex Championship competitions on Saturdays. The incorporation of Dukesmead Ladies and the expansion of the junior section means that the club now has a cricket playing membership of almost 200.

The work of John Walker with the Junior Section was rewarded in 2008 with the ECB's Clubmark accreditation, one of the few clubs in the county to receive this award.