Fonds - Woodstock Beaver Cricket Club

Woodstock’s Cricket Club history goes back according to hearsay to about 1832. In 1838, Colonel Edmund Deedes, donated land along the road to Beachville for the club’s private use by the town’s elite. By the early 1850s, popularity in local cricket began to wane, though cricket clubs did form in other parts of the county. The Woodstock Cricket Club’s colours were said to be navy blue and white and the club remained active until 1947, when it disbanded. The Beaver cricket club of Woodstock, was formed in 1939, by a breakaway group of members of the original Woodstock Cricket Club. Originally the Club played on a pitch in Victoria Park but would eventually move to Southside Park. With permission from the city, they build the clubhouse which was doubled in size in 1983-1984 when they also installed a special pitch.

Their season ran from May to October each year. In 1966, in order to keep the Woodstock name alive, the Beaver’s change its name to the Woodstock Cricket Club. In order to ensure the Club’s existence, in 1994, the club initiated a new strategy by pulling out of the southern Ontario cricket association and concentrated on exhibition games. Little more is known about the club, though it subsequently changed names or disbanded sometime after. Today, cricket is still played in the city.