Some forty years preserved in Dockrell's attic,
Saved victim of the raging Dodder's flood,
My showcase sinking to a grave aquatic,
Joining the wrecked Pavilion in the mud;
A hand whose owner held me in affection
Today returns me for my resurrection.
My Autographs contain some All Time Greats:
BRADMAN, O'REILLY, HAMMOND, HUTTON, BARNES:
Some, who like FLEETWOOD-SMITH, had tragic fates:
War victims: WALKER, VERITY and FARNES.
This Year of Munich - 1938, (Sept.29th 1938, date of the betrayal of the Czechs to Hitler)
Last pre-War Ashes tour, bears History's weight.
Morgan Dockrell 2.August 2008
Note: This verse-enclosure, to Ireland's leading Cricket Historian, Gerard Siggins, led to the verses plus an article by GS appearing in The Sunday Tribune of 17 August 2008. Piers Butler of D/A , and like me, ex-Merrion, brought up the subject of the missing pavilion bat during the D/A match v. the Theatrical Cavaliers at the Merrion CC ground. I did a eureka act, shrieking about my having 'found' the bat - having just remembered it after its long absence in my attic.
Dear Gerard,
I wonder if the enclosed plus the story surrounding it would be of any interest to you?
In the aftermath of a flooding of the Merrion CC ground (ca.1968) I had rescued the Pavilion prize exhibit, the bat with the signatures of the Australian touring team of 1938, together with those of the England team for the Oval Test that year. I held on to the rescued bat, intending to return it when Merrion CC had built a new Pavilion.
Recently, during a Taverners' match at Merrion I remembered the bat, languishing for upwards of forty years in my attic, and vowed to return it asap!
I returned the bat, in its showcase, to the Merrion stalwart Eddie Lewis and, being me, could not resist letting the bat tell its own story, together with some reflections. Would you consider letting your literary skills loose on this chapter of coincidences? With another final Test at the Oval just concluded and with the International Situation shaky (you as a Historian will be well aware of the parallels) I feel it may deserve a mention.
If you would like to make use of the 'story' and the verses do get in touch and let me know!
Greetings and hope you are flourishing, Morgan.
SEVENTY YEARS ON: (The bat in this showcase was rescued by the author in the
aftermath of the great flood of the Dodder, ca.1968.
It contains the autographs of the members of the 1938
Australian team under Donald Bradman, together with those
of the English team for the Oval Test (20th-24th August), when
Leonard Hutton scored his then record Test score of 364.
This bat had for many years pride of place in the bar of the
old Pavilion of the Merrion Cricket Club.)
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