By Deirdre Huston
Ross grew up in a house on Manor Avenue. He stayed in Hassocks until he was 21 and then lived in Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, returning frequently to visit his parents, Pat and John, who had moved here in 1967. Ross and his family moved back to the village and they now live on King’s Drive, 150 yards from his mother. ‘Mum wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,’ says Ross. After attending all three local schools, Ross progressed to Haywards Heath College. He recalls: “I’d had enough of schooling, and started work in data analysis at the Halifax.” His work continues to focus on data, but he now works for EDF, and specialises in people analytics, dealing with employee data.
Cricket always appealed to Ross, who enjoyed watching the sport on TV. He had his first opportunity to play at The Windmills Junior School when he was only eight years old. He remembers a teacher called Pieter Dickson, who was a cricketing fanatic. In 1983, Ross played his first ever game came when he was ten. The Windmills school team had close links to the Hassocks and team and, soon, Ross played for both. He recalls that era, and says: “I wasn’t particularly good, and, to be honest, the team wasn’t either, but we had one star player who carried us through our four or five games a year.”
Around the time that Ross attended Downlands Community College, there were few out-of-school activities. With little chance to play cricket either at school or through the club, Ross’s mother challenged the cricket club about what else they might offer Juniors; she made them realise they needed to support this group of local children who wanted to play cricket. Geoff Elsey, the proprietor of Lavells, a newsagent which used to be on the high street, offered to take on the group of keen 11 to 13-year-olds.
When Ross finished playing Juniors in 1991, he started up a fresh new Juniors team two years later. Cricket coaching has been a big part of his life ever since, and he says: “We’ve grown from those 12 initial players to the 140 juniors we now have.” The youngest players take part in All Stars, an English Cricket Board programme which aims to introduce f ive to seven-year-olds to the sport. Ross says: “It’s 45 minutes of madness, but huge amounts of fun as the kids get used to a team-based game and working with adults in a coaching environment.”
Ross explains: “Until about age 11, mixed juniors play with a squidgy ball, no pads, no helmet, and no gloves, so when a hard ball is introduced, the sport almost transitions into a different game.” The club is always looking for ways to support what junior players need. Last year, there was demand within the Juniors for a separate girls’ team and the father of a player, Chris Failes offered to be a coach to a new girls’ team for players aged eight to 13.
The club is based in Adastra Park. When Howard Collins, ex-chairperson and player, undertook a history project to establish when Keymer and Hassocks Cricket Club started, he found various mentions of cricket locally, but the very first time, Hassocks and Keymer were mentioned together was in 1896. Ross explains: “The club has adopted that as our foundation year, which means we’re coming up to 130 years in 2026.”
The cricket pavilion in Adastra Park was rebuilt in 2009 and has been well-used ever since, with a popular bar. “Howard led the drive to get funding,” says Ross. The cricket club contributed £30,000 and they now rent the pavilion from the council who funded the main part of the project. “We’ve gone back and traced all the top run-scorers and wicket-takers,” says Ross, “and Adam has carved out an Honours Board.” The second team captain, Adam Wickens of Mythic Oak Studios, is an accomplished artisan woodworker, and he has built three honours boards which give the pavilion a sense of unique history.
If you’re interested in playing for the club or getting involved in some other way, please contact Ross at ross. tad@sky.com or call 07748 967314.
To read the full article, please pick up a copy of April’s Hassocks Life today and turn to page 20.