Front Foot to Front Line - Welsh Cricket and the Great War

978-1-902719-429
    Delivery time:5-7 days
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  • Description

'We must never forget what these people did, either at the crease or in the trenches. As a tribute to their deeds either on the 'Front Foot' or on the 'Front Line', this book is a most fitting one.’
Hugh Morris, from his Foreword

'Recommended reading...nicely produced and well illustrated’ CricketWeb.net

‘This is a book that I have enjoyed more than any other on the subject of cricket and the Great War'
Association of Cricket Scorers

'Perceptive...absorbing...poignant...there is pride, excitement and amusement here - then grief again with more tales of fine, innocent, young cricketers whose luck ran out.’
David Frith, The Cricketer

CONTENTS

Foreword by Hugh Morris

1. Business as Usual
2. The Summer of 1914
3. The Outbreak of War
4. 1914 - Mons
5. 1915 - Gallipoli
6. 1915 - Flanders
7. 1915 – Loos
8. 1916 – The Somme
9. The Pals Battalions
10. Shell-shock
11. 1916 - Aden
12. 1917 - Arras
13. 1917 - Passchendaele
14. 1917 - Palestine
15. 1917 - Cambrai
16. The Royal Flying Corps
17. 1918 – The Spring Offensive
18. 1918 - The Italian Front
19. 1918 - Hundred Days Offensive
20. Dealing with Grief
21. The Armistice and the Aftermath
22. Play Resumes

Roll of Honour

Front Foot to Front Line commemorates Welsh cricket’s contribution to the Great War by chronicling the lives of 55 professional and amateur cricketers who left the friendly rivalry of the crease for the brutality and horror of the trenches, and lost their lives as servicemen on the bloody battlefields of Europe.

The distinguished author and the leading authority on Welsh cricket, Andrew Hignell, traces the major themes and battles of the First World War to provide a poignant snapshot of how Wales lost a generation of young men who were united by their love of cricket and their courage to serve their country.

Front Foot to Front Line not only pays tribute to the cricketers, drawn from over 35 local clubs across Wales, who lost their lives but also to those who returned home permanently affected by their experiences of warfare. The book also highlights the involvement of many characters involved at the grassroots of Welsh club cricket who served with distinction and will be of great interest to the large Welsh cricketing fraternity as well as to those with an interest in military history.

The cricket clubs featured in Front Foot to Front Line include:
Blaina, Barry, Brecon, Bridgend Town, Briton Ferry, Cardiff, Cowbridge,  Crickhowell, Denbighshire, Ferndale, Garth, Glamorgan, Llancarfan, Llandovery College, Llandudno, Llanelli, Monmouthshire, Neath, Newport, Pontypridd,
Radyr, Swansea, Usk Valley, and Ystrad Mynach.

Dr. Andrew Hignell is the Heritage and Education Co-ordinator to Glamorgan County Cricket Club, and Curator of the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket, . A prolific writer and broadcaster, Andrew is the editor of the Cricket in Wales series published by St. David’s Press.

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