Strathmore Cricket Union: the first 90 years a history 1928-2018

28 demand. There was a particular need for sandbags to cushion the effect of the apparently inevitable bombing that was to come. It was joked that Dundee and Forfar would supply the jute, and Montrose and Arbroath the sand. The cinema now had the “talkies” so that one could hear Clark Gable and Greta Garbo whereas a decade previously one could only stare at Rudolf Valentino and Paula Negri and listen to the lady playing the piano. With devastating and bewildering suddenness and in circumstances which no-one could have predicted, the Earl of Strathmore’s daughter, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon found herself Queen of the British Empire. This came about in late 1936 when King Edward VIII, in totally unprecedented circumstances, abdicated after only a few months in the job because the Establishment would not allow his disreputable American lady friend to become Queen. The Duke of York, the shy, stammering younger brother had to become King George VI, and his wife “Lizzie fae Glamis” was the Queen! Yes, the1930swere turbulenttimes, but local cricket oftenprovidedbalmfor the nerves of the distressed. 1934 was the year that, eventually, someone other than Brechin won the Strathmore Union. For years Arbroath had been a one-man band in Bob Sievwright, and it was frequently a source of frustration for Arbroath supporters that Bob could spin a team out for a low total and then have the mortification of seeing his batsmen fail to make an undemanding score. But by 1934, although Brechin were still strong (and would remain so for some time) two things happened at Arbroath. One was the best professional that they had had for years in a tall fast bowler from Kent called Fred Eldridge who helped himself to 54 wickets during the season. He was six feet five inches and it was reckoned that with his long arm, the ball came down from a height of about 8 feet. The other was the gradual coming to fruition of Sievwright’s son, young Bobby Sievwright, known in scorebooks as RG Sievwright as distinct from his illustrious father RW Sievwright. Sievwright junior was more of a batsman than a bowler and gave the side some much needed stability, while his father, although now in his early 50s, kept trundling away, and on occasion proving unplayable. But 1934 was not all plain sailing for the men from Lochlands. Brechin’s crown had begun to wobble in June when they lost in two successive weeks. One was against Strathmore in a very narrow defeat on 16th June