Introducing Tottington St John's CC
Founded in 1887, Tottington St John's is one of the older clubs in the North West. In the early years, the club played in the Bury and District Sunday League and enjoyed plenty of success; the 1st XI captured six league titles and four cups between 1912 and 1945, while the seconds captured seven trophies between 1911 and 1928 (we can only assume all our players missed the two wars to concentrate on their cricket!)
In 1955 the North Manchester Cricket League was set up by eight founder teams, and in 1958 the Johns joined the fledgling league. Interestingly, TSJ were the longest surviving members of the league by the time it closed in 2015, the rest having dropped out along the way. We have played home to a number of prominent sporting personalities, including former England goalkeeper Colin McDonald who was a more than useful batsman for TSJCC alongside his international goalkeeping heroics!
We play our home games at Crompton Meadows, Tottington, on land leased from the church - as of 2026 the club is seeking to purchase the land outright to secure cricket for many generations to come. The pavilion was built in 1964 at the then huge cost of £1500 ... in recent years many improvements have occurred, and the eternal quest for funding and sponsorship remains high on our list of priorities. In 2009 the club was extremely proud to unveil its refurbished pavilion, which was a massive source of pride to all club and committee members and shows just how far we had progressed in recent years. In 2012, an extension doubling the seating capacity was completed - plans are in place for many more future club and ground developments, and by 2026 we had added a whole host of new facilities and benefits for our membership. We launched an U13 junior section in 2011; this has proved enormously successful, and expanded to both U13 and U15 teams in 2012. By 2025 we were regularly putting out five junior sides at age groups from U9 to U18.
In 2014 we became the home of Tottington St John's women's cricket team, who played in the Northern Women's Leagues Yorkshire Women's Regional League Division 1. The women's division lasted several years, even attracting Australian state player Meg Phillips for a year, but became victims of its own success, with many players eventually ending up playing for their counties and moving on. We retain female players in both junior and senior sides, however, with Katie Schofield having captained the 3rd XI for several seasons.
Our club events timeline is now available!
TSJCC is a small, intensely friendly club which has achieved great success in recent years, including a hat-trick of Calverley Cup wins 2008-2010 and back to back championships for the 2nd XI in 2014 and 2015. On May 12th 2015, the club tendered its resignation from the NMCL and joined the Greater Manchester Cricket League. The next decade saw some amazing achievements on the field, with the arrival of regular professional and overseas amateurs from 2020, and a number of promotions secured. Our future looks very bright indeed. Perhaps our strongest achievement has come with the levelling of the once-hilly playing surface in 2019 and the installation of much-needed superior drainage in early 2025 - the pristine wickets and lush outfield are a testament to the likes of Kieran, Dickie P, James P, Martin Deegan and others who have spent thousands of hours cultivating one of the best batting wickets and friendliest grounds in the league.
As we move forward, we all hope that the club - and the league as a whole - goes from strength to strength. A full list of individual and team awards is provided on the honours page.
