Pavilion returns to its proper use

The news that many former cricketers of the School had been waiting for came with the announcement that the Cranleigh School Sports Club (CSSS) have vacated the Jubilee pavilion.

While this does not guarantee that the building will return to being what it was and what it was intended to be, namely a full-time cricket pavilion, it does mean that the main obstacle to it being so appears to have been removed.

The OCCC and many within the School were disappointed when the building was handed over to the CSSS in 1988 leaving Cranleigh as one of the few major public schools without a dedicated cricket pavilion. Visitors to most other schools will be aware of the heritage and history contained in their own pavilions; there is nowhere at Cranleigh with any archives or photographs on display.

The future plans are still very much up in the air given that the barely six weeks elapsed between the decision to end the CSSS's tenure and their vacating the premises. A number of proposals are thought to be on the table, ranging from closing the building outside School games to maintaining a part-time bar on the first floor. Whether the OCCC will be able to use it during our annual week remains unknown.

The OCCC will be asking for permission to use the facilities, in return for which we would be offering to help restore the inside of the building to something more akin to a traditional cricket pavilion.

The building was erected in 1924 by Old Cranleighans as a memorial to all Cranleighans who fell in the Great War - one of the reasons for the unhappiness with the way it was subsequently used. The Jubilee field itself, comprising the Jubilee and Clare's Oak, was also donated to the School by the OCs in 1913 to mark the golden jubilee of the opening of the School in 1865 (yes, two years early but maths was never a strength of Cranleighans).