X188/3/1/C2

Letter

9 Apr 1907

From: 1904 To: 1907

Letter from H. Willett of Bedford Rugby Union Football Club to the Bedford Cricket Club as follows: "In accordance with the instructions of my committee, I am writing you this letter to put clearly before you their views with regard to the use by your club of the Football Ground during the Summer months". "The position they take up is, shortly, this. They contend that their lease of June 1906 is an absolute demise to them of the football for a term of fourteen years, from Sept 1904, with an expression of limitation of their right to use the ground during a certain period each year and that there is no reservation of any right on the part of the Cricket Club to use the ground at all". "I need not go into the reason they have for construing the lease as they do, although it must be quite clearly understood that they claim the absolute right to control the ground during the whole of their term, they hope that it will be unnecessary to go into the merits of the legal question of right at all". "The reason the question has now been raised was fully explained to you last night and it is hardly necessary to say more on this point than that in my Committee's opinion, the use of the Football ground for tennis courts to the extent and for the length of time that took place last year is doing very considerable damage to the ground for the purposes for which it was let". "My Committee has no desire to be unreasonable in this, or any other matter, arising between the two clubs and I would suggest that, if your club has any suggestion to offer as to the modification of the use of our ground, such suggestion should be made at once, before any agreement or arrangement is come to with these persons who have already supplied for courts for the ensuing summer and if such suggestion is made in the spirit in which my committee hope it will be made, there seems no reason why any arrangement that may be come to should not be made without prejudice to the claims of the right of both clubs". "But while making this suggestion, I would point out that it is hardly reasonable to expect us to agree to the matter being left over to be dealt with by a public general meeting which will not be held for nearly a fortnight and that in the meantime you should proceed, as you stated you would, with the letting of the ground, as to the result of such action would be to throw the whole blame and any subsequently altered arrangements wholly upon the Football club", "Perhaps you will let me know whether you can lay this letter before an early meeting of your committee and whether, until the two committees have had an opportunity of agreeing upon the course to be adopted, no further steps will be taken in letting any portion of our ground as unless some such arrangement is arrived at I must, to put my Committee into a proper position, give a formal notice of objection to our landlords, Col. Josselyn, Mr. Chillingworth and Mr. Hallett". "As it seems quite probable that an amicable arrangement may be come to without consideration of the legal position it is obviously better that no such formal step as this should be taken". "To sum up, apart from the legal aspect, the broad issue is that our Club wants the grass to be fit to play football upon at the commencement of the season proper, and not to be in the state it was last September". "If your Committee can suggest any means to this end I feel confident my committee will consider them fairly and reasonably and with a view to the avoidance of any possible friction between the two clubs".

item

Willett, H,
Josselyn,
Chillingworth,
Hallett

cricket, Bedford Cricket Club, tennis, Bedford Rugby Football Club, Rugby Union