Penshurst Stoolball Club

The Penshurst Stoolball Club was first formed by Mrs Rosamond DuBuisson in 1946/47 and, prior to joining the West Kent Stoolball League in 1947/48, friendly matches were played to gain experience. Over the years Penshurst Stoolball Club has been one of the strongest teams in the League and subsequently we won the Championship on many occasions. Evening matches consisted of at least 22 overs for each team and sometimes as many as 25 or 30 overs were played.

County matches have always been played against Sussex and at that time the West Kent team won the majority of them. However, in my own playing days Stoolball became more popular in Sussex and although I played for many years for the West Kent side, I was only on the winning side three or four times!

I well remember Mrs DuBuisson impressing upon us girls that “it doesn’t matter about winning the match but you must always look nice on the field”! Mrs DuBuisson was always an inspiration to us members.

Speaking for myself, although I thoroughly enjoyed playing for Penshurst and West Kent for almost 30 years, I am a very bad spectator and therefore I never watch Stoolball being played. However,  I will never cease to be  a very proud ex-Stoolball player for Penshurst and West Kent. League games were always enjoyable against opposing teams, which resulted in many friendships being formed, which have continued over all the years.

Sheila Hearsey (nee Faircloth), 20th August 2006

I recall that I was told in my teenage years that before the 1939/45 war there was a Stoolball team in Penshurst (or maybe it was called Redleaf). Naturally, I am now unable to confirm this information.