Illingworth, whilst surrounded by the gaunter, steeper hills peculiar to the Halifax district, none the less has much in common with the environment of the League. When in 1962 the Airedale and Wharfedale League decided to widen its membership, Illingworth was delighted to be accepted into its midst with its unique mixture of highly competitive cricket, good grounds and picturesque environments.

Furthermore, Illingworth are at home in these surroundings and the rest of the League are happy to play them. If the League President, a former Illingworth player and Secretary, has helped to foster this, then due credit should go to both Mr. Nelson and the League. No person could be more faithful to the standards that have been set down over the years than Eddie. No League could have a more worthy standard-bearer. It should be remembered too that many members of the League were old friends. Even as early as 1930 Tong Park, Steeton, Burley, Thackley, Addingham, Horsforth and Menston were regular fixtures and occasional matches included Otley and Knaresborough. Ways parted when the Airedale and Wharfedale League formed itself out of the Airedale Wharfedale section of the Yorkshire Council but fixtures continued in the Bradford Section against Steeton, Tong Park, Thackley and later Knaresborough right up to the 1950’s. It was perhaps not so surprising that their ways were to cross again. Illingworth could have been one of the founder members of the Airedale and Wharfedale League in 1935. As an existing member of the Airedale and Wharfedale Section of the Yorkshire Council, the club was invited to become one of its members when a majority decided to resign en bloc and form the new league. Illingworth was within its geographical limit of 14 miles from White Cross, Guiseley. However, this excluded Sowerby Bridge and the club’s wish to maintain its traditional fixtures with this old friend was a principal reason for the decision to join the Bradford Section with them instead.

On the playing side Illingworth’s early success in their new League in which they gained the B Division title in only their third season and then finished equal top in the A Division the following season led their followers into supposing that such a standard would be maintained. Unfortunately that has not been the case. Relegation followed in 1967, 1971 and again in 1977 and this showed the lack of consistency in the side. From time to time Illingworth seemed to be just a bowler and perhaps a batsman short as well. Yet criticism of this type should be weighed against the fact that in their last twelve seasons only once have they lost more matches than they succeeded winning. Again, they will enter the coming 1984 season in the A Division after worthily gaining promotion.

Putting playing success aside, Illingworth has also enjoyed perhaps the most stable and settled period in its history in the 22 years it has been a part of the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League. The reasons are not hard to find. The League’s high standards of administration, organisation and playing facilities are much respected and admired by all who come into contact with it and Illingworth can be proud to be one of its members.

On the playing front, just as Norman Smith dominated the batting of three preceding decades, so Keith Smith dominated the batting of the 1970's and 1980’s. Other batsmen such as Ian Riley, John Cliff and David Palmer were also to the fore. Equally, with the ball, much rested on the shoulders medium-pacers Colin Balme and Maurice Lawton. Perhaps this last era tended to rely on too few good players, although it has to be said that Illingworth has been fortunate to have numbered in their ranks Club cricketers of this calibre.

Certainly, if the whole idea of playing cricket was to win willy-nilly, at any price, then Illingworth have been no more than a respected side over the years. If, on the other hand, its followers recognise success as a steady battle against adversity, an unrelenting devotion to Club duty, and loyalty to the game of cricket, then Illingworth St. Mary’s Cricket Club may raise its head amongst the ranks of Cricket Clubs in this vast County of ours.

The first hundred years are over. I am confident that the ghosts of Hustwick and company will be resurrected in future generations of officials and players.

In writing this history I must acknowledge the tremendous help I have received from from Kenneth Pearce’s historical booklet published in 1962 in conjunction with the building of the present pavilion. This, together with the Club’s Minutes and newspaper records, has formed the basis of my writing. As an outsider I am sure many others are better qualified than I to comment on the 100 years but the result is not so much a rags to riches story but an on-going saga of a band of dedicated enthusiasts who have spent most of their leisure time in trying to improve the Club’s status. As Kenneth Pearce so aptly put it "The real tale is that of a few men who so loved this summer game that they were determined to establish it on a windy hilltop overlooking Halifax. A piece of flat land was at a premium, it didn’t matter, they dug it out. Always they were short of money, it didn’t matter, for in winter they sang, danced and whistled to raise funds. It’s a story of singleness of purpose, not the sort that hits the headlines, but it is the very soul of cricket."

The Club’s success has been due at least in part to the family tradition which prevails at Illingworth, a tradition which will be maintained in the future because the younger generation are showing the same dedication.

Finally, whilst apologising to the many who have received scant or no mention in this brief history, I should like to thank especially Andrew Smith, more than anyone, for he has done most of the hard work in dealing with the photographs, advertisements, copy and printers as well as a lot of writing and research. He is surely a worthy successor to those hardworking administrators of the past who have been the backbone of Illingworth St. Mary’s Cricket Club.