A HISTORIC cricket club is enjoying a relatively undisturbed summer, after suffering from vandalism, littering and youngsters wandering across the pitch during matches in recent years.

The past couple of summers have seen members of the club – which was founded in 1735, making it the second-oldest surviving club in the world – pushed to the end of their tethers by littering, trespassers during games, and even the wanton smashing of the club's equipment.

But so far this year, the problems seem to have abated, according to honorary membership secretary Colin Masters.

Mr Masters, 59, said: “It's quite good news at the moment, it's not a bad as in the past.

“I've just been out to mow the outfield and I think I picked up three cans. Before it used to take me an hour to clear all the litter, and I'd fill up three bags.

“The litter was really bad around April, May and June time, while the kids were still at school. But they've broken up and the kids are a bit more dispersed.

“We don't get so many people wandering across the pitch mid-game either. People tend now to just sit around the edge and watch the match, which is what it's all about of course.”

Last August the Guardian reported that vandals had smashed the club's sight screens twice inside a month, causing around a thousand pounds' worth of damage.

The previous July, the paper highlighted how matches were regularly being halted while local youngsters blithely wandered across the field.

Mr Masters, of Poultney Road in South Woodford, added: “I don't want to give them too much praise in case they come over and mess it all up again.

“On Thursday we've got our colts over here and on Saturdays the club is open, but who knows what might go on over here on a Friday night.

“I'm cautiously optimistic about the rest of the summer, but it's early days yet.”