Chapter 13 - Devon Tour

In 1904 Collegiate organised a tour in Devon at Whitsuntide, mainly owing to the then Secretary, W. (Cocky) Sylvester, who came from the West Country. Apart from the war years and 1910, when in a fit of aberration the club went to Eastbourne, the tour has taken place every year, as long standing a tour as any in the country. In 1910 Collegiate beat South Lynn, but lost to Eastbourne by an innings, S. H. Saville, a fine Kent player and one of the greatest fielders, making 217, which must have acted as a spur for a return to Devon in 1911.

The full story of the Devon Tour deserves a book of its own, compounded of cricket, laughter, jokes, alcohol, absurdities and above all pleasure. Many generations of Collegiate players have had great enjoyment and hospitality in Devon as well as reasonably stern opposition.

Between the wars all the credit of organisation goes to L. C. Barber. His cousin Bertie and John Hunt continued the good work after the last war and were followed by Arthur Connell, who, fairly radically and quite correctly, altered the old pattern of where the team stayed. The traditional hotels were even then becoming too expensive for young players and now for a long time the tour has been based on the River Yealm Hotel at Newton Ferrers, which has looked after Collegiate admirably. Apart from a rather objectionable parrot and the hotel being left with an excess of Creme de Menthe, once Gordon Hall had ceased to tour, there are no complaints on either side. Until his early and very sad death John Neilson had been the mainspring of the tour for many years, helped in most of them by Ian Johnson. After a hiccup in 1976, when many were doubtful if it could continue, the Tour has had a new lease of life under John Linfoot and recent sides have again been strong.