Tattenhall's Hat-Trick

In Tattenhall we are fortunate to have some of the best sporting facilities of any village in the county or possibly even in the country. In addition to a very fine cricket ground and football pitch we have tennis courts, squash courts, a croquet lawn and a gym.

Over the years many young Tattenhallers have used these facilities to the full trying out the various sports and then improving their skills.

Some years ago a young trio of Year 3 Park School pupils were very regular attenders at the club. At the end of the cricket season they would move on to football and when they weren't playing these two sports they might be found on the squash or tennis courts. Gradually each of them discovered his own sporting strength and all three are now focussed on earning a living from their sport. Their names will be familiar to many Tattenhallers; they are (in alphabetical order) Llewelyn Bevan, Henry Dobson and Ben Woodburn. They all loved all sports but at a fairly early stage it became obvious that Llewelyn was the best tennis player, Henry the best cricketer and Ben the best footballer. Llewelyn and Henry remember Ben practising his keepy-uppies not with a football but with a piece of chewing gum.

When Llewelyn Bevan was very small his parents hung a small tennis ball over his cot and encouraged him to give it a bash; not many years later his dad would take him on to the squash court and they would hit a soft spongy ball against the walls. On the cricket field, encouraged by Mike Woollard, Llewelyn became an accomplished young batsman and wicketkeeper. But by the time he was 12 he was beating his father at tennis and was receiving professional coaching. He currently competes in the ITF World Tour and is also studying Sports Science at Loughborough; he spends 3-4 hours on court every day and remarked "tennis is very tough because it's an all around the year sport"

Henry Dobson's early memories of sport are of playing with his Dad, Mel, and older brother, George, in their lounge which was, in turn, a cricket pitch (with very small bats) and a football ground with the occasional intrusion of table tennis. Like Llewelyn, any sport would do but Henry was keenest on cricket which he would try to practise and play every day; nevertheless, he was good enough at football to be team captain in Year 11 at Bishop Heber. He spent two years at Lancashire CC's Cricket Academy and made his Cheshire Cricket senior debut when he was 16 . He is currently studying Psychology at Leeds Beckett University and on summer weekends plays his cricket at Oxton in Cheshire's Premier League.

Like the other two, Ben remembers wanting to play every sport possible; indeed, when I spoke to him, he had just been playing golf with Henry and they were both about to go into the cricket nets. From Tattenhall, Ben's football progressed via Crewe Alexandra, to Everton and then Liverpool's Academy. He made his senior debut in 2016, the third-youngest player ever to play for the club and, in just his second appearance, broke Michael Owen's long-standing record to become Liverpool's youngest-ever goal scorer. Last season Ben was dogged by two separate foot injuries and he returned to training just a few days before lockdown. But he was fortunate enough to be in the Liverpool squad for the Champions League Final in Madrid in June 2019 and to be at Anfield a few weeks ago when LFC were presented with the Premier League trophy.

Behind these three fine sportsmen are stories of very supportive and dedicated parents who have acted as taxi drivers, kit washers etc etc over many years and, of course, Sport Tattenhall with its excellent facilities.

We wish all three of them the best.

Top picture –
– U 9s cricket some years ago – Back row (left to right)
L Bevan F Holden B Gibbon D Gibbon
Front row (left to right)
W Turner H Dobson A Mobbs B Woodburn
Below left picture:Ben Woodburn and Henry Dobson
Below right: Llewelyn Bevan