evidence of burgeoning talent with two fine innings against the Army at Swansea during August Bank Holiday. Gloucestershire, with the county ground at Bristol occupied by the Services for most of the war years, largely hibernated, although a number of fixtures were played around the county. With ports such as Southampton and Portsmouth in regular use, Hampshire attempted nothing before 1945, when matches were played at Southampton against Southampton Police at Whit and Southampton and District in August. Special matches were arranged in Kent on August Bank Holidays, when Alderman C Lefevre, the Mayor of Canterbury, provided hospitality which managed to keep alive the spirit of the Week. In 1945, 7,000 people saw the Kent fast bowler Norman Harding take all ten against The Rest. Two years later Harding was dead, a victim of polio at the age of 31. Old Trafford was requisitioned by the army and during the 1940-41 winter it suffered from the Luftwaffe as Manchester endured its share of the blitz. There were a number of charity games arranged in the county, notably over the 1943 Bank Holidays when elevens representing England and the West Indies met at Longsight, Manchester at Whit and North Western RAF played AA Command at Blackpool in August. At Leicester, Aylestone Road was used by the National Fire Service before the US Army Pioneer Corps moved in. After the Americans left, Leicester Corporation took over the ground for an extension to the adjoining electricity works. Leicestershire had aimed to use Grace Road while Aylestone Road was renovated but because this was now the sports ground of the City of Leicester School plans had to be changed. It meant the county could only stage games when the ground was not required by the school. It was to be 1966 before Leicestershire bought Grace Road and built a new pavilion. During the war the county maintained the holiday fixtures with Northamptonshire, although the home game had to be played on the village ground of Barwell, which was barely adequate for county cricket. The reverse fixture took place at Spinney Hill, about a mile from the County Ground at Northampton, where the pavilion was requisitioned by the National Fire Service. A dozen matches saw honours even; perhaps the most notable coming in August 1944 at Spinney Hill, when a large crowd saw Dennis Brookes and Emrys Davies (Glamorgan) open the Northamptonshire innings with a partnership of 143. Taunton was used by the army but August Bank Holiday Saturday in 1941 saw a whiff of the old rivalry when Somerset and Gloucestershire Services met, Somerset winning after some lusty hitting by Jack Meyer, Cambridge blue and founder of Millfield School. On Whit Monday 1945, Somerset defeated West of England by ten wickets in the first match played at Bristol since 1939. Bill Andrews took seven for 31 as West of England were dismissed for 67 and then, batting on after the runs were obtained, Gimblett hit 65, including 22 off an over from Sinfield, who finished with five for 74. Surrey lost The Oval, first for a searchlight site and then a prisoner of war camp for parachutists who never arrived. The club restricted itself to Colts’ matches and the Four Counties’ games at Lord’s. Sussex, facing no such obstacles, could show more ambition. A combined Royal Navy and Royal Air Force team defeated the Army at Hove in a two-day August Bank Holiday match in 1942, Eric Bedser making a hundred and Maurice Tate taking five for 51. On Whit Saturday 1943 the Australian Keith Miller gave an indication of his all-round Wartime Holidays 129