It all began in 1878 when a few enterprising citizens called a meeting in the Mechanics Institute on Monday 5th May with the object of forming a cricket club. The gentlemen had foreseen the necessity of providing sporting facilities for the village. Mr Godfrey Hastings and Mr J N Driver were appointed secretary and treasurer respectively.
After playing at various fields the present ground was leased from Mr Booth in September 1888. A very favourable lease on the ground was obtained through the generosity of Lord Hothfield which included land for football, tennis, bowling and cricket. Lord Hothfield, as a further mark of goodwill toward the club, gave them the option of buying the land outright on very favourable terms and the combined clubs began the efforts of raising funds in July 1921with a view to purchasing the lease which expired in 1930. They succeeded in raising the funds and in 1930 Silsden had a five and half acre site for posterity. To mark this achievement Mr Frank Driver donated an adjoining five acres to the clubs, together with a motor mower. On the opening day of the new club house he gave the club a cheque to cover the costs saying "I will not see the pavillion opened in debt". It is impossible to estimate what Mr Driver did for the club for his love of cricket and welfare of his fellows.
Silsden Cricket Club were very successful in the early years with many trophies coming their way. they won the Craven Cricket Union six times between 1891 and 1901 and were given the trophy outright to commemorate three successive wins. In 1910 Silsden won the Wharfedale Cup beating Yeadon and again in 1915, 1919 and 1920. In 1921 Silsden joined the Yorkshire Council League, always finishing in the top half of the league. In 1927, a record first wicket stand of 182 by W M Wilson (118no) and Harry Fortune (97), at Skipton, was talked about for years to come.
1922 saw the debut of 14 year old George Hanson who was to play for the next 35 years, mostly for Silsden, with the exception of a season at Bankfoot, Keighley and Ilkley. George took well over 1250 wickets for Silsden, 1931 being his best with 79 wickets for an average of 5.5 per wicket. Another notable feat was that of Joe Roberts who captained the side for 46 years.
Silsden became founder members of the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League in 1936. the late 1940's saw Allan Mason come through the ranks to play for Yorkshire and in 1949 Stanley Taylor scored 1171 runs, a League record that stood for the next 45 years. The 1950's saw Silsden produce probably its greatest talent in Barry Whittingham, who won the League batting averages aged 15, and who went on to play county cricket with Nottinghamshire. Silsden were one of the top teams of the League in the 50's with Tom Baxter winning the batting award in 1958.
In 1962, under the captaincy of Eric Barsby, the Club won the Waddilove Cup. Paddy Anderton, fresh from winning the League batting and wicket keeping awards captained Silsden in defeat in the 1966 Cup Final against Burley at Ilkley. Success followed in 1970 when Silsden won the Charrington Cup against Gomersal. In 1972 the 2nd XI won the Birtwhistle Cup at Crossflatts with Cameron Wilson being the only player to be present from the Waddilove Cup success in earlier years. Ian Pullen's side won promotion back to the 'A' Division in 1978 but relegation followed the next year. During the 1980's, despite producing three successive winners Joe Lumb Player of the Years, Andrew Pullen, Andrew Twigg and Michael Summersgill, Silsden had to apply for re-election on a number of occassions.
The appointment of former player Tim Sugden as captain in 1993 saw Silsden finish in mid-table for 5 years. In 1998 under John Akrigg promotion was gained to the 'A' division where Silsden played for 2 years. Silsden competed in three successive Keighley Cup Finals between 2001 and 2003 winning twice. Current captain, Hugh Sugden, led the side to 4th in 2004 and 8th in 2005.
For many years the Club has promoted junior cricket, initially only under 17's. In more recent years the addition of under 11's, 13's and 15's has added to the strength in depth within the Club. From these junior sides several have established themselves in the senior 11, Chris Meehan, Matthew Shuttleworth, Chris Barrett and James Tillotson are just a few.
