He may never have played for the county, but Bob Bond is undoubtedly worthy of his place in any list of the great names associated with Lancashire cricket.
By his own admission he was more enthusiastic than talented in his performances for Hesketh Bank, but he has a lifelong affinity with the county side that has remained undimmed by his move to Sussex more than 30 years ago.
In a long career Bob has drawn instantly recognisable cartoons and caricatures of many of the legends of the game who have graced the Old Trafford turf. But things could have worked out very differently.
‘I started drawing for comics in the 60s and got pigeon-holed as a football and sports artist,’ Bob said. ‘I wanted to draw cowboys and Indians but the World Cup going to be happening in this country and I kept being asked to draw Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton and I thought that would give me a foot in the door, but they never sent me anything else. I never did get the cowboys and Indians. I was sent down a road I didn’t really want to go down, but I’ve done ok.’
He made his name with caricatures of World Cup winners and went on to draw an even greater footballing legend – Roy Race, the hero of the Roy of the Rovers stories.
His work appeared in most of the popular publications including Valiant, Tiger, Hotspur, Wizard and Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly. After 15 years drawing for children’s comics, Bob moved to Worthing and a job with a Christian magazine where he was able to work in a studio with other artists and to use colour.
Throughout his career Bob has been drawn back to Old Trafford with his sketchbook and he has a vast archive of cartoons of many of the club’s greatest players.
Now, many of these drawings have been brought together in a new book, with a foreword by former Lancashire batsman and coach David Lloyd, who wrote: ‘I’ve never been a big reader of books... but I do like picture books. As a lad I used to read comics. Bob’s book caught my attention. The characters he portrays are exactly as I saw them. True Lancastrians and all with different characters and characteristics. I’m back to my comics. Bob’s book made me chuckle. Memories, poignancy, nostalgia and fun.’
Bob, who is now 83, added: ‘I have a big archive of stuff and the publisher – Rev Malcolm Lorimer, who is chaplain to Lancashire County Cricket Club – suggested I must have a lot of drawings of Lancashire cricket from over the years.
‘The book is a hotch potch of cartoons and caricatures I have drawn over the last 50 or 60 years, but I’m pretty pleased with the way it has turned out.
‘I’m not doing so much drawing now. My fingers aren’t as nimble as they used to be and my eyes are failing a bit. I do some watercolours of local scenery, but not so much drawing any more.
‘Cricket has been very pleasurable for me to watch, to play and to draw. I was a very ordinary cricketer. I played for Hesketh Bank for years in the Southport and District League, and I played into my 50s after I moved down to Worthing but I was never a great player, never anything approaching Lancashire League standard.
‘I have enjoyed drawing the characters and Lancashire seems to have had an awful lot of them over the years.’
* A Lancashire Hotch-Potch is out now, priced £15.
