A Geordie All-Rounder: 22 - A Memorial To A Cricketing Legend
Continuing his life story Malcolm Scott pays tribute to Foster Coulson, a legend in South Shield cricketing history.
Another incident in the car with Foster was in May 1956. We were returning to Shields from Consett where we had been playing Northumberland. Foster had his foot down, and I suspect he was hankering for the 'snug' in his favourite watering hole, the County Hotel at Wood Terrace.
He was very pleased with my performance that day as I had made 98 not out. I should have got a 'ton' but the old Scoreboard only gave the total, wickets down and the last man's score. No individual scores appeared on the score box so I had no idea how close I had been to my first hundred when the final wicket fell.
We were bombing down the Durham hills when suddenly a police car appeared and waved us down. Foster was politely informed he was well over the speed limit. He suddenly changed from Avrin Grant to Cary Grant and became most courteous, apologetic and polite. He explained who he was and that we had been playing county cricket, and this young man beside him had almost scored a hundred against Northumberland. It may have been the officer was a cricket lover, or he was, like myself, mesmerised by Foster's oratory skills, because he finally gave him a stern warning about speeding and sent us on our way.
A story is told of a Senior League Club once leaving Shields an impossible short time to tackle a big score. Come the next season the tables were turned. An exasperated opponent asked batsman Foster if his watch had stopped, only to be blandly told that he had borrowed the same watch they had used the previous season!
I believe one of the happiest moments in Foster's life was on a beautiful sunny day in June 1968 when he tapped home the first log in the club's new Norwegian type pavilion. Foster never married and lived with his mother who allegedly was the only person brave enough to argue with him.
Because of the age difference I never knew Foster Coulson very well, but I will always remember those times in his company with South Shields or Durham County teams. He seemed to exert an influence on everyone in his coterie.
Foster passed away in 1969 and will be remembered as a true cricket stalwart of South Shields and Durham County Cricket Clubs. He left a bequest of £5,000 to the Club which was used to build a new scorebox as a memorial to the cricketing legend.
