They look out of the photographs with steady unblinking eyes, dressed immaculately in blazers or team shirts with the confidence of athletes in the prime of life.

The steady looks are almost certainly caused by the long shutter exposures needed by early cameras to expose the plate under the photographer’s black cloak. Pictures of these Edwardian and Victorian sports teams are eternally fascinating as they hold a mirror to the past of Burnham and Highbridge.

In his volume The Book of Burnham-on-Sea the Highbridge author Robert F Thomas writes of how cricket was played since at least 1884 in a large field off Love Lane near the gas works. The club held its inaugural meeting in 1887 in the Royal Clarence Hotel on the sea front in the era of Gloucestershire’s WG Grace when having a beard was considered to be the height of fashion – just as it is now.

“Some years later the location changed to a field north of Pillsmouth Farm where it remained until it removed to the Gardenhurst sports field in Rectory Road,” writes Mr Thomas, “When Gardenhurst closed and the land was sold for redevelopment the Cricket Club, in company with several other sports clubs moved to the Burnham Association of Sports Clubs ground at the bottom of Stoddens Road.”

Highbridge’s cricketers started playing slightly later than the seasiders and had a ground in the 1920s where Poplar estate is today said Mr Thomas.

“In 2010 football is still being played at the Recreation Field in Highbridge which was acquired by the local council in 1933,” said Mr Thomas. “1898 saw the foundation of a local cycling club with Edwin Horril as the captain. A hockey club was also formed in that year.”

“The Avenue and Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club was formed in 1909 and established on land, initially leased, from Hart House School which was selling off land on the west side of the property that when redeveloped eventually became The Grove and the east side of Berrow Road.”

Remarkably the first pavilion for the club was a disused railway carriage said Mr Thomas and as for golf the Burnham and Berrow Golf Club kept women out of the club house and the ladies had to have their own club house near Gore Road.

Do you have memories and photographs of sports teams in the area in recent time? Contact harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk as we’d love to share your recollections of the recent past.