THE eagle-eyed among Somerset fans who attended either of the pre-season matches may have noticed the new flag flying above the home dressing room of the Andy Caddick Pavilion, writes Richard Walsh.

The new flag is all down to the nimble fingered first team scorer Polly Rhodes who during the winter produced a replacement for the former flag that was looking decidedly weary and worn. 

Polly first became involved with Somerset as their Second XI scorer in 2006 and when Gerry Stickley retired she was appointed First XI scorer in 2019.

In her former life Polly taught home economics and needlework, so was well able to turn her hand to creating the new Somerset flag which measures 2.7 metres wide by 1.5 metres deep.

To make the new flag required six metres of burgundy and six of black material, four metres of white and contains 66 yards of stitching.

Polly takes up the story: “At the end of last season, I had a close look at the then current flag which was not only faded, but the edges were ragged and torn. The central dragon (not a Wyvern; the image had four legs so was thus a dragon) was a completely different red (more scarlet) from the flag itself. 

“I therefore got permission from the powers that be, to make a completely new flag which was just the start of it! 

“It then took me nearly three months and several hundred miles, to source a suitable fabric, which had to be able to endure the wonderful British weather., and I needed three colours.

“Most fabric shops I entered either had fabric of a suitable colour, but was completely unsuitable in terms of fibre content. If, however, the fibre was suitable, the colours I needed, weren’t available. Indeed, the maroon/burgundy/claret colour, or whatever the dyers had called it, was the really difficult colour to source. I eventually found it in Oswestry, Shropshire, when I went to visit my 104-year-old aunt. 

“Having bought the requisite amount of fabric, the making of the flag was relatively straight forward. Of course, as I sewed, the embryonic flag was becoming bigger and bigger, and thus heavier and heavier. 

“Although the dragon is well known in Somerset, sewing it was not always easy. It was fiddly, and on occasions, usually when I wanted it least, the bobbins would run out of thread! Once the two effigies were sewn, the rest was fairly plain sailing. I reckon that the dragons took about three quarters of the total time taken.”

Well done Polly - wouldn’t it be fitting if the new flag was the one that brought Somerset their first ever championship at the end of this season!