If you have been to Lawrence in the past year, you might have spied a small game of cricket going on. Samuel White bowls into Lawrence to talk to the man with some distinctive antique concrete cricketers carving up his own "village green".
On the main street of Lawrence, Ross Pl, in the "beautiful" former Methodist church, John McCartan’s cricket garden figurines have been enjoying a game of the English sport for little over a year.
Before setting up game on the lawn in Lawrence, the little old men were moved around for more than 20 years with Mr McCartan and have spent every day enduring whatever weather was thrown at them.
A series of six "solid concrete" garden gnome-like figurines dot the front of Mr McCarten’s antique store — each of them in their own original cricket position, set up to be playing the classic game.
Barely knee-high, the small fixtures have become a talking point among those who stop at his shop.
Mr McCartan says people often see the small display and are drawn in to see what else he has to offer.
"I’ve even had people drive past and come back and say ‘they’re just brilliant’."
He believes the facial expressions on the little men helps them stand out from other garden figurines.
"They just put a smile on people’s faces."
In fact, they have proven so popular Mr McCartan has started producing his own replicas.
"I put them outside on the lawn and everyone wanted to buy them."
After persistent inquiries about the garden men, he decided to track down the moulds from England.
The moulds arrived in Lawrence "in a small crate".
Through trial and error, Mr McCartan was able to perfect the art of producing his own cricketing creations.
Despite what people think, it is quite an involved and difficult process.
"It would be quite frustrating doing two or three sets and finding out they’re all faulty."
The concrete mixture needed to be the right consistency and figuring out how to get rid of the bubbles (which can lead to holes) was also a science.
The "small team" behind the creations were able to use an old washing machine to vibrate the mixture as it was in the mould.
Then there was the issue of having too much vibration, or not enough. It had to be just right.
But after months of figuring it out, Mr McCartan is certain he has it perfected.
"It’s been a real trialanderror thing but now we’ve got it perfect, it’s really pleasing."
Once the figurines are dried and solid, all that remains is to painstakingly hand-paint them for two hours each.
While Mr McCartan did not sell any over winter, interest in the miniature cricketers rose again over the summer and he sold three sets recently.
Some of the people who had bought them did not even like cricket, Mr McCartan says.
A self-described hoarder, Mr McCartan has always been interested in sports and memorabilia.
He originally wanted to start his own museum but unfortunately, it did not work out.
In the meantime, since he "fell in love" with Lawrence, he has enjoyed setting up shop.
While the attention has been "lovely", it takes about three or four weeks to make each set and Mr McCartan is in no big hurry to have a run of orders come through.
"Honestly, if we had an order for 20 sets we’d be screwed."
He is happy with the little men continuing to "work their wonders just outside on the village green outside".
