Surridge cricket bats came to exist in 1867
when Stuart Surridge's grandfather,
Percy Stuart Surridge, started repairing old
cricket bats and selling them in his town.
Percy, a skilled craftsman carpenter met James Lillywhite and was quickly taught the craft of making cricket bats from start to finish instead of just fixing old ones.
Percy Surridge designed a reinforced toe for the cricket bat and patented the idea. This was the start of Stuart Surridge & Co Limited, where Percy designed and made bats from his shed.
The first Stuart Surridge Cricket bats go on sale and were quickly adopted by the cricketing legend - W.G. Grace.
Company passed to Stuart Surridge (Father of Surrey Cricketer) and continued to flourish.
Stuart Surridge was making strategic waves and increased their exposure. A successful newspaper advert from 1937 advertising cricket equipment.
Indian players picking up their bats at the Stuart Surridge factory. An increasing demand for English cricket bats came from all over the world. Stuart Surridge cricket bats were used by the Indian team for the game against England, the first test match in ten years.
The company began to grow and by the 1950's the brand had been passed on to Percy Surridge's grandson, Stuart Surridge. This saw development begin in other areas of the sporting world, from hockey sticks, tennis rackets and footballs. Stuart Surridge was captain of Surrey CCC and was the most successful Surrey Captain to date.
After years of development, Stuart Surridge released the first ever synthetic lace-less football, and the first of the modern day footballs, the SS Cobbler. The ball was taken to Sweden by the England manager, Walter Winterbottom.
The SS Cobbler was tested and proved to be better than any competitors balls after it was catapulted 20 foot higher than its closed rival. The SS Cobbler was chosen for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Pele used the SS Cobbler in his World Cup debut and the first World Cup to be televised.
An Advert from 1963
' The bigger they are... the harder they hit' The SS Jumbo - Bat of Choice
More cricketing greats start hitting hard with SS. The SS Jumbo became the bat of choice for many professional amateur sportsman, including Viv Richards, Graham Gooch, Lance Klusener, Richie Richardson and Mark Taylor.
Remember that Goal! 1980 Goal of the season Justin Fashanu of Norwich City versus Liverpool was scored with a Stuart Surridge UFO Ball.
SS Sign lucrative sponsorship deals with Paul Gascoigne as well as extending the relationship with Graham Gooch.
Both Paul and Graham were first and third respectively in the 1991 BBC Personality of the Year Awards.
After Stuart Surridge's death in 1992, the family decided to sell the Stuart Surridge & Co Ltd to Dunlop-Slazenger.
After 8 years of being put on snooker cues, tennis rackets, hockey sticks, etc. the Surridge name was finally sold to an Indian/South African partnership and they rebranded to red, white and blue 'SS' logo.
The SDL Group Ltd took over as UK Distributor and takes over the contracts of designing and manufacturing regarding pro kit for the Scottish Saltires and Gloucestshire CCC
Cricket finally came home in 2004, when Surridge signed a sponsorship deal with Surrey CCC, the anchestrial home of the Surridge Brand. The Stuart Surridge gates are still present at the Oval.
The Stuart Surridge brand (worldwide) was finally bought by the SDL Group Ltd and became known as Surridge Sport, still keeping the SS trademark. Shortly after, whe Worldwide Distributor programme was started.
SS Became the proud kit manufacturers and sponsors to MK Dons FC.
2007 Was also the year of the Cricket World Cup - Surridge was kit supplier to two playing teams, including Holland and Scotland. 2007 also saw us agree a kit manufacturers contract with Bury FC which lasted 8 seasons.
The oval Surridge trademark was changed bringing forward a more modern and versatile logo but still recognisable by the SS symbol.
Surridge become the biggest name in cricket in 2008, being official kit supplier to more counties than any other brand. Supplying Surrey, Gloucestershire, Northampton, Durham, Glamorgan, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Essex.
2008 Also saw SS play at Wembley with Barnsley FC in their FA Cup semi final against Cardiff City.
This year we secured our first large university contract. This started another era for SS as a major supplier to the education market. The university market helped SS develop playing garments for 60+ different sports.
SS Sign a supply deal with Cheltenham College who we still deal with today, starting our development into the schools market.
SS create a deal with Mansfield FC which lasted for 9 full seasons
Surridge are still market leader in cricket teamwear, supplying more professional and amateur clubs than any other brand.
Surridge have also become the market leaders in the University sportswear market, supplying more universities with central contracts than any other brand.
Surridge are the chosen teamwear brand for thousands
of teams, clubs, organisations in all sports, as well
as semi-professional and professional sports in
Cricket, Football and Rugby.
SS is the brand that schools and universities will use if quality,
service and price are the major contributing factors.
