District Football League. The local rugby union club is Sandbach RUFC. The club is the largest sports club in the area. Sandbach 1st XV play in the RFU National 3 Midlands; many levels higher than other local rivals. Currently at Level 5, they are one of the few truly amateur clubs in the RFU National League structure. Many old boys have gone on to play Premiership and International Rugby. Sandbach Rugby Club offers playing opportunities for both sexes of all ages. Every Tuesday evening at 7.00pm the club offers Social Touch (a non-contact game) to all adults. Touch rugby is open to the public and is free of charge. The local cricket club is Sandbach Cricket Club. In 2008 the First XI won the Cheshire Cricket Alliance League – Division 1 on the last day of the season to gain promotion to the Meller Braggins League – Division 3. Another local side is Elworth Cricket Club which plays in the North Staffs & South Cheshire Cricket League – Championship Division 1. The Club operates 5 senior teams, a midweek team and 9 junior teams at U9, U11, U13, U15 and U17 levels. Sandbach Squash Club enters two teams in the North West Counties League. There are two golf clubs in Sandbach. Sandbach Golf Club is located on Middlewich Road, approximately ½ a mile west of the town centre. It was founded in 1895 and is a challenging 9-hole parkland course (with 16 tees) welcoming both members and visitors during the week and at weekends. Malkins Bank Golf Course is an 18-hole course formerly operated by Cheshire East Council. Sandbach also has a thriving darts league – with both men's and ladies' leagues playing in most of the many pubs in the area. Sandbach Leisure Centre is on Middlewich Road and is run by Cheshire East Council. Sandbach School offers community sports facilities. Notable people John M. Allegro (1923–1988), an English archaeologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, lived and died in Sandbach Sir John Barlow, 1st Baronet (1857–1932), Liberal Party politician. Alfred Barratt (1844–1881), philosophical writer, went to school in Sandbach. Derek Macintosh "Blaster" Bates (1923–2006), demolition expert. Karl Beattie (born 1963), an English television director, producer and cameraman who lives in Sandbach John Brereton, 4th Baron Brereton (1659–1718), an English baron in the Peerage of Ireland, lived at Brereton Hall Denise Coates CBE (born 1967), an English billionaire businesswoman, the