More musing from Shipley Hall CC

HERE’S A TALE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CRICKET CLUB GROUND

It’s about the development of the ground rather than playing. The latter is beautifully covered in Simon Lacey’s excellent Centenary Book “The History of Shipley Hall CC”

The ground was the brain child of the Squire, Alfred Millar Mundy. Some said it was an act of benevolence to his workers but perhaps it was more to further the cricketing ambitions of his son Godfrey. We have no records that tell us how good Godfrey was but I doubt whether any of the employees at the Hall would really try to dismiss him.

So, in 1896 work started to convert the Haystack yard to a cricket field using labour from the Hall. Most of the work was manual and soil was transported by horse and cart

The ground was officially opened in 1899. The first recorded match was between married men v single all from the Hall. Singles 60 Married 37.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAVILION

The first picture we have of the pavilion shows it in the background of a team photo from 1900 which included the Squire (back row second from left)

Not very much changed, it was a wooden buiding and remained so through to our next picture from 1940

The building had a rustic charm and its basic outline was retained as brick changing rooms were added to each end of the building you see above. In the 1970’s a score box was added

This is from a painting by Shelia Bailey the original of which hangs in the pavilion

It was not until 2003 when any significant change was undertaken. Aided by an unexpected windfall and a tremendous funding effort a changing room was added above the existing away room at a cost of 24K

This was intended as part of a phased development but it was not until 4 years later that we were in position to add Phase 2

Phase2 was extensive and included renovations to the kitchen, toilets and bar. Perhaps it did not go far enough but money was tight and the before and after position was significant. The cost was 28K

The main missing element was a score box and this became more evident after we purchased an electronic scoreboard. We initially positioned this on the home dressing room balcony which was a labour-intensive exercise as it had to be stored inside the room after each game.

In 2014 further improvements were made to the Home Changing room and a Pool Room was added.

In 2015 the club drew up plans to construct a score box cum machine shed and work started on this in the winter

The end product was impressive and functional. It cost 32K which was raised mainly from the generous donations from the Chairman and ex- Chairman together with a funding grant from UK Coal.

In 2016 the score box was dedicated to a sadly departed member, Norman Smith and officially opened by his 100 year-old father who is the current President of the club.

So, for the present we are up to date but as far as the pavilion is concerned the only way is up!!!

THE GROUND

The ground area has always had a unique shape. The initial construction did not produce a totally flat surface and the run down at “THE HALL end” was significant, (especially if you are chasing a ball over the slope). At “THE TENNIS COURT“ end there was a gentle downward slope and a similar slope exists looking from pavilion to the top of the ground

The perimeter of the ground was open and a white picket fence ran the length of two sides

In the late 1970’s the Chairman set out an extensive programme of tree planting and over the years as the trees grew this has produced a true rural and village club effect. The various stages of growth are reflected in the following pictures