DONKEY'S YEARS SINCE BRIGG SAW A DERBY

How long is it since Brigg last saw a Donkey Derby race meeting?
That's the question arising from this picture taken in the Market Place in 1965.
The answer, it has to be said, is Donkey's Years!
Civic dignitaries are seen in the Market Place on their way to attend Brigg Round Table's Donkey Derby, and they were riding in some style!
Coun Reg Harrison, left, and Coun Reuben Barnard are wearing their chains of office as the respective chairmen of Brigg Rural District Council and Brigg Urban District Council.
The venue for that year's Donkey Derby would have been either the Recreation Ground or Brigg Town Football Club.
Coun Barnard was an official of the football club for many years; Coun Harrison was a magistrate who served on the bench at Brigg Courthouse, on Wrawby Street.
Just visible behind the market stalls are shop signs for well-known firms Lawson & Stockdale and Shaw's Outfitters.
Also in shot is the NatWest Bank (now closed) which was still the National Provincial in 1965; NatWest came into being three years after this scene was recorded through a merge of the NP and the Westminster Bank.
Back in the 1960s you could still see donkeys on part of the Newlands estate at what was known locally as the Donkey Field.
Today's Donkey Park play area, near Atherton Way and the Lidl store, keeps alive this link with the past.
Have any present day parents or grandparents explained the origins of the name to their children as they enjoy the play equipment?
How about buying an additional sit-on rocking donkey ride for youngsters?
We've looked this up on the web and they are available from various suppliers.
Brigg Blog thinks such a ride would be a nice touch and remember a feature of local history now gone but not forgotten by those of more senior years.