MAJOR MILESTONE AHEAD FOR BRIGG SPORTS VENUE

The 70th anniversary of Brigg Recreation Ground will arrive next year. Hopefully some celebratory matches will be held by local clubs. Will Brigg Heritage Centre consider staging a picture-based exhibition about the Wrawby Road sports venue?
Providing a new sportsground within the town was first suggested in the mid-1930s but had to be put on hold due to the Second World War.
Following the ending of hostilities and then a period of economic austerity, public spending had to be curtailed until the situation began to ease - allowing the Brigg Rec plan to resurface.
Brigg Urban District Council spotted a notice announcing that Woodbine Farm was for sale. Just a few hours before the auction was due to begin, the council resolved to buy the ground for the town.
There were some raised eyebrows about providing so many acres for recreation in a small market town, but the development went ahead and the ground opened in 1952.
As Brigg County Primary School (built in 1929) did not have a sports field, the Rec's arrival was very welcome for school matches and sports days.  
Tennis, football, cricket and hockey matches were enjoyed on grass pitches, and some 'hard' tennis courts were also added.
And who remembers the small pitch and putt course located near the groundsman's live-in residence (the former farmhouse)?
Payment by teams and individuals was tendered in cash on the day to the groundsman, and there was even a small shop selling refreshments, including ice cream and soft drinks.
Golfer Tony Jacklin visited Brigg Rec in the early 1970s - a period which saw him with the British Open and the US Open. Tony, who then lived in Elsham, parked his sports car and went to watch a sports day taking place on the ground.
Brigg UDC's demise under local government re-organisation in 1974 saw ownership and management of the Rec pass to the new Glanford borough authority. Three years later, as part of her Silver Jubilee celebrations, the Queen visited Brigg Rec - watching a pageant held on the cricket ground.
Among those presented to Her Majesty after she arrived in the royal car were Brigg's Robert Crosby, clerk & chief executive, Glanford Borough Council; Brigg Town Mayor, Coun Bryan Robins; Coun Phil Wood, of Hibaldstow, Mayor of Glanford; and Joseph J. Magrath, Brigg's Town Clerk and former chief officer of Brigg Urban District Council.
Glanford added a new changing room block in the early 1980s as well as relocating a former bowls pavilion from Cary Lane to overlook the Rec's cricket ground.
The Rec became the venue for very well-attended annual firework displays in early November with big bonfires erected between the two football pitches.
Further changes to local government in 1996 resulted in the Rec passing to North Lincolnshire Council.
In June 2012 the Rec was the venue as Brigg marked the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with games, music and other events - organised by a local committee.
Major investment was made in the sportsground in 2017 - a floodlit, all-weather 'Blue Astro' hockey pitch being provided along with an extensive changing room block, tennis courts and a large car park.
The official opening ceremony was carried out by Andrew Percy, the Brigg & Goole MP.
One constant feature for decades has been the very extensive avenue of poplar trees - now very tall - on the boundary between the sportsground and an agricultural field. When they were planted as a windbreak, 'carbon capture' and 'green' factors were unknown factors, but these trees have certainly played their part... and hopefully will continue to do so for many decades to come.
Ever since it opened, the Rec has been popular with dog walkers who have always been encouraged to clean up after their pets as they circle the ground and walk past the trees.
Brigg Recreation Ground proved a very wise purchase for the town in 1952 - its acquisition owing much to forward-thinking 'Mr Brigg' - Joseph J. Magrath.

PICTURED ABOVE: Brigg Amateurs Football Club celebrating a cup-winning triumph at the Rec in the 1960s; hockey players at the Rec in the late 1980s; Brigg Town cricketers in 1974 - their club's first season.