GREAT MEMORIES OF BRIGG REC GROUND FROM THE FIRST GROUNDSMAN'S SON

Some great memories of our town's Recreation Ground have been shared with Brigg Blog by the son of its first groundsman who had been instrumental in creating the sports ground from the former Woodbine Farm. He also planted 50 poplar trees.
The groundsman and his family lived in the former farmhouse, and today we can post the first picture of this property ever to appear on Brigg Blog.
Many of our followers will remember the groundsman's house (demolished in the late 1970s).
Now living in Louth, Trevor Bounford, son of initial groundsman Dick Bounford, was sent a link to our recent post about the footpath which runs from Brigg Rec, alongside the boundary of Brigg Town Football Club to connect with Hawthorn Avenue.
Our thanks go to Trevor for taking the time and trouble to share his memories of the Rec and explain how it was created.
We hope he will be able to send us more, in due course, particularly about the small shop/ticket office, deliveries of pop, the putting course and visits by circuses. We recall attending one of these, as a child, in the early 1960s.

FROM TREVOR BOUNFORD

My late father, Richard (Dick) Bounford, was the first groundsman on the Rec.
He was originally from Stoke-on-Trent but had enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment in 1938 and soon after the outbreak of WWII was posted to Brigg.
While there he met my mother and after serving overseas during the war he returned and settled in the town.
He married my mother in 1946 and after working in the Scunthorpe steelworks, he took the job of rodent operative with the council (acquiring the nickname ‘ratcatcher’ which stuck for some time after).
In July 1949, a couple of months after my birth (my older sister Nicola had been born in 1947) we moved to Woodbine Farm and work began on converting the former farm to a Recreation Ground.
He was self-taught as a groundsman (the family have some of the books he studied – and his working notebook).
The Rec was officially opened in July 1953 by a representative of the Queen.
In 1954 my father planted 50 poplar trees. The No Cycling path, linking the ground with East Parade, existed as far back as I can remember but I think the Hawthorn Avenue ’ten foot’ was added as a roadway when the town football club transferred.
I believe that was earlier than 1960 as I recall attending matches (unwillingly) and it was 1960 that the family (now with younger sister Margaret) moved away when my father took up the post of Head Groundsman at Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent.
I seem to recall it being a grassed strip along the East Parade hedge. The 1947 OS map does not show anything apart from the boundary along the gardens of East Parade.
On a visit some years later I took photographs of Woodbine Farm.
And here’s a cricket story for you that my father was always pleased to relate.
He had established good wickets at the ground (the first two laid in 1952, according to his notes) and the ground was used for some fairly senior level county matches from time to time.
On these occasions he would have to be on call to apply the roller during the interval. The captain of the fielding side would ask for the light roller, the medium roller or the heavy roller, depending on the condition he hoped to achieve for the bowlers.
The light roller could be pulled briskly by one man, the medium roller could also be pulled by one man but took more effort, whereas the heavy roller needed two men to haul it.
What the players didn’t know was that he only had one roller, a heavy one. This he would either pull – depending on the instruction – briskly, slowly, or very slowly with the help of a volunteer.
He says that he was always complimented by the captain after the game for having delivered the exact requirement.
Before retiring, he was head groundsman for British Rail Staff Association in Harrow.
They hosted charity cricket matches with celebrity players and on one occasion, a former Australian player attended (I don’t recall his name). He published books of cricketing anecdotes and was very pleased to include Dad’s tale.
My sisters and I have many fond memories of life on the Rec – the visiting circuses, brass band concerts on the front lawn of the house, the putting green, the refreshment and ticket office (which we would ‘help’ man), preparation of cricketers’ teas, horse-drawn deliveries of Sergeants’ mineral waters.
Perhaps we can provide for a future post.

 

PICTURED: The groundsman's house at Brigg Recreation Ground. Image courtesy of Trevor Bounford.