Ilkeston - "This
Sporting Life"
w/e 28 April
2002
With the football season almost over, preparations
are well in hand for England's other major sport, cricket. This
view across the Rutland Recreation Ground towards the pavilion,
from under a blossom laden tree, shows the covers already on
the cricket square as protection against the showery weather.
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The scoreboard has had a fresh coat of
paint this week - I know this to be true as the graffiti has
disappeared! For many years the ground played host to a number
of Derbyshire Cricket Club's home games and there were some memorable
encounters against local rivals Nottinghamshire played here.
Despite its appearance the playing area is no longer deemed of
sufficient quality for County Cricket.
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There is a bowling green on the recreation
ground and another (pictured above) in Victoria Park. The green
opened for the first time this season on Saturday 27th but when
this photo was taken shortly before lunch the first paying customers
had still to arrive. A lot of hard work has gone into the green
over the winter and the playing surface here looked immaculate.
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Business was better across from the park,
where the three heated pools in the Victoria Park Leisure Centre
were proving a greater attraction on a cool and breezy Saturday
morning.
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Next to the Leisure Centre is the Manor
Squash Club and beyond that where a supermarket now stands was
the site of the Manor Ground, home venue for many years of the
town's football club.
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The club has now moved to the edge of town
to a new site that is known as the New Manor Ground which takes
us full circle back to football again.
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