Town Walk 2026 - Part 14 - Rutland Sports Park (The Rec)
w/e 12 April 2026
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Nikon D3300 camera..
This part equates to Stage 23 and the start of
24 from the original Town Walk from 2004.
In June 2004 the controversy
around the redevelopment of the Rutland Recreation Ground (The
Rec) to the Rutland Sports Park was still ongoing and I wrote
a fairly lengthy introduction to Part 23 of the original Town
Walk which concluded with "The public are now being consulted
and asked to vote for one of three options to complete the project
all of which will cost in the region of another £2.5 million."
The Indoor Tennis Centre had been built by then but if memory
serves me correctly was beset by problems. However these have
now been resolved and the Centre is fully operational albeit
run by an outside organisation rather the local council.
In fact all the facilities on the Rec are now split between the
council and other organisations. I also wrote in 2004 that "Some of the existing tennis courts have been
replaced by a new indoor tennis centre and the existing terracing
by a weed covered bank. A path used to run all the way round
the cricket pitch but a circumnavigation can now only be made
over uneven ground at the risk of turning an ankle." Well the bank is no longer weed covered and
the terracing that once sported wooden benches is only half its
original length.
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The remaining former tennis courts that stood at the top of the
terracing now contain a Padel Court under the jurisdiction of
the Elevate Padel Society.
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A "security fence to prevent vandalism
of the green" still surrounds the bowling green and
although maintained I assume by the council, I'm not sure the
it is used much anymore.
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The children's play area now has some different equipment and
is much improved on the 2004 version although I know some people
still reminisce about the paddling pool that once was a feature
here.
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Next to the play area and down the southern side of the Rec,
there used to be six more outdoor tennis courts. Four of these
are in good condition and are used by the Ilkeston Tennis Club
(formerly part of the Stanton Ironworks sports and social club).
The club was formed in the 1930s but changed its name in 2012
when it moved here. Long gone are the days when you could turn
up on spec and book an hour on a court at the now demolished
cricket scoreboard and kiosk that stood at the edge of the cricket
pitch where there is now just a sight screen.
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The redevelopment of the Rec meant that "football
pitches on the lower rec have been replaced by an all weather
hockey/football pitch and a six lane running track." It
also included a new building which is now a Leisure Centre and
part of an organisation that operates 80 facilities throughout
the country.
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There are still people in Ilkeston though, despite the facilities
now available, that hanker for the former six hole Pitch and
Putt Course that is now more rough that fairway.
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The 18 hole putting green is also sadly missed. Putting,
Pitch and Putt, Tennis and Lawn Bowling tickets could all be
purchased from the cricket scoreboard/kiosk.
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The redevelopment of the ground also involved removing the terracing
in front of the pavilion and as I wrote in 2004 "the
elegant outward appearance of old has gone and is now a box like
building with little character." Today this is a batsman's
eye view of the pavilion and although the ground looks in perfect
condition I suspect it is not of a high enough standard for County
Cricket matches which were regular fixtures here until 1974.
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Well that's our look at the
Rec and now as we "head off along King George Avenue
we pass Ilkeston School" on the way to Victoria Park
where we'll pick up the route in the next part. The school, now
the Ormiston Enterprise Academy, was formerly "the Grammar
School but prior to that it was the Ilkeston County Secondary
School." Opened "by King George V when he visited
the town with Queen Mary" in 1914 it "replaced
a Pupil Teacher's Centre."
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