Bradford Park Avenue project - Further links
If you would like to read our exhibition about the historical Park Avenue ground, please click the button below.
If you want to hear more from our interview participants, we are pleased to announce that this project involved a series of 15 full length interviews.
We apologise that there are not currently transcriptions available for the interviews.
Please click the button below if you would like to access the full interviews of our contributors.
Park Avenue and the People
Our 2025 exhibition on the history of Park Avenue was guided and shaped through the memories of people whose lives have been influenced in some way by the iconic ground.
Please enjoy the below clips to hear about the many stories about the impact of Park Avenue.
Please note:
We are currently in the process of transcribing the interviews below. Completed transcriptions have been added in the boxes below. Please bear with us as we go through this process. Thank you.
Alan Douglas
Alan:
My father was groundsman at Park Avenue from approximately 1952 to
‘73. Er, I lived there all that time – the house is still standing. Erm it’s not
part of the ground now but it’s still standing. And, er, I was there for all that
time. Ended up helping me dad a little bit. Not a lot, but a little bit. Er, I
don’t know what else you want to know really (laughs), but you know, all
our family lived there – me, me brother and three sisters, and me mum
and dad and er, it was hard work for me dad ‘cos they didn’t have the
machinery that they have now. I can remember the big, one thing I can
remember is they had a big roller which originally was pulled by a horse.
But then it changed. They didn’t have, want a horse on the field and you
had to get into the, er, main guided bit and people pushed it and I
remember doing that at county matches.
I can certainly remember all the county matches there. Er, ‘cos after the
end of play on a county match I used to go up in the dressing rooms with
some Blanco and whiten all the players’ boots and er, it was fantastic really
because you saw all the equipment and, er I wouldn’t ask for more money
‘cos if anybody knows the Bedser twins – remember the Bedser twins?
Big chaps, their boots were about size 16. I asked for more money (laughs)
but those boots! So, so that’s the background really.
I can tell you that they used to, I, I was actually living on the ground when
the Queen and Prince Phillip came. Er, I think it was probably, I don’t know
whether it was the year they got married or the year after. Er, no, after she
was crowned so that’s 50 something when the Queen came and all us
schoolchildren from Bradford came and they went round the ground in a
Land Rover, stood up in a Land Rover. I remember it very well indeed and
er, I ‘ad to go out of the ground and come back in with the school (laughs)
cos with living there, er, but yeah, they were, they were good days really.
Er, players were very good. Er, I always remember that father had a rule,
just where the players came out onto the field and when they came out, I
used to stand there, when I was younger, I used to stand there and er, i
always remember the wicketkeeper used to hit me across the face with
his gloves. Y’know friendly (laughs), friendly. Er, yes, I can remember lots
of things. All the players. Fred Trueman, all these players.
Alan:
The police sports, they used to have and, er and that was all, er I think they
were all amateurs. Er they used to do running, they used to do cycling, er
it must have been a bit boring ‘cos they just went round in a smallish circle,
round the field (laughs). And they got quite a few people there and we
used to watch that. I think it went on for three or four years, maybe more
I’m not sure. I think that was in the, I would say late fifties. Late fifties
or…middle to late fifties, I think. They called it The Police Sports, obviously
it must have been organised by the police. I didn’t know about the
organisation but they got quite, they got crowd there to watch and they
had, I always remember the cycling, but they had other events as well. Er,
and I can always remember they had a big table with all the prizes on for
the winners and the losers. Er, yeah, it was quite a big event.
One other event which they had once was tennis, lawn tennis, and er there
were Arthur Ashe. He must have been a young lad then. That must have
been, I think that was about’60 – ‘59/’60 when he came. Er, could be wrong
with the dates but they ‘ad that tennis tournament there. That was quite
popular but they only ever did it once and er, that was it really. But then
after a, after a cricket match, ‘cos I used to play for Bradford er as a young
lad and then I scored for the first team there in those days and they didn’t
have a bar at Bradford. They used what they called The Bungalow, which
was situated behind the pavilion, used to be a bowling green. They called
it The Bowling Club. There used to be two bowling greens at first, but they
did away with one for car parking and then there was one bowling green
and they called it The Bungalow. Er, but sadly that’s where they used to
go out and drink after the games. But sadly, that was pulled down and
that’s where they built a bowling alley. It was a bowling alley, the first thing,
and that was, the bowling alley was built, probably twelve months before
we left.
Chris Pollard
Chris:
Dickie Bird. He is the old umpire, England, and ‘e used to go round the
world. As a boy ‘e was a Yorkshire Colt. In other words, ‘e was a second
team player, occasionally playing for the first team if someone wasn’t
available and I saw ‘im play against Glamorgan and ‘e scored 180 runs in
‘is innings. I can’t remember if it was in one day – I think it would be.
Anyway, next match – dropped. Because whoever e’d been replacing for
injury or whatever, ‘ad come back so in the end Dickie, Harold Bird. Harold
is his real name. Dickie left and ‘e went to Leicestershire and had a very
good career. First team, obviously. And there were two or three other
Yorkshire players who went, more or less at the same time, to Leicester.
Erm, a chap called Jackie Birkenshaw, a second guy who erm, was a
Yorkshire player and went, erm to Leicester. I’m trying to think of his name,
it’ll come. Chris Balderston. And he was a footballer as well. ‘E played for
Carlisle, Huddersfield. So, this was an era where -a- cricket was almost
amateur. Almost, wouldn’t be paid well.
Second memory – Fred Trueman. Frederick Seward Trueman. Notorious
for being grumpy. Would never give an autograph. Anyway, I’m there at
the pavilion steps waiting and ‘e comes in ‘is Jag. ‘E ‘ad a Jag even then.
This’d be about 1960; I’d be about 14. Anyway, erm, I asked ‘im from ‘is autograph, and ‘e said, “Ey lad, carry us me bag up t’dressing room and I’ll give yer autograph.” So, I thought, so I did! What a bag he’d got! Full y’know, ‘e must have ‘ad all ‘is er, sweaters, ‘is pads for his batting cos he could bat. Er, anyway, I followed him up and struggled but got there and ‘e signed. I’ll give him that, but he didn’t sign ‘Best wishes Chris’ or some. y’know, gesture. He just put ‘F.S. Trueman’ and that were it, but of course
I’d got ‘is autograph so whatever I ever did with that autograph, I don’t
know. cos obviously, again, it’s a long time ago but yeah, that’s my other
memory of a famous man.
Chris:
I must ‘ave been 8 or 9 and my first visit, from memory, was when The
Queen and Prince Philip, or Duke of Edinburgh I think he was then, visited
Bradford and they came to the Yorkshire Cricket Ground – 1954 – open
top Land Rover, no security. The ground was packed with schoolchildren.
Obviously, I was one. Erm, that’s my first memory.
And I’ve thought about this and other memories of that era I have, were
of cycle racing which was a bit strange if you think about it, but there was
certainly cycle racing around the perimeter of the cricket field. During the
week, white lines for the four or five lanes that were used right round. And
it were fascinating, I remember that and they were wearing crash helmets
of the day which I think they still use in some, er, speed, er, racing and
they were like slotted helmets. Not what you and I would think of as a
helmet but, and that was my first sort of proper memory after The Queen.
Dickie Bird
Dickie:
Well of course, my earliest memories of Bradford Park Avenue was when I signed for
Yorkshire when I was, err, 16 years of age, of course, I went to the Yorkshire nets, I was
invited to the Yorkshire nets for practices, err, when I was about 16. And I, I played for
Barnsley in the Yorkshire league at cricket and, of course, you perform well in the league, then you get invited to the Yorkshire nets ‘n I got invited to the Yorkshire nets, ‘n must have seen something, they took me on and I was at Yorkshire so I’ve got some ‘appy memories of Bradford as a youngster, practicing there. We used to practice at Bradford Park Avenue and we used to practice in the evenings in the winter – January and February and March – Yorkshire County Cricket Club and, err, I also travelled from Barnsley, I get the bus from Barnsley to, err, Bradford and then the, err, a tram , I don’t whether it was a tram [chuckle] or a bus up to Park Avenue. And they were ‘appy days that’s when I start, as I were a youngster, I ‘ad some ‘appy memories practicing with Yorkshire at Bradford Park Avenue.
Playing there, of course, I’ve got my, the one what stands out, is I got, I scored 191 not out for Yorkshire against Glamorgan, and why it was so special to me 191 not out Glamorgan ‘ad 6 players in their side what were, they were all international players, played for England, I’ll just say, I’ll name a few, Alan Watkins who was a great all-round cricketer for Glamorgan, Gilbert Parkhouse for Glamorgan, both England players, then there was Peter Walker, err, ‘e was an England player and, err, so many and they were a very very good County side and to get 191 not out against them on a wicket was doing all sorts of things at Bradford Park Avenue, ah, it was a great achievement, err, and I was very … very thrilled with it, err, but I was dropped the next match [chuckles]! 191 not out for Yorkshire and dropped next match, but Yorkshire was such a great side ‘n I was in and out of the side of course and that was one or two memories of Bradford Park Avenue, ‘n also, I enjoyed umpiring there of course and as I said I enjoyed as a player there, playing there.
Dickie:
I was captain of my school here in Barnsley, Raley Secondary Modern School which was a fine school, errr, my close friend at school in those days was a lad called Tommy Taylor who went on … Tommy and I played, I played with him at school inside right and he were centre forward, at school, and he went on to play for Barnsley at football and from there he went to Manchester United, he played for England, he scored I think, his record, I’m not sure on this, he played 18 times for his country and scored 19 goals and he lost his life in the Munich air disaster when all the Manchester United Babes went down in that air crash which was very very sad and I lost a good friend there, ah, he was a great player, as I said played for England and we used to, err, we were very close friends at school, we played together for Raley Secondary Modern School, Barnsley Boys and, err, and err, we went down to Barnsley Football Club and we were signed, both of us together, at Barnsley Football Club and we played in the, what they called the Northern Inter League, the Northern inter, intermediate League, in those days, and they were very happy days and of course I decided to stick to cricket because I played for the Barnsley Cricket in the Yorkshire League, I start-, when I left school, ‘an I played the next few years for Barnsley Cricket Club ‘an in the summer and in the football, I was at Barnsley Football Club, ah, played in the Northern Intermediate League which they called it in those days, and they were ‘appy, ‘appy days. And, ah, same as I said, I just said, I lost a great friend in Tommy Taylor [breathes in audibly] in that air disaster at Munich [breathes in audibly] when the, when the full side was lost. Great players, great players.
Dickie:
Well when the ground were full it was magnificent, ‘cos it was like a bull ring, you know, and of course they played, they played football and cricket, Bradford Park Avenue was in the football league!, and there’s some fine players, Len Shackleton, ah, ‘oo was a great player who played there and, er, you know just like a bull ring, football, and then there was a stand, and then the cricket, so they’re both together, football and cricket.
Geoff Cope
Responder = R
Interviewer = I
Geoff:
R: In the days when I was nineteen, and, you got telegram, and it just simply said ‘report avenue tomorrow, Nash’, who, of course, at that stage was the Yorkshire Secretary [ehhhmm], and the telegram meant I’d been i-named in the twelve tomorrow and would I get myself there [sharp breath intake]. There’s a background to it, I’d lost me mum when I was fifteen going on sixteen, so it was just Dad and I at home, and [intake], this telegram arrived and immediately I’m thinking ‘this is great’, so I tried ringing my dad at work, and his colleague, who I knew, said “oh, he’s not ‘ere Geoff”. So I said “what do you mean he’s not ere?”, he says “oh, he got some news and he’s, he’s had to go”, so I says “oh, right”, and, you find out later that, typical Yorkshire, he knew before I did!-
I: [quiet laugh through nose]
R: -And, what he’d done was to go down to the local launderette and, we had an arrangement, he did the washing, I did the ironing or vice versa. But on this occasion, knowing that I’d been selected [ehhhmm] he’d done both, and when I got home, he was pressing th-THE suit, it wasn’t a question of which suit, it was THE suit [eehmm] and, for an important part of the situation, on this occasion, we ironed the back of the shirt as well as the front.-
I: [quiet laugh]
R: -So, I was looking smart and, finally, I made my way to Park Avenue. Very early on, 9:30ish [eehhm], the game started at 11:30, so I was WELL in time, [intake of breath] and, I made my way up to the dressing room, and, as I got into the door, I sorta looked round, I was the only one there so I chose to get changed in the corner, out of the way, and, I-mean got changed, I went down and looked at the ground. The wicket: I’d never seen anything like it. I’d played at Park Avenue in-in league matches and, indeed, in second eleven games, and there was always a bit-a grass, a bit-a greenness but this time it was just a white…and it was just concrete, I’d never felt s-anything so hard, it was a county wicket to last 3 days and, obviously, my first experience of it. So, the groundsman came across, Ron Healey, who was a character in his own rights, and introduced himself and we had a chat, and then I met one or two of the press, and I worked with a company called Wiggins Teape, who were paper merchants, but when the press asked me where I was, and they said “you worked for Wiggins Teape, yes?”, my boss was delighted with the news, because it said: ‘Geoff Cope, who works for a well-known Leeds tea firm’ and, of course, this was completely away ‘cos we were paper merchants. So, that was my first encounter with the press, but, by this time a few of the spectators were arriving and they wished me well as I make my way back to the dressing room. And you went up the back stairs and it was one of those where you went up and you came back on yourself to there, before you turned a right angle to-to go onto the bar area and the dining area, but just two steps and you went into a little corridor, and this corridor was of, probably, five yards either way [intake of breath]. At the back of the pavillion was the Yorkshire dressing room, at the front of the pavilion, overlooking the ground was the opposition. And, of course, I made my way up towards the Yorkshire dressing room, it was at that stage where it really hit me that I was gonna go into a Yorkshire side, and in that room we’re eleven international cricketers. And, I got a bit nervous, and I held the doorknob for quite a while [small laugh while speaking], and then finally I decide ‘you gotta go’, and I went in and my head was a b-bit bowed and, in the centre of the room, was a large table, which [eehhm], in those days, where the physio used it in case, it was also there if somebody had their lunch in the dressing room, it was, shall we say, a-a-a-a very useful table for anything [breath intake]. But, um, when I looked under it, this suit that had been pressed, and this shirt, and my other clothes, and some of my kit was in bundles under the table. And when I looked up, and I look where they shoulda been, on the peg, there was a very broad-shouldered gentleman with a black mane, and he looked at mine and he said “are them thine?”, and I said “yes they are, Mr. Trueman” and he says “well, I sees that thing up there, it’s my peg and it’s been mine ft-last fifteen years” and he says “If ya thinks I’m changing for thee, there’s another thing coming. For this match” -he said- “you can borrow Raymond’s peg.” And, I thought, ‘Gee, I’ve upset the world already’, yknow, the head was down, started gathering my clothes and, then, Phil Sharp came across and he started helping me and then, of course, Illy was away playing for England at the time and, as his replacement, I was allowed his peg. And, when I’d finally put everything back up, I turned round, and Fred was there waiting. He put his arms out and he said “come on little sunshine, give us a hug and welcome to the team.”
Halima Khan
Halima:
A few years ago, I’d say maybe going back to 2016 now, I set up an organisation. Again, just my own passion of tryna raise awareness of women, cricket being my own passion, I just set up an organisation called Opening Boundaries, was about tryna educate, empower and inspire people through the power of sport [ehm] to take part, participate and really raise awareness of gender equality that still exists in sports, so, obviously, off the back of that, having a passion for cricket, obviously one of the first things we did was try and do more engagement through cricket.
I was lucky enough to be able to host a women’s cricket game. When it first initially started, we did have access to the ground at Headingley, so I brought together – and this was at the time that the ECB was developing their South Asian cricket strategy, so one of the things we did was [ehm] bring in a group of South Asian women from up and down the country, and then we had them play the Armed Forces women’s cricket team as a bit of a showpiece game at the ground, and then that just became an annual fixture. So, a couple of years later, [ehm] when Park Avenue was starting to get its revitalisation of the ground was being able to be played on, we hosted a game there. And I didn’t know until a reporter came and actually said to me [ehm], ‘this is the first women’s cricket game to be played at the ground I think maybe after four decades’, so that was quite a historical moment in itself that actually the ground, and, I think he said the last game that was played there was an international [ehm], don’t quote me but he did mention the name of an international player and it’s totally gone out of my head!
But, [ehm] anyway, he said that ‘there is a bit of significance to this game’, obviously yes there’s that whole awareness about raising awareness of women’s cricket and ‘Balling Out’, so the campaign name we gave it was ‘Balling Out Gender Inequality’, but the fact that women’s cricket returned to Park Avenue after, kind of, four decades, I would say off the back of that [ehm], you’ve obviously met them already, but Kirsty and Shiv then developed Bradford Park Avenue Ladies, [ehm], and there’s a lot more cricket being played at the ground, whether it’s at junior level or senior level, so, y’know, it was quite a nice catalyst to kickstart everything that was going on there.
John Dewhirst
John Helm
John:
As a cricketer playing in the Bradford league, mostly a second teamer for Baildon, one of my dreams was to play at Park Avenue. Because, er, in 1953, I was 11, er, Savile School where I was, my teacher Mr. Jonathan made my day and everybody else’s day by telling us that instead of lessons we were going to go to Park Avenue to watch Yorkshire play Australia. Now, er, as a devotee of cricket I thought this was absolute heaven. The Yorkshire team at the time included Len Hutton, who was my idol, who was the greatest batsman at the time, Fred Trueman, great fast bowler, Australia had a chap called Keith Miller who made 153 that day, Ray Lindwall, who is an incredibly good fast bowler and clean bowled Hutton at the end of the day, so Yorkshire didn’t have a very good day. So that sort of, uh, spawned my interest in cricket at Park Avenue. More about that I’m sure to come. And then the following week to my total astonishment and credulity Bradford Park Avenue football team were playing at home to Accrington Stanley, uh, and they won 4-0, and I was sold on it. My father was a Bradford City fan and he’d taken me to see one game at Bradford. They’d passed me down as a little boy over all the heads of everybody so I got a good view at the front, er, but then I went to Park Avenue and this team, they had a full back called Milburn who got a hattrick and I thought ‘this is just astounding’. And what was really, biggest selling point to me in a way, it was a beautiful stand, the main stand, but it served both cricket and football. So you could go to the cricket, say, and watch Yorkshire play Essex or somebody like that from 11 o’clock in the morning until 10 to 3, then you just had to turn around in the stand and virtually take two or three steps and you were into the football stand, watch the football, Park Avenue from 3 o’clock until quarter to 5 and then go back to the cricket. What sort of day is that for a daydreamer like me, so I’d be there from like 10 in the morning with my bottle of pop and my sandwiches, and I would be leaving at, at, er, 6:30, 7, or something like that. But to me that was just the most idyllic day, so I fell in love with Park Avenue and I’ve been involved ever since. Er, not so much on the cricket side because Park Avenue doesn’t now host any County Championship matches, but I’ve been the Vice President of the football club for, oh I don’t know, twenty, thirty years. And, er, oh my goodness I go through agonies for this, nine months of the year every Saturday is a nightmare, had Park Avenue done today.
It’s not been very good the last couple of years. So, I, I reckon that’s a true love affair. And, uh, I can remember the scorecard, y’know, the, the man, Mr. Arthur Smith who shouted out ‘Yorkshire sports!’ and ‘programmes! programmes!’. And, er, so you got a scorecard, the names as I say were legendary names and it was exciting to me, and at the end of the day you’d queue for their autographs, Freddy Trueman would never sign, [laughter], and then he became a good friend of mine in later life. And, er, it was just the most exotic day out and because I was only 11, um, my mum realised how much I loved it so she used to take me sometimes on a Saturday, and if she wasn’t available somebody else knew how much I wanted to go, and so there’d always be somebody willing to take me along. But that, that was my first memory absolutely. And then my own club, Baildon, where I’d been involved since the age of 8, er, reached the Priestley Cup final and we played Keighley and we made 233 for 7 and bowled them all out for about 105, a chap called Wilf Birkenshaw got a hattrick and I’ve still got the pictures of that by the way. And so we won the Priestley Cup and that is another memory that is just engraved in my brain that’ll never go away. And I’m proud, I’m proud of the fact that y’know, my club has played there, and I got to play there as well, er, and that I’ve been connected with an iconic stadium. It really is iconic.
Kim Robinson
Kim:
When I was much younger, in the late 70s, I found myself working in the
event suite at Park Avenue and when– Being seventeen– sixteen, seventeen– just
remembering all these glamorous people that came into the event suite. Just fancy cars, fancy clothes, lots of merriment for whatever occasion happened, lots of gorgeous food, dancing, and– Yeah, it just was a really– I don’t know what the word is– fancy do? But didn’t really know much about cricket until I started going there and then realised it was Park Avenue and learnt a little bit more about cricket.
Many evenings, many weekends– daytime events, daytime events particularly. On some occasions I used to have to ride a three-wheeler bicycle but it was back to front, it had an ice cream freezer on the front. And just little pictures in my head, I can see myself riding it from the big events suite over to the older pavilion in the middle and delivering ice creams to a- quite old place where everybody was coming in, having a drink, buying ice creams. It was just generally a happy place to be.
And I also remember on one occasion taking plates across and everybody waited for me
to sit down because I did– I was still moving around, carrying plates from one side to the other, and didn’t realise that they were back in play and everybody just went quiet and looked at me and then I suddenly realised it was me and had to sit down with a stack of plates [chuckling] and just felt a little bit awkward.
But behind the scenes we would be in the kitchen, we’d have set the tables up, we had–
My friend and I had learnt silver service. We had to wear the black skirt and top and the very fancy apron, flat shoes and learn how to serve properly and politely and– Everybody– you could hear the murmurs and, y’know, the excitement of– everybody coming together for a big event. And, we’d all be in the back and then it was everybody with their trays and everything sort of– hand backwards over your shoulder, and you’re coming out with the trays and you’d all been allocated tables and– It just seemed like Christmas every time we went out because everybody was happy, everybody was dressed up to the nines, the ladies in these most glamorous outfits. Bearing in mind late 70s, the gentlemen were in velvet jackets with bow ties and I’ve just recently been told that their shirts looked more like a Viennetta with the ruffles either side! [chuckles] So, if you can imagine–every single colour velvet jacket you could imagine and– oh, just beautiful people having a lovely time, fancy cars downstairs. We’d come up, they’d open the doors, we’d go out, we’d serve everything, we’d come back and my friend and I w– because we were the youngest in the group of caterers, we were just looking out at all the lovely people and picking out dresses
we would like to wear.
Kirsty Gavillet
Responder = R
Interviewer = I
Kirsty:
R: Er, I mean, it’s – it’s a pretty iconic ground, isn’t it? It seems like it’s been around
forever. Erm, it’s huge as well (laugh). I mean, I’ve – You get – I mean, every week,
we’ll go out and we’ll play and we’ll have umpires come down specifically just to play
these games because they want to umpire at Park Avenue. Erm, not many people
get to do that. Er, I mean, Sachin Tendulkar’s played at this ground, you know, this is
the type of, erm, history that it’s got and some of the biggest names in cricket have
all played at this ground. So naturally people want to be a part of that and I
understand it. Erm, I think the revamps have helped hugely. Erm, the fact that they’re
trying to make it into an international cricket ground again is – is fantastic. It’s
substantial, it’s great for the local community. Erm, and the fact that they are still
quite driven by the community as well. The building of the domes. I mean, I think
they charge a tenner an hour. That’s what I mean. You don’t get that anywhere else.
Not anywhere in Yorkshire, where the average lane price is £25 an hour.
I: Oh, okay.
R: So to offer that type of facility at that type of price is – is great. And (sigh) I mean,
Park Avenue has got a long and illustrious history for cricket in Yorkshire, erm, and
people want to be a part of that and I get it. We’re very fortunate as a club, you know,
to be able to call this place our home.
Nasa Hussain
Nasa:
Cricket was important to my Dad, being of Pakistani heritage came in 1958 in to this
country, so they clung on to everything they could that was Pakistani and obviously the
cricket was then in them days in the first class game, lots of Pakistani cricketers played – Northants, Glamorgan, Kent – you know, lots of them played so they clung on to that, and plus they always had that empathy with cricket and me and Mum, me I have an older brother by a year so we just played cricket all our lives. So we lived in a, sort of, terraced housing with a back street and by caste we are, we are, erm, carpenters so ‘an my Dad learnt his carpentry back in Pakistan or what have you, so we were very lucky ‘cos everybody played with milk crates but my Dad made these modern, you know these plastic stumps that we have now, my Dad made a wooden set of them for us so we were the posh kids [chuckles] so we would play in the back street and everyone would call us because me Dad had made us a bat and de-de-de so, so we were the posh kids because we had all the equipment and, erm, we played in the streets and now I go, I walk past that street on many occasion because I still live in the same area and I look at it and I think to myself “ you know what, many a happy was, six week holidays we’d play test matches, erm, in that, in that street”, erm, you know, and it was just brilliant. And the number of windows we hit, didn’t break many, thank God, but number of times we got chased out of the street by somebody in the street that, whose door we hit or the window that we hit, we’d run away, like, they didn’t know who it was but everyone knew who it was [laughing] ‘cos it was only us thatwere playing and then my Mum would get a knock on the door and “your lad’s done this ..”
… that’s just, that was that childhood.
Richard Griffiths and Brian Sanderson
Responder = R
Interviewer = I
Richard:
R: My first match was in 1975, I come from Southport an’ am a Hampshire fan as well as Yorkshire, and I came here to see Hampshire, hopefully, go on and win the John play league
in ‘75. An’ for me, as a 15 year old, [it] was awe-inspiring. It was awe-inspiring because it was a double stadium, I hadn’t seen a double stadium. I’ve got to say, coming in to the community was strange. I come from a totally caucasian area in Southport, errr, to come into an area that was beginning to develop into South Asian, multiple diversity and, and everybody warned me about it, and it was superb, everybody was brilliant, y’know, and at the end of the day, went down Cashmere with some of the lads from down from up here, went down there, walked us back up to car, off we drove, “See you again, Lads” and it was, it was fantastic.
I: Yeah.
R: And, and I live now [a] mile away from here, and have done since 1990. And I love, I love everyone, I love it.
Shivanie Patel
Tim Clapham
Tim:
In 1980, when I went over, when the club was being-[ehm]-the ground was being
demolished, and [ehm] I kept- I thought I’d just pop along and take a few photos, but [ehm] it sort of drew me in and I couldn’t stop going and I went sort of nearly every other day, or every day for two or three weeks. So I saw the ground virtually go from standing there down to just the half-time scoreboard, was the only thing left standing at the end, which was rather a sad thing to see.
But, really, the grounds [ehm] the council shouldn’t have let the ground fall into disrepair like that, to the stage where it was getting dangerous because people were breaking in and lighting fires, y’know, just playing around and, of course, the stand was all wooden, y’know, nowadays they would’ve had to done a lot to it to make it safe, so they had no choice the council but to pull it down and it was really a chance lost really, because once that ground went, the next thing the pavilion at the cricket was pulled down and what could’ve been a super stadium was lying completely in ruins. It was very sad. Some my way had, sort of, been coming for ten years and having plenty of enjoyment and next minute it’s just falling to bits, weeds everywhere, it was very sad but I felt I had to do something about it and record, even though it was not a very nice thing to have to do, y’know, so, I took about a couple-a-hundred photos.
Tim:
I remember being to a football match, which was probably to a local amateur ground which, compared to Park Avenue, was very basic. So, [uh], I was rather in awe of it, really, ‘cos, yknow, very big, big stadium. But, the only [searches for words], the crowds weren’t that particularly high, probably be between five or six, seven thousand or so, and the biggest crowd [um] I ever was amongst was when they played Fulham in 1967 in the FA Cup, I mean there’s fourteen thousand there, and th-th-the stand was completely full it was the only time I have ever seen the stand completely full and that was something of an experience.
Tim:
He said he couldn’t really, sort of, enjoy it all that much ‘cos he was too busy making sure the kids were behaving themselves, y’know, I think [ehm], in fact, if I remember rightly I think there was probably a couple’a hundred children there, and there was only about three, or maybe four, teachers to supervise them. And, of course, children–they had to be there fairly early, of course, and [ehm] keeping them, y’know’ intereste-k-keeping them behaved and everything it was a bit of a job-on. So, I think, when he got home he was tired out and I think he said “thank goodness I don’t have to do that again” (laughs). Though he did [ehm], it was the only time he’s actually
seen the Queen, y’know, in the flesh I would say, yeah.
Yaseen Mohammed
Yaseen:
First memories were going to Park Avenue probably in the mid-to-late eighties, just really watching cricket. So, for me, back then, y’know, I was somebody who was probably-how old was I then?-y’know, whatever, thirteen or fourteen years old around that time. Y’know it was just an amazing ground, because, y’know, physically, space-wise it’s-it’s-it’s a big ground and, obviously, back then, y’know, we still had quite a lot of the seating around the kinda stands [ehm], and it was also, y’know, watching some really good quality cricket. Y’know, Bradford has always, Bradford’s famous for having high-standard cricket in the Bradford League so, y’know, watching the kind of matches there, y’know, it was of high standard and it was also at an iconic stadium, y’know, so real fond memories actually, y’know, thinking back to when I first went there in the eighties. And then when I first went back, obviously I saw the initial project that was done in terms of the outdoor nets, but then I remember walking around the rest of the ground and it was actually–it was quite a sad thing to see that, y’know, the ground was really dilapidated [ehm], and it was almost, y’know, we’ve got this amazing facility in Bradford and for whatever reason or many reasons, y’know, it had just been forgotten about. But the encouraging thing was there was obviously a plan to do something about it, y’know, the renaissance and the regeneration that I’m referring to, and the fact that the initial phase had started and, y’know, these eight lanes of cricket nets had been built and there was an opportunity to kinda get people back there, so there was some hope really, I suppose.
So, in terms of what we’ve got now, so fast forward where we are now in 2024, things have moved on quite quickly. So, we had the original outdoor nets that I’m talking about, they were very, very well-used. Nassa often reminds me how well they were used even through the pandemic, ‘cos obviously it was one of the things that you could still do in terms of, y’know’, in terms of outdoor sports but, after the first lockdown–after we came out of the first lockdown, and we were able to fully use a facility again, I think in the first week when we re-opened, I think we had almost seven-hundred visitors. So, what that showed was, it showed having a facility like Park Avenue, in the heart of the community was really, really, really valuable. So, last November in 2023, y’know, we opened two amazing cricket domes. So, those two cricket domes have now replaced the eight lanes of outdoor cricket nets.