Village News & Notices

(17 Feb 2007) by Lesley Carr

As Churchill and Blakedown Sports and Recreation Centre prepares for a major fundraising campaign to rebuild its worn out pavilion and facilities, Lesley Brown looks back more than 60 years, to discover how a dedicated group of residents first put Blakedown on the sporting map

On a December evening in 1968, a group of people met in Blakedown's Parish Room. They'd come together to take on a task that seemed like a very good idea, but which was to prove more difficult, time-consuming and downright frustrating than anyone could have imagined!

Their vision was to create sports and recreational facilities for the people of Blakedown and Churchill. Many of the names will be familiar to readers today; John Williams, Richard Bannister, John and Audrey Grazebrook, Winifred Uren, Ewart Hobson and his son Martin, Eileen Wormald, Bernard Reyner and Lew Stock were all present that evening.

A site had already been identified - a five and a half acre field, off the Birmingham Road, behind Blakedown Primary School. It was owned by Birmingham Corporation, which was willing to sell. With a £200 grant promised from the Parish Council, and various fundraising events already in the pipeline, the air that night was full of optimism.

The roots of the project went back even further, to 1946. At that time a scheme was prepared for a sports centre on a seven and a half acre field near Harborough Hall. This was approved by the National Playing Field Association in 1948 but was scuppered when the landowner reneged on his apparent promise to sell the field to the Committee, and instead sold the whole estate to Birmingham Corporation.

It took many years before anyone felt up to the task again, but in 1965 negotiations were opened with Birmingham Corporation and by August of that year they'd offered to sell the field behind the school for use as a sports ground.

In 1968, as the Committee was forming, the field was being farmed by Mr W H Stone. As tenant he would be entitled to 12 months' notice to quit along with compensation, which would have to be paid by the Sports Centre. However, Mr Stone volunteered to vacate by the next Autumn, after he'd harvested his corn crop. So far, so good.

A survey was conducted to find out what sort of facilities people wanted. The top suggestions were tennis, football, cricket and hockey, though an early plan for a swimming pool had to be abandoned because it would have been too expensive. In total, the Committee was budgeting for an initial cost of £4,300 to pay for hard tennis courts, seeding the field for grass and the actual purchase price of the land from Birmingham Corporation. Further funds would be needed later to build a pavilion and install the children's playground.

However, as often proves the case with good ideas, things were moving at a snail's pace. In the Autumn of 1970, Peter Longmore made a written report to the Committee, which makes dispiriting reading. He'd been asked to look into costings for the layout of the field, and the possibility of getting much of the preparatory work done by local labour. He wrote:

'This, I regret, has been a very sad task. Many of those I have approached, especially businessmen, are of the opinion that I and my committee are wasting their time, and indeed public money, on such a venture.'

Eventually after a series of frustrating delays, the purchase of the land was completed on 21st July 1971. It was bought for £1,100, and agricultural compensation of £175 was made to Mr Stone.

Behind the scenes people had been busy preparing lengthy and detailed applications for grant funding, from local authorities, sporting bodies and charities, and even secured a loan from the Lawn Tennis Association.

Six contractors tendered for the works, and a public meeting was called on 14th March 1972 to decide what was to happen next. The meeting accepted the proposals for the development of the Sports Centre, and it was decided to launch a public appeal for £2,000 that was needed on top of the existing funds.

Blakedown Landscapes won the contract and was formally given the go ahead to start work on the first phase in April 1972. They were to construct an access road, car park, and tennis courts, as well as seeding the field and making a cricket table. The second phase, building the pavilion and installing the children's play area, was to be left till a later date.

From the first idea in 1946, till the first real physical work started in 1972, it had been a long hard slog. There must have been many occasions when the people trying to move the project forward must have felt like giving up and walking away from the enormity of the task. But it is to their credit that they stuck with it, and the residents of Churchill and Blakedown owe them a huge debt of gratitude.