Sporting legacy that arose from team move (From The Northern Echo)

Sporting legacy that arose from team move

8:24am Wednesday 18th November 2009

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Today is decision day for Feethams. Controversial plans to build 146 homes are due to be approved, but do they breach the terms and spirit of the old deed which created a sports ground in the centre of Darlington? Chris Lloyd reports.

THE BEGINNINGS

IN 1866, Darlington cricketers rented Feethams field from John Beaumont Pease.

Once Silas Usher, a landscaper from York, had moved the turf from their previous ground in Park Street, other sporting groups held events at Feethams.

The annual athletics meet attracted thousands in the 1870s.

Then came cycling and lawn tennis in 1881. A swimming club held its annual regatta in the Skerne from 1882.

Football arrived in 1883, followed by lacrosse and quoits.

Even donkey derbies were held there.

FIRST BUILDING PLANS

IN 1896, the Peases built South Terrace on Feethams and planned five parallel streets: Abbeyville Terrace, Rose Bank Place, Myrtle Grove, Meadow Street and Daisy Dell, plus River Parade along the Skerne.

To save Feethams, the cricket club was told to find £5,000 (about £500,000 today). It raised a £2,000 mortgage, had £1,000 in the bank, and launched a fund for the rest.

It struggled. On October 9, 1902, the club was told to quit Feethams in six months. With the help of a second mortgage of £700, it succeeded, and on July 9, 1903, The Feethams Cricket Field Trust was formed to own the land.

THE FIRST TRUSTEES

THERE were three: ED Walker, Dr James Lawrence and Charles Hubert Backhouse.

Walker came from Brighton and was the “WH Smith of the north” with railway station news stands.

He was president of the cricket club from 1903 to 1919.

His connections brought WG Grace to Feethams in 1907 and it was said that “when younger he was one of the swiftest round arm bowlers in England”.

Lawrence was an Irish GP and surgeon who was “an expert oarsman” and a leading member of Durham County and Darlington cricket clubs.

He was also a director of Darlington FC.

Backhouse, of Faverdale, was “a thorough country sportsman” who was also involved in cycling and cricket clubs.

The trustees left the daily running of the ground to a management committee.

THE COMMITTEE

IT was made up of four ex-officio members (the past and present mayor, the MP and the town clerk), two subscribers’ members and four appointees from Darlington Cricket and Athletics Club.

The subscribers’ members – initially solicitor Thomas Barron and Arthur Francis Pease, of Hummersknott – safeguarded the interests of those who had donated to the ground purchase fund. Both were leading members of the cricket club.

The committee still has great power to appoint trustees and members. It can let, mortgage or sell Feethams as long as it uses the cash to “promote the playing of cricket and athletic exercises”.

THE PRESENT SET-UP

THE trustees are Brian Johnson, chairman of the cricket club, and Tim Haggie, of solictors Latimer Hinks.

The subscribers’ members are Mr Johnson and Arthur Dean, a past president of the cricket club.

The four cricket club nominees are John Edwardson, Eric Blench, David Charlton and Mr Haggie. The ex-officio members do not often attend, and the post of town clerk has disappeared with local government reorganisation.

THE CONTROVERSY

IT is argued that to be true to the spirit of history, Feethams should be available to all sports as it was in Victorian times.

And what were the intentions of those Edwardian trustees? Were they primarily saving the cricket club or keeping Feethams as an open space for all sports?

What did they mean by “cricket and athletic exercises”?

It is tragic to see any playing field built on, particularly the spiritual home of Darlington FC, whose long-term future in its huge replacement stadium is doubtful. And it is a great dream to create a multi-use sports ground at Feethams.

But cricket has been the driving force, the billpayer and the one constant sport at Feethams since 1866, and Feethams Cricket Field Trust was designed in 1903 with cricket having an in-built majority.

If the decision to develop is passed today, the first trustees would not be questioning the sale, but wanting to know how the proceeds will be spent in promoting “cricket and athletic exercises”.

■ More on the Echo Memories blog at northernecho.co.uk/features

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