Venue

Ground Capacity

Seating

Record Attendance

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Who are ya?

You must have come in a taxi

From M1 Jnc.26 - Take first exit off the sliproad for A610 Nottm. At next roundabout take the 2nd exit for the A6002 Low Wood Road (Bulwell) for 2.1 miles. Turn left onto Hucknall Lane for 0.3 miles, passing Morrisons on your RHS. At mini roundabout, take 2nd exit onto A611 Moor Bridge (Nottm), then follow * above.

From Nottingham - Follow Mansfield Rd, then the A611 Hucknall Road out of the city for 4.5 miles, passing Bulwell Golf Course on your LHS. Get into right hand lane and turn right at traffic lights onto B683 Bestwood Lane. Continue for 0.8 miles before taking the first road on your right, Park Road. Turn first left onto Church Rd and you can use the Bestwood Social Club car park on the LHS, or alternatively street parking. You will then need to walk to the ground, which is behind the Bestwood Workshops on the road directly opposite where you turned into Church Rd. Go through the security barrier, and the ground can be found behind the first workshop on your RHS.

     TrentBarton No.141 (Sutton-in-Ashfield Bus Station  - Nottm Victoria Bus Station via. Mansfield) & Dunn Line No's 170, 171, 172 all pass Park Road.

Hucknall - 3.1 miles. Walk south down Nottingham Rd, then follow directions onto Moor Bridge, then  follow * as in a car.

     Moor Bridge - 1 mile. See * above for directions.

For a map of the location, Click here.

My garden shed is bigger than this

As you pull into Park Road, you can't fail to miss the impressive Bestwood Winding Engine House in the distance, dating back to 1873. Additionally, you can't fail to miss the sign advising you to turn left for the B.M. Sports Ground Car Park, with the baffling advice of 'Pedestrian access only' - in a car park? What you will no doubt miss is the location of the Ground itself. This is actually located on the opposite side of the road to the car park, through a security gate, and tucked away on the right, behind a construction site and old people's home.

Whilst the Club was officially established in 1980, their roots date back much further. Like many sides in the county, local football was created through the local mining community. Bestwood Colliery enjoyed notable success following the end of the Second World War, winning the Notts Senior Cup in 1947, only the third colliery side to do so at that time. They went onto compete admirably in no less than five F.A.Cup qualifying rounds throughout the 1950's. Sadly, in 1967 Bestwood Colliery closed. Not long after, the disbandment of the former Bestwood Colliery side followed.

In a defiant reaction to Bestwood Colliery's disbandment, members of the local community were keen to form a representative side for the village, thus Bestwood Miners Welfare Football Club were born. Throughout the 1980's & 1990's, Welfare made steady progress through the Notts Alliance leagues. In 2004, they took the decision to become a founder member of the Notts Senior League. In their first season they finished as runners up in the Notts Intermediate Cup to Arnold Southbank. However, by July 2007 the club once again folded following a mass defection of its players to new NSL club, Hucknall Rolls Leisure.

Bestwood Workshops was shared with fellow NSL side Notts Police F.C. and also Bestwood Cricket Club. This becomes immediately evident once one has viewed the vast scale of this green oasis. Further evidence of a cricketing influence can be found in the form of the quaint Cricket Pavilion behind the Bestwood Lane End. This modern pavilion, with it's triangular slate tiled roof, has a well-placed row of plastic blue and white seats attached to the front wall to view proceedings. Alternatively, six large windows are available for those not wanting to brave the notoriously changeable British weather. The changing area for players and officials is inside the pavilion along with showers and store rooms.

Having waxed lyrical about the merits of the pavilion, the portercabin at its side could have done with a little attention. This was used for refreshments on match days, and the cricketers during the summer. To the right of this is the club's only stand. This small, unusual structure lies someway back from the football pitch, and is beginning to fall within the grasp of the surrounding foliage. The stand contains within a single row of a dozen or so worn plastic seats at ground level. It is painted white, with its fascia-fronted roof held a loft by two single poles. Despite its small size, there are two entrances to the stand through gateways in the concrete walled entrance.

The pitch is surrounded by temporary white stakes in the Ground. The permanent placement of a pitchside perimeter fence is denied due to a large proportion of the football pitch encroaching onto the cricket field. As a result, the only clear way of identifying the location of the football pitch in the summer months is by locating the two small dugouts positioned beneath the tall leylandii's on the workshop side of the Sports Ground. Both dugouts are small affairs, concrete built, painted mainly white with the nice touch of the roof painted in blue, to reflect the Club's colours. These identical structures look kind of lost amongst their surroundings and, like the club's stand, both are being attacked by the local foliage. Visiting players may want to consider keeping their tracksuit bottoms on during the warmer months to avoid nettle stings.

Future Plans

The Club recognised that some improvements were required to the facilities at the Workshops. However, the Ground is owned by the Miners Welfare, and the Football Club faced a ongoing battle with them to spend some money on ground improvements.

Additional Photography

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