Were a well versed alien
to park his ship and take a wonder around the quaint village of Edwinstowe,
it wouldn't take them long to work out which part of the world they'd
landed in. Maid Marion Drive, Robin Hood Corner, Oak Tree Avenue & Sherwood
Avenue kind of give the game away. Welcome to the home village of Thoresby
Colliery Welfare Football Club, in the heart of Robin Hood Country.
Thoresby Colliery Welfare
Football Club was formed in 1930, initially playing on a farmers field in
Edwinstowe. Around the time of the
Second World War, the
Bolsover Coal Company, owners of the
nearby Thoresby Colliery, created the Thoresby
Colliery Welfare Sports Ground as
a centre for recreation for the colliery workers.
The 1950�s saw success
at minor level, capturing the Nottinghamshire Junior Cup, despite being
drawn away from home in every round. Major success at a senior level did
not arrive until the late 1970's in the form of the Notts Alliance Senior
League Cup. In the 1980/81 season Welfare became the nearly men, finishing
runners up in the Notts Alliance Senior League by a single point, and
losing the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Final to Rainworth by a solitary penalty.
The following season, several of Thoresby's squad left to join Rainworth,
and become the envy of their former team mates by going on to play in
an FA Vase Final at Wembley. This is not the only notable
achievements for ex-Thoresby players. Over the years several have
moved in to the professional game. One such player left Thoresby to join
Queens Park Rangers and, as compensation, QPR provided the Club with a
Blue & White playing strip, which remain as the team colours to this
day.
Following relegation from
Notts Alliance Senior Division, and a general downturn in the Club's
fortunes, the Club's management committee decided that it was time for the
club to try and move forward with a move onto the football ladder into the
Central Midlands Football League, where they remain to this day.
The Thoresby Colliery
Sports Ground is the shared with Thoresby Colliery Cricket Club. Located
at the opposite end of Fourth Avenue to the main Welfare building, the
entrance to the Sports Ground is through an un-gated entrance and into an
asphalt surfaced car park , which can accommodate approximately 50
vehicles. Access to the Pavilion and the playing surfaces is through a
gate to the right of the Pavilion.
Many of the facilities on
the Sports Ground are fairly basic, remaining largely unchanged since the
Club moved in.
There is, however, plenty to admire. Extending to over five acres, the Sports Ground is generally rectangular,
and is bounded on the east side by the St Edwin's Junior School playing
field, which is separated from the Sports Ground by a wrought iron fence
which extends the full length of the boundary.
Half of the the northern
boundary is now part of a housing development by Barratt Homes, and
will be fully fenced as part of future development. The other half will
become a recreational area, affording a skate park for young
people. There is also a bank on this side of the Ground, with two heavy
duty rollers parked on the land at its base. The Club have also commenced
work on a further hard standing area behind the north end goal. The western boundary adjoins part of the old school playing
fields. Until the autumn of 2004, the Rufford School occupied the land.
The southern boundary is
currently open to the Parish playing fields. At one time, there was a
fence which ran the full length of this boundary, but this is long gone,
although parts of it are still visible.
The fine Pavilion,
Equipment Store/Garage and Tea Room are the major structures on the
Ground, and there is also a small prefabricated building which provides
changing accommodation for the clubs youth team.
The Pavilion itself has changing accommodation for two teams. Both
dressing rooms are identical and quite spacious. Each is equipped with
washbasin, toilet and showers. There is a separate changing room for match
officials, which also has toilet, washbasin and shower. In addition, there
is a toilet for use by spectators which adjoins the side of the building.
There is also has a small bar and
refreshment area in the centre of the building, which provides hot and
cold beverages as well as snacks, prior to, and during matches. Drinks of
both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic variety after the game. There is also
a television and radio for those in need to obtain the latest scores from
the BBC & ITV. At a push, the Pavilion bar will accommodate
around 40 people.
The Tea Room is a modular building, and is used by Thoresby Cricket Club
to provide �Tea� and it also houses the scorers for their matches.
The Car Park is also
currently the temporary home of a number of portercabins, which provides
changing facilities for teams using the Parish playing fields, although it
is anticipated that these will be moved elsewhere at the end of the
2004/2005 season.
The playing surfaces are
maintained by a part time Groundsman. The Cricket square is set in front
of the Pavilion, and the football pitch is beyond that. In the traditional
way, the outfield of the cricket pitch overlaps onto the football pitch
(about 20 yards or so) which means that extra care is taken in maintaining
this particular area of the football pitch to provide the best surface
possible for the cricketers. Generally, the playing area slopes from the
north boundary down to the south boundary. The slope is more pronounced
the nearer the football pitch you move, but this makes for excellent
drainage, and, coupled with the sandy subsoil, it means that there is
seldom a problem with waterlogging.
The football pitch is
completely surrounded by a blue and white painted steel hand rail that is
made from 3� heavy-duty pipes obtained many years ago from the nearby
Thoresby Colliery. When the football season ends, the parts of the barrier
that occupy the cricket field are dismantled and stored away until the
football resumes, when they are then re-erected and re-painted. On the far
touchline to the cricket square is located a covered stand, capable of
holding at least 100 spectators on a hard standing surface. This
Stand runs along the majority of the pitch and houses a large sign
proclaiming the Club's name.
The Stand is very much a tribute to the ingenuity of the mining
community, the supporting steelwork are salvaged �arches�, which are
used underground for supporting the rock in the tunnels, while the
covering of corrugated galvanised sheets, are �tins� which are also
used underground in conjunction with the arches to prevent loose rock
falling through the skeletal archway construction. The back of the stand
is brickwork, while there are two small rooms built into each end of the
stand, although these are currently unused and secured. Unfortunately, the Stand itself, while adequate, is in need of some attention. The
brickwork is cracked, and the �tins� that cover one of the unused
rooms are missing in part, plus they leak in places. The hard standing
extends the full length of the touchline on the Stand side. The remaining
three sides are unpaved, largely due to the cricket requirements.
Each side of the stand
are two contrasting dug outs for the home and visiting teams. In
2005, a large, modern, corrugated structure, with hard standing and wind
shields to each side, was built for the home team. The away team's, on the
other hand, have yet to be upgraded. They are housed in a blue wooden
'box' with barely room to swing a cat. The Club have clearly marked this
as the 'away' dug out, just in case any visiting Club officials head for
it's more illustrious neighbor.
The pitch is large (112
yards x 76 yards) with a good, flat playing surface, which is maintained
weekly. Originally, the half way line of the pitch was level with the very
center of the symmetrical stand, but the pitch has been moved down the
slope to provide an area behind the top goal which is used for training.
This training area also has three 30ft floodlight stanchions (again,
manufactured by materials salvaged from the local colliery) that provide
some limited illumination to this area, though these are no where near up
to CML standards.
A row of mature trees,
approaching 40 feet high, extending down the side of the football pitch to
the southern boundary, and then continuing along the full width of the
pitch. When the Sports Ground was constructed, the ground sloped so
severely at the football pitch end, that the ground has been excavated to
reduce the severity of the slope. The consequence of this is that there is
a ten-foot high bank behind the �top� goal, and this, together with
the mature trees, provides a sense of �enclosure� of the football
pitch on three sides. With this being Robin Hood Country, you'd perhaps
expect no less.
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