Recreation Ground refurbishment
A major refurbishment is taking place at Bollington Recreation Ground in January and February 2008 and to celebrate this an English oak tree is to be planted on February 12th 2008 at 10 a.m.
This is to commemorate the Cheshire Year of Gardens '08'
, which is complementary to the Capital of Culture year in Liverpool.
The tree, donated by the Cheshire Landscape Trust as part of their contribution to the event, is one of only 12 such trees to be planted in the whole of Cheshire, so it is a great honour for Bollington to be chosen for such a prize.
Officiating at the planting will be the Mayor of Macclesfield, Cllr. Barry Burkhill and the Town Mayor of Bollington, Cllr. Brenda Lingard, and the arrangements will be carried out by Cheshire Landscape Trust and the local Tree Warden, Mr. John Kershaw.
Everybody is invited to this very special event and it is hoped that local councillors and dignitaries will be able to attend.
The Friends of Bollington Rec group will provide refreshments in the form of tea, coffee and biscuits.
John Kershaw
Chairman
Friends of Bollington Rec
“Make trees matter”
For more information, please contact John Kershaw on 01625 560808.
Supplementary information
'Friends of Bollington Rec'
The 'Friends of Bollington Rec' group hold regular meetings. The aim of the group is to provide a link between the local community and the Outdoor Leisure section of Macclesfield Borough Council and to encourage users, resolve issues and raise the profile of the park. The sessions are led by Christine Belfield, MBC Parks Technical Support officer, and Brian Hallworth, Ranger.
A committee has been formed and it is essential that there is proper representation from each of the main user groups - cricket, football, tennis and bowls - as well as those with an interest in seeing improvements and an increased state of care for the Recreation Ground. Call Christine Belfield at Macclesfield Borough Council, 01625−504507, for more details. Further background.
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History of the ground
Bollington's recreation ground was bequeathed to the town a hundred years ago in May 1901 by the mill owner Francis Greg Esq., JP, of Turner Heath (Bollington Cross). The plaque shown left records this generous bequest at the entrance to the ground on Palmerston Street, opposite the Civic Hall. The original plaque deteriorated over the century and was in fact replaced by this replica in the 1990's.
The Cricket Ground which occupies the larger part of the recreation ground was possibly the last Victorian ground to be built and at one time was the home ground for Cheshire county team. Many great amateur and professional players have graced the field - it is in the folk law that one player once hit the ball so hard that it hit the viaduct. Those were the days!
It is known that Ladies Hockey was also played on the ground and athletics meetings were held prior to the second world war. The very active Bollington Bowling Club have their green in one corner together with the tennis courts. The Bollington Bowling Cup was first played for in 1904.
This area has changed dramatically over the past two centuries. The river originally meandered through the middle of the ground, coming through where the canal embankment now is. The ground was very boggy and when the canal was built this gave considerable trouble with the embankment constantly settling and spreading out. The solution to this was to re-route the river to cross Water Street and tunnel through the rock bank on the south side of Palmerston Street, turning back to come above ground again in the 
corner of the recreation ground. The river then rejoined the meandering course across the field. When the football pitch was laid out the river had to be re-located to the edge of the ground and the whole site drained to provide a firm pitch.
Just outside the tunnel exit you will see a small bridge. This is actually an aqueduct built to carry the pre-existing leat which took water from the river somewhere near what is now the War Memorial garden all the way down the village to the water mill which was just downstream of Kay-Metzeler's. The leat was filled in once it became redundant and its course through the recreation ground is now used as a footpath.
During the second world war the football pitch was ploughed up and used for growing corn with peas between the rows - all part of the drive to grow enough food for a nation under siege. This work was carried out by a Mr. Cook who ran a funeral and taxi business based in Adlington Road at the time.
A delightful small wooden bowling pavilion stood until it was most regrettably burnt down by vandals in 1980.
Ned Harrison was the groundsman for many years up to the early 1970's. At that time there was a very successful Sunday morning football team - Bollington Vale. Then came Martin Webb who maintained the pitches to such a high standard that they were possibly the finest amateur pitches in Cheshire and hosted many important cup finals. Ron Biggar, Nev Anchas and Harry Gaskell were also fine groundsmen. Later the maintenance went to Macclesfield Borough Council.
Since about 1988 there has been a decline in the personal care given to the ground by the borough council - ground maintenance is an easy budget to cut. The essential items have been done, such as mowing and restoration of the football pitch at the end of the season, but because no one person has responsibility for the total care it shows a lack of TLC.
Friends of Bollington Rec.
In the 2000s there has been a change of policy, nationally, regarding the upkeep of community facilities such as gardens and recreational areas. Local authority budgets are reduced to the minimum for basic maintenance and additional funds for improvements now have to be found elsewhere. There are in fact many sources of funds for the improvement of community facilities but they are only available to the community and not to the borough or town council. These range from county, regional, central government and European funds to the Lottery and other bodies. Money is really not the problem - community involvement is much more difficult to round up. Grants obtained may well be used to pay the local authority to undertake the intended work.
In order to qualify for these funds it is necessary to establish community involvement and set up a Friends of ... to provide community input, communication and co-ordination with the borough council, and demonstrate that the community is both deciding how it wants the ground to develop and involved in that development in a practical manner.
To achieve this it is important that all the main user groups get involved and ensure they are represented on the Friends committee. Users will also need to appreciate that they can no longer rely on having a playing facility, even one for which they pay a rent, without any effort and involvement on their part. If sportsmen and women want a pitch or a court or whatever playing space they need they will in future have to expect to be involved in the management and running of that facility. Otherwise it will fall into decline and ultimately be lost.
The recent first meeting to establish a Friends group attracted a variety of interested parties but noticeably lacked representation from the footballer, tennis players and bowlers. These groups need to organise themselves - now!
