Summer Sports - Cricket
Edgbaston Foundation Sports Ground - Years gone by at Portland Road
The 29th March 2018 marked fifty years since Mitchells & Butlers Grounds Superintendent George T Gurley retired after over thirty years with the company. Much has changed since those times when, as part of his position, George and his family also occupied a house on the sports ground which is now under private ownership.
The sports ground was officially opened in August 1930 by Sir William Waters Butler.
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) are synonymous with a number of charities in the West Midlands, most notably the Sir William Waters Butler Welfare Fund, which assists pupils resident in Birmingham and Smethwick to attend schools, Universities and other places of higher education, and secondly to make grants for the relief of necessitous residents of Birmingham and Smethwick (
www.mbtrusts.co.uk).
106 money and further funding and we could end up with a top quality facility. For me personally my role is varied, never boring and I love the outdoor aspect. It includes some assistance to the head groundsman but, at present, is predominantly a site management position coordinating all use on the ground, developing the bowling clubs and working with the local community. I’m approaching completion of my first amenity based qualification ‐ a Level 2 City & Guilds Extended Certificate in Sports & Amenity Turf Maintenance. I think the academic side is good timing for me as the industry starts to rely more on its cultural methods and preventative maintenance. Everything has come full circle since 1999 when my work experience aged fourteen was spent on the Edgbaston groundstaff. Those two weeks included the test match against New Zealand and my heart was set on following that career path. I wrote to the club aged sixteen in the hope of a job opportunity, but to no avail. My father was a groundsman at Aston Villa Football Club between 1977 and 1983 and has now been in the amenity sector some forty years, but at the time he insisted he was lucky and advised me to follow a different path. Now, here I am nineteen years later working for another one of the Midlands top sporting outfits in Warwickshire County Cricket Club in what could turn out to be one of their exciting periods. Maybe, just maybe, fate has dealt me the same lucky hand.
He was responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of all of the sports grounds and gardens attached to M&B. In 1955, this included four cricket grounds, two full sized football pitches, twelve tennis courts, 140 bowling greens along with a nursery which grew flowers and 70,000 bedding plants for the company’s public houses.
Timeline - A rich history at Portland Road
• 1911 ‐ Mitchells & Butlers purchase the land as Cape Hill Brewery expands to ninety acres
• 1930 ‐ Official opening of the M&B Portland Road Sports Ground by Sir William Waters Butler
• 1931 ‐ Hosts its first 1st class cricket fixture: Warwickshire CCC v Kent CCC
• 1940‐1945 ‐ The ground is requisitioned by the government during World War 2. Sporting activities revert to the oval cricket ground known as Kelvin Drive within the brewery
• 1954 – M&B CC win the Birmingham & District Cricket League for the 10th and final time
• 1955 ‐ Addition of a pitch and putt golf facility on the top tier of the ground
• 1959 ‐ Former M&B player Jack Bannister takes 10‐41 for Warwickshire, to this day the club’s record first class bowling figures
• 1961 ‐ Last time a first class cricket fixture took place: Warwickshire CCC v Cambridge University
• 1973 ‐ Squash courts are added
In years gone by the sports grounds car park was lined with rose gardens
The grounds historic sporting use is still evident if you look closely enough. The tennis court line markings are still visible if photographed from above – probably as a result of the now banned paint formulations. The floodlit third bowling green has been out of use since 1996 but is still cut once a week in the season at 15mm and provides a recreation area. Half of the top tier is currently undeveloped, but its former uses include a boxing club, squash courts, gymnasium and a grassed pitch and putt facility.
• 1983 ‐ A 17‐year old Graeme Hick makes his debut in this country playing for Zimbabwe
• 1990 ‐ M&B CC 2nd XI win the Birmingham & District Cricket League for the 22nd and final time
• 1994 ‐ M&B CC resign from the league and the cricket square is replaced with a full size football pitch
• 1996 ‐ Final year for the floodlit bowling green which is replaced by a children’s play area
• 2002 ‐ Cape Hill Brewery ceases operations, the sports club survives as ‘Portland Pavilion’
• 2013 ‐ Planning permission is passed for Warwickshire County Cricket Club to develop the facility into a cricket ground whilst retaining bowls and junior football facilities
• 2015 ‐ Ian Bell MBE officially opens the Edgbaston Foundation Sports Ground
• 2016 ‐ Warwickshire CCC 2nd XI play at the ground for the first time since 1977
PC APRIL/MAY 2018 I 109
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164
