MULTI-SPORTS


W


e should always celebrate when grassroots sport takes an upswing. It’s set to do just that in Worcester where an historic, though


long-neglected, cricket ground has been brought back from the brink.


The city is addressing its dearth of cricket provision by enabling a once-proud venue to return to full functionality. The Cinderella Sports Ground had been left for nearly fifteen years to moulder and had begun to revert back to nature. Thick masses of brambles had overtaken the site and trees had sprung up in what had been the cricket square and outfield. The home of Worcestershire County


Cricket Club in the 19th century before the move to New Road, Cinderella ground had seen the great W G Grace play here in 1870, when aged just twenty, before hosting the first Australian touring side in 1878 - surely heritage worthy enough to warrant resurrecting the venue for its original purpose. After the cricket club departed, the site


saw the Cinderella shoe manufacturer set up shop to produce ladies leather shoes and gloves, before Kays Catalogues began operating here.


The sporting function had persisted though, as a sports and social club, which included bowls and tennis for company employees, until the works shut in the early 2000s and a developer acquired the site and erected housing where the factory had stood.


But the council had shielded the sporting area from development and it stayed untended as nature engulfed a ground once renowned for the quality of its cricket playing surfaces.


Then, in September 2013, the council granted planning permission for a makeover, discussing with development partner Heart of Worcestershire College ways to finance the scheme.


Sport England’s £50,000 and Worcester City Council’s £65,000 pump-primed the project, as did cash from the college and that from private developers. The council jointly refurbished the


Fifteen years of neglect, but saved from development PC October/November 2019 73


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