The changing face of the club

DID YOU KNOW? – part two.

More historical extracts from the club’s 180-year history, from the 1950s to the current decade:

In the 1950s, a major annual contest was held at the club against Manchester United, attracting large crowds, but this was discontinued after the Munich Air Disaster.

New seating for 300 spectators was installed in 1962. Cricket practice facilities were also improved the same year when a concrete wicket was laid between the bowling green and the old football pitch, where houses now stand.

The cricket section suffered from a lack of players during the 1960s. From 1963, third team games ceased and senior membership fell by half to about 30, and similarly, junior membership was halved to 15.

In 1978, the players’ ranks had been replenished sufficient enough for the 3rd XI to go back competing in league cricket.

A major club redevelopment plan was devised in 1988 to sell the football pitch land, and use the funds to finance a new brick-built pavilion.
This came to fruition in 1991 when the new clubhouse was completed and formally opened by West Indies legend Clive Lloyd, saying goodbye to the wooden pavilion and tea hut, and the outside male toilet was finally flushed away!

2011 marked a series of further improvements: 3 new floodlit tennis courts; newly-built changing rooms re-located to their former site, and a refurbished clubhouse which included a new members’ lounge, and this was further extended a few years later.

Since 2016, the cricket ground has undergone major improvement work with new drainage installed and the outfield levelled, so the “Prestwich Alps” are no more. In 2019, self-contained off-field nets were also constructed to boost practice facilities.