Bardwell village was lacking in sports facilities until 1969 when the present playing field was officially opened. 

The following information has been compiled from paperwork and photographs given to the Management Committee by Mr Matt Dodds; he was the Headmaster of Bardwell School and the Secretary of the BPFA during the early and mid 1960’s. We are grateful to him for keeping all this information and allowing us to discover the past history of the Playing Field.

HOW DID BARDWELL GET A PLAYING FIELD?

In 1965 the School Managers decided that it would be advantageous for the School to have a Playing Field, before going any further they decided to find out if the villagers felt there was a need for something more substantial in the nature of a Village Playground or Playing Field. A Public Meeting was held on Tuesday 6th March 1965, it was considered a great success with over 60 people attending and a committee being formed. By May 1965 this committee had met five times and ‘Circular 1’ was printed, this informed the Village about the progress being made.

Grants were available for 50% of what at the time were ambitious plans to provide a football pitch, tennis court, children’s playground and pavilion with hopefully space to expand and provide other facilities. But there was much fund raising to be done and it was hoped that the village would support a ‘Little Ernie’ scheme.

Circular 2 – October 1965 states  “ We have been fortunate to gain the help of the Rector, the Rev. A D C Fyfe, and the kind co-operation of Mr. Ted Ashford. This has resulted in our obtaining a site for immediate development as a playing field”. This however was only the beginning! It was frustrating and time consuming trying to establish a playing field and took almost five years.

The 3rd Circular, May 1966 implies that the field was originally leased and many villagers not just the Committee were involved in the physical work of turning it into a Playing Field. The Committee were also busy organising fund raising, applying for grants, drawing up a constitution and doing a lot of other administrative work which eventually led to the purchase of the field from the Church of England in Feb 1968 and the Bardwell Playing Field Association becoming a registered charity.

Much of the physical work was completed by villagers; without this volunteer labour force including children it would have been impossible to provide the facilities. Two thirds of the field was prepared and sown in October 1965, by the then Chairman Mr. Jim Russell and his man. Thanks to his generosity the work was done for nothing and Mr S G Halls kindly lent his roller. The buildings behind the school were taken taken down by a band of helpers led by Mr. Kerridge and Nigel Rhodes. These buildings would provide useful hardcore for the car park and sufficient materials for an equipment storage building. Many people including children took a turn at stone picking the field on several occasions.

By the time the 4th Circular was printed in November 1966 the Committee had met seven times and a number of important items had been discussed and dealt with. The Committee placed on record its thanks to all collectors and participants who had made Ernie such a success. £500 had been raised in 13 months this was an amazing sum for the times when wages for the majority of the village were very low. Another attack on the stones had taken place in July 1966 to clear the football pitch. In one evening alone 120 buckets full of stones were picked and a heavy roller worked slowly for 8 hours to improve the uneven surface. Mr J Kerridge reconditioned an old van to be used for various tasks on the Field this was considered a most valuable addition to the equipment. No mini tractors or ride on mowers were available in those days.

FOOTBALL

The School used the field for games for the first time in the Autumn Term.
The first School match was played against Hopton in the Six-a-side League, Bardwell winning 8-1.

BARDWELL UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB was formed during the summer of 1966. The officials were:- Chairman, Mr B Atkins.  Secretary, Mr O Bloomfield.  Treasurer, Mr D Banham. Captain, Mr A Gooch.  Committee, Messrs. F Gould, E Butcher, G Leggett, A Ransome. A sum of nearly £30 from the old football account helped towards initial expenses and Mrs Catchpole provided the tubular metal from which Mr Russell Johnson made the football posts in his spare time. The first official home game was against Bardwell Old Crocks who did well to hold their younger opponents to 0-5.       

The next Circular No 5, July 1967 reported that a Committee of 20 people had been elected at the AGM in April. Negotiations over the lease had broken down and plans were being made to purchase the field. The hard voluntary manual labour continued; S.G Halls made a temporary improvement to the field entrance and harrowed the field. Then helped by Mrs Halls, K Chapman, Mrs J Hurst, Charles Hackman and Andrew Spicer, moved 2,500 old bricks and rubble from the rear of the school to the field.
P Grimwood planned an equipment store with the bricks. (The foundations were so good that they were extremely difficult to remove in 2002 when the children’s play-area was extended!) Stone picking was once again necessary and was undertaken by a group of footballers and others, the field was then rolled again.

The 6th Circular February 1968 starts off with “GREAT NEWS AT LAST”.  A conditional offer of a Government Grant of £3,087 had been received a year after the application had been submitted. Eighteen months previously the total capital costs had been estimated at £6,300 but were known to be nearer £7,000 by this time. It was hoped that a Supplementary County Council Grant could be obtained, leaving at least £2,500 to be raised locally with Ernie Collections and events such as an Autumn Draw and Bingo. Mrs Joyce Ashford received a special prize for selling 85 books of draw tickets for the Autumn Draw. Once again the Ernie Collectors were thanked for their help. Many were young people who ‘retired’ when they went to college.  The field was finally purchased for £750.

During July 1968 the Tennis Court was completed and a meeting called to discuss the organisation and use of the facility. Twenty interested people attended and decisions were made on the rules necessary, the maintenance, the charges and plans for coaching sessions.

Meanwhile the work needed to continue and the Committee asked for volunteers to help with a very long list of jobs for the period Thursday 25th July to Friday 2nd August, each evening and at any time on Saturday and Sunday. That these volunteers turned out to help is shown in Circular No 7, August 1968. This contains an impressive list of jobs achieved by local people as follows. We are all indebted to them for their hard work so if you know any of them please say thank you.

“ Loans.  S.Halls - tractor and trailer. G.W.Goodchild - concrete mixer. R.Webber – tractors and trailers. L.Middleditch – planks for shuttering.

Fencing Lines.  S.G Halls and Mrs A Halls.

Erection of Climbatron.  F Gould, S.G.and Mrs A Halls, J and Mrs J Hurst, J Kerridge, Sharon Halls, Colin and Caroline Hurst, P Grimwood.

Dismantling of Coal Barn and Removal of other Rubble. G Wardley, J Kerrridge, F Gould, W Plummer, A Gooch, K Lambert, R Webber, Martin Johnson, Michael Davey, Andrew and Linda Kerridge, Colin Gould, Roger Sturgeon and Paul Crane.

Digging Out, Concreting and Erection of Giant Stride and Swings. SG Halls and Mrs A Halls, K Lambert, A Gooch, T and P Dorrington, J Kerridge, F Gould, R Webber and considerable and effective ‘doctorings’ of the mixer by R Evans.

Sandpit Excavation. H Ward, K Borley, F Gould, A Gooch.

Pegging & Digging Out Storage Building Footings. Mrs N Kerridge, Mrs E Borley, Mr and Mrs Hackman, G & R Lewis, J Hurst.

Scything Hedge Trimming Grass Cutting  R May, A Johnson, J Banham and A Rae.

Brick Spreading. Miss J Johnson, Miss J Wardley, J Kerridge, Mrs I Gould, Mrs M Lambert, K Lambert, F Gould, Clive and Cherry Lambert, Charles and Peter Hackman, Karen and Colin Gould, Stephen East, Colin Borley, Christopher Rudling, Joan Borley, Linda and Andrew Kerridge, Philip Bray, Peter Bishop, Brian Clarke and Joan Bishop’s cousin Page.

Construction of Concrete Frame for Car Park. K Borley, J Kerridge, K Lambert, A Gooch, R Evans, F Gould, S Halls with Andrew and Linda Kerridge, Sharon Halls and Mrs A Halls as water carriers.”   

The next item in the circular asked for an ‘Army’ of helpers for 2 nights to prepare trenches for paths and water pipes!!!  That these helpers once again turned out is reported in Circular 8 January 1969. Good progress was reported with the erection of the pavilion but help was requested for painting the inside. The walls of the storage building were continuing to rise. The car park was completed thanks to volunteers and a good supply of rubble from Mrs Reynolds and stage 2 of the fencing completed.

The Committee were once again indebted to volunteers who had completed the car park, constructed the path, dug the exploratory water pipe trenches, tarmaced the area around the swings, painted the outside of the pavilion, commenced the erection of the storage building etc. The Committee placed on record, grateful thanks to K Borley, K Lambert, R Hazelwood, K Chapman, F Gould, J Kerridge, A Davey, P Grimwood, S Halls, J Hurst, A Gooch, W Plummer, R Hackman, T Dorrington, R & G Eales-White, Mrs A Halls, Mrs K Grimwood, Mrs I Gould , Mrs M Lambert, Carl Wilby, Philip Bray, Colin Gould, Anthony Ruffles, David Ruffles, Stephen Haygreen, Kevin Grimwood, Sharon Halls and Cherry Lambert for their valuable help which in several instances was given on numerous occasions,       

You will have noticed that the Committee do not mention themselves but of course they organised everything and were usually helping. From year to year the Committee  Officials and members did change but it should be noted that Mr Matt Dodds was the Secretary from the beginning, Mr Brian Sturgeon was the Chairman from 1966 taking over from Mr Jim Russell and Mr H B Laing was the Treasurer from 1966 taking over from Mr S G Ridgeon. As mentioned previously there were 20 people on the Committee all helping to organise the provision of the Playing Field.  
   
As well as organising all the self-help and sorting out the administration, by January 1969 the Committee were also planning GALA OPENING for Saturday 26th July. The photographs show a hot sunny day, after so much planning it must have been a great relief when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The local MP, Eldon Griffiths officially opened the Playing Field and Pavilion at 2.30pm by unveiling a plaque. This oak plaque is still in the Pavilion and was made by Mr Docking who in 1969 was the Woodwork Master at Ixworth Secondary Modern School.

At 3pm there was a men’s 5-a-side hockey match with County and East of England Players and a tennis exhibition match. At 3.35pm the children were encouraged to enjoy themselves in the children’s corner. At 3.40pm there was a boys 6-a-side football match, Bardwell Primary School v Stanton Primary School. At 4pm Bardwell and Hopton Ladies Keep Fit Group gave a display. At 4.10 pm it was the turn of the men in a tug of war contest, The 6 Bells v The Crown. There are photographs of the participants in these activities on the walls of the pavilion. At 4.15 there was a model aircraft flying display by members of Bury St Edmunds ATC Squadron.

After this there was an interval for tea and refreshments, beer had been available throughout the afternoon and there were many sideshows, stalls and competitions helping to raise funds for the Playing Field.

Just over an hour later the Tancred Family of Ipswich entertained the crowd with discus, javelin and hammer throwing. A concrete circle was provided at the back of the playing field for the display of discus throwing. It is still there. Bill Tancred was 26 and had been in the 1968 British Olympic Team in Mexico. He was also the United Kingdom Discus record holder with 187’10’’. Geoffrey Tancred was 23 and had been Great Britain Junior International Hammer Thrower 1966. Best performance 197’ 3’’. The third brother Peter, at 19 years old was Great Britain Senior International 1968. Best Performance 181’ and third in the World Discus Ranking. Adrian Tancred was the father of these amazing athletes, joining in the display at 52 years old and obviously still very fit. He had been selected for the 1948 Olympics. Miss Jackie Johnson of Bardwell - runner up in the ‘Miss Spirit of Suffolk’ Competition drew the tickets for The Grand Draw which took place at 6pm. The children from the village not only helped with the physical labour mentioned in previous articles they raised funds by selling a large number of programmes. The adults sold hundreds of books of draw tickets for prizes that had been donated.         

Although there were no more circulars, ‘Bardwell Post’ (the village magazine at that time) had recently started and published regular reports from the Playing Field. Most noteworthy was that Bardwell made history by being the first recipients of the Silver Trophy awarded to the Suffolk community that had done the most towards providing for sport during the year. They were chosen from 74 entries and it was mentioned at the presentation that with a “population of only 600 Bardwell, had done absolutely wonderfully well”. The cup was presented to Mr Brian Sturgeon on the 7th Nov 1969 at the Suffolk Rural Community Council AGM.
   
IN SUMMARY:

We have a Playing Field in our village because of the enthusiasm and hard work of the villagers over a period of many years.

Volunteers kept the cost down so that a much larger and superior facility could be provided.

The inspiration and organisation came from the Management Committee; these volunteers spent many hours on the necessary administration and also joined many other volunteers in hard physical labour.

The list of jobs that were completed and the numbers that turned out to do them is truly amazing.
 
Once the Playing Field was completed sufficient money and an abundance of enthusiasm was needed to ensure the facilities were maintained and improved when necessary. Many people still living in the Village have been involved over the years and have managed to keep the Playing Field as a useful facility.

If you live in Bardwell please think of being a volunteer this year. The Management Committee cannot do all the necessary work without your help and support. Work Parties are held throughout the year and are advertised in the Bardwell Village News and on the notice boards. If you cannot help physically but can support financially please think about Gift Aid. £10 a year or perhaps £2 a month mean the Playing Field can continue to be well maintained and improved. For further details and contacts see the Bardwell Village News.