Soothill Cricket Club

Rather annoyingly, I must have deleted my Soothill photo, even more so as I could have retaken it this morning. 
An article from the Batley News regarding the old Soothill Cricket ground.

I have a long memory and history with the club, though never playing for them.

My Grandma used to live just around the corner, and I used to go with her on some Saturday nights to whist drives.

I earned an underage beer for my batting in a stand of 90+ with Dave Whitaker, in a friendly against Soothill, I think I scored 23 batting @ no 10 in holding my end while Dave cut loose.

I played against Pakistan International all-rounder ......., facing one ball and stroking it for 3.

Can I claim to be the greatest batsman against Pakistan pace bowling? A strike rate of 18. Beat that James Roy. To be honest he was so fast I never saw it, but played an amazing cover drive, guessing where the ball might have been.

I can find much other information about the club but I'm reasonably sure that the club folded when an official ran off with the clubs funds.

On that sort of thought, I wonder who made a packet over the sale of the grounds?

Hmmmmmmmmm.

New developer for old Soothill cricket ground homes

The former site of Soothill cricket ground.

Published: Thursday 02 July 2015

A property developer has stepped in to restart construction on homes at an old sports ground that were left in limbo.
The future was uncertain for 38 homes at Soothill Cricket Club in Soothill Lane, Batley, when original developer Southdale Limited went into administration.
But social housing firm Yorkshire Housing has now appointed Starfish Construction to complete the development, with work expected to restart this month.
A Yorkshire Housing spokesman said: “We are pleased to have appointed Starfish Construction to complete this development of 38 affordable homes.
“We sought a replacement contractor as soon as Southdale Homes went into administration, as we are keen to minimise delays.
“The homes will be completed to the original high-quality specification.”
The properties will consist of a mixture of two and three-bedroom houses, and two-bedroom flats.
AlixPartners confirmed that they were appointed as administrators for Southdale on April 29 due to severe cash flow problems because of loss-making contracts.
Concerns had been raised earlier by members of Soothill Community Forum, which campaigned to keep the land as a playing field for children before an application to build 34 homes and four apartments was granted in February.
After the future of the development became uncertain residents enlisted the support of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox (Lab) who said her office had been in contact with Yorkshire Housing about the future of the site.
Work was initially meant to be finished by early 2015.

Update
Dummy - They were already filed exactly where they should have been. The team photo is of "The Jesters" @ Soothill. It is of "my era", given I only played a few games for them (See my Jesters page).
My Chauffeur Graham is on there, as is used car salesman 😊😊😊, Barrie, and a couple of others I still recognise, even if it was 40 years ago.