We did'nt play them in 82

We gave em a good game in 90 if you're referring to that one?

Think Andy mason scored two crackers in that game

We don't need lectures on beer from people who's river has a head on it!

Not too sure about that, the Revolution brewery (I think that's it's name) do some magnificent beers.

yes it's revolutions, call him Mark lovely guy who owns it, also has the Wakefield exchange pub in town

South stand was demolished in 79, I heard they were going to build a Tesco there or some rubbish but it never happened.
Dunno who's special project that was, it sounds daft enough to actually be true...lol

The concrete blockwork boundary wall at the rear of where the south stand used to be (now the flats) was allegedly erected by the legendary second-rower Bill Ashurst during his tenure at Trinity. It was affectionately referred to as "The Bill Ashurst Stand" by some fans.

It was taken down and sold to a farmer in Holland ! Who for many years used it to store bales of hay, dont know if its still standing.

That also sounds daft enough to be true..

It was in open rugby magazine many years ago! Think i may have saved the copy as it told the history of our ground.

That’s because it’s not true

.

The stand roof was used to make a ‘Dutch’ barn by a farmer in Pontefract or that’s the story I’ve been told by numerous people.

It was close though in a Chinese whispers kind of way.

I'l have to dig the magazine out now! May take a few days.
Oh and there used to be a cycle track that ran around the pitch but on the terraces.

Never heard it described like that before but a very apt description in the old days. Doesn't happen now but had some good times as kids playing in 6 foot high foam drifts at the front of Allinsons mill.

Yeah remember an article mentioning the cycle track, wasn't the track laid on ash which was contaminated with nic or some such thing, that's what makes BV very difficult to re develop?

I remember walking to work at Rowntrees as it was called back then and foam all over the roads near the bridge.

When I was a kid (before the days of the automatic washing m/c) most housewives did the weekly wash on the same day. They used to say you could tell wash day because all the water from the twin tubs went straight through the drains and into the river which then frothed up going over the weir. No such problems at Wakey due to the complete lack of soap.

I'm sure it still applies, but back in the day the housewives of Cas used to hide their purse under the soap so their husbands wouldn't find it

Quote ="cheshirecat57"I'l have to dig the magazine out now! May take a few days. Oh and there used to be a cycle track that ran around the pitch but on the terraces.'" You're spot on about the cycle track - www.trinityheritage.co.uk/through-the-years/ It's the reason why the terracing in front of the East stand is so sunken as that used to be the sloped track. NB: A farm building with a curved or pitched roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay - kind of fits.

Quote ="cheshirecat57"I'l have to dig the magazine out now! May take a few days. Oh and there used to be a cycle track that ran around the pitch but on the terraces.'" You're spot on about the cycle track - www.trinityheritage.co.uk/through-the-years/ It's the reason why the terracing in front of the East stand is so sunken as that used to be the sloped track. NB: A farm building with a curved or pitched roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay - kind of fits.

Don't know how that happened

Nothing to do the cycle track as such. The whole north terrace is built on a pile of ash and colliery waste. The old south terrace was the same.. This is nothing out of the ordinary as most RL grounds had their terracing built in this way. They then used to step them and grade them with old railway sleepers.

We could have had sleepers on our ground at one time ,but way before I remember. Belle Vue was one of the few grounds that had concrete terracing. If you look at the terracing on the old sections you can see its hollow, and that is because its re cycled sections from a second world war floating dock, or so I'm told.


Last but not least, Yes the old south stand was demolished and sold to a local farmer as a barn.

I go back far enough to remember the old west stand.
And I remember it being pulled down because of the Bradford Fire regulations.

What I can't remember is, when you look at the pictures Vasty linked, it looks like the terracing was at the same height as the pitch. What happened there. Did we lower it? Or is it just a misleading photo?

No, the track was made of wood and built with the terrace as the base hence it is raised. I assume they changed the wood fairly often.

Actually I think the terracing has been slightly raised and not lowered ! certainly has down the east stand side.


I can remember standing in both sides when I was young and there was a fair old drop on the pitch side. Any small children could hardly see above the wall and their heads were about pitch level.

That was a grand old stand (west stand) and what a crowd in that picture, I bet MC wished we could get that lol