Club prove no Muggs with bargain buy of their home ground

WITHIN the next few weeks, the players of Mugginton Cricket Club will realise a dream when they complete the purchase of their long-standing home ground at Park Farm, Mugginton Lane End.

The club will mark the event next month with a weekend of celebrations and, somewhere along the line, reflect on the extraordinary series of events which has led to them being able to buy the ground for the undoubted bargain price of £12,500.

The tale involves the captain of the only Derbyshire side to win the County Championship, in 1936, the remains of a medieval hunting lodge, an Oxford college and a thwarted desire to extract gravel from under the cricket field.

Mugginton are an unusual cricket club in the modern-day game, even without all of this.

Founded on a wave of post-war enthusiasm by local farmers in 1946, they are, today, one of the few village clubs holding their own in the Derbyshire County Cricket League, with only one team and without an extensive youth set-up.

They have forged links with their larger neighbour, Duffield CC, whose third team use the Park Farm ground, and with Derby Ladies, who also use it.

More than anything, they attract players who want to enjoy their cricket and, indeed, want to win but can do without the politics and pressures that come with playing for larger clubs.

And, when those players decided to look into the possibility of purchasing the ground a while ago, they were presented with a series of obstacles.

For many years, the club's landlords were the Richardson family, whose most famous son, Arthur, led the county to their only Championship. In retirement, he spent a lot of time at Mugginton and could often be found mowing the outfield.

He promised to “see them right” but had not managed to put this vow into any kind of legal documentation before his death in 1983.

The Richardson estate was subsequently sold to Wadham College, Oxford, who had plans to make money from the area.

“Although they've been a good landlord in many ways – never increasing our rent – their one real interest was mining,” said Mugginton treasurer Keith Redfern.

“They wanted to strip mine in the whole area and get gravel out but, when they did some boring at the cricket ground, they found only clay under it. I have to say, we were delighted!”

Things got better for the cricket club, and the villagers of Mugginton, when the extent of the area's history was revealed. It had always been known that the land around the area had been used as royal hunting grounds from around the 13th century.

But the discovery of the buried remains of a medieval hunting lodge, some way to the west of the cricket ground, changed the story.

“That's what the villagers of Mugginton used to block the gravel plans,” said Mugginton secretary David Heath.

“They also found that Park Farm, down the track from our ground, is a listed building, so they'd always have had to maintain an access to it.”

In 2006, the local council turned down the gravel proposals on historical grounds. It meant the only possible remaining use for the land – the cricket ground apart – was agricultural, reducing its value substantially, hence the bargain price.

“It had not been that long since Wadham College had suggested they wouldn't sell us the ground under any circumstances,” said Heath.

“Now they're selling off parcels of land all around the area, including ours, and we're nearly there.

“Financially, we're about three-quarters of the way there. All the searches have been done, the solicitors on both sides have agreed and, once everything gets signed, it'll be job done.”

Finding the remaining money will not be a problem, says Redfern.

“At the last count, we'd reached £10,000,” he said.

“Apart from the £12,500 for the ground, we have solicitors' fees, we want to extend the pavilion and buy some new mowers, so we're after about £16,000.

“But we've formed ourselves into a Community Aided Sports Club, which will guarantee the future use of the ground for sport and it means anyone who donates can get tax relief.

When the celebratory weekend goes ahead on the first weekend in July, the ground will be renamed the Sam Heath Sports Ground – a tribute to David Heath's father, who was both player and groundsman for more than 50 years and who died earlier this year.

“The club owes a great deal to Sam and I'm sure he would have been very happy to know that the ground would finally be owned by the club,” said club chairman Alan Ecclestone.