I hope I've remembered the details correctly about the following news item ; if not , apologies !
I read a few days ago that the cricket pavilion in Millhouses Park had burned down . It was a much-loved place and had stood in the same spot for about 50 years .
The people in charge of the day-to-day running of the place said that for some time previous to the fire , some " people " had often built fires near the back of the pavilion , so close in fact , that the cricket people had built a sort of barrier to try to prevent any possible accidents . However , a fire did indeed start and there were hints that it COULD have been arson or gross negligence on the part of the fire makers .
One or two strange aspects about this story spring to mind :-
Did the cricketers report the potential danger to the police and/or fire brigade ?
Is it indeed legal , in any shape or form to build fires in a public park ?
Did the police know that " people " were regularly lighting fires in the park ?
I might be wrong but usually when a group of people light a fire , they stand round it for a bit and chat . The fires must have been blazing away for a good bit of time . Did any locals mention this to the police ? Did the police investigate , if indeed they knew about the fires ?
I mean if people were lighting fires for a fair period of time near your property [ and they weren't properly supervised fires ] would you be very shocked to find that one day your property had been damaged . [ " Doh ! What a surprise ! Fire spreads dunnit ? ].
Finally , has there been any follow on to the incident ; after all it could have been a much worse result ?

The pavilion was severely damaged by a fire, at the rear, 2 weekends ago. Due to internal and structural damage, the Council (apparently) are going to pull it down and have no plans to replace it. It has left Millhouses Cricket Club in a predicament over its future.

There used to be a police staion on the edge of Millhouses park near the cricket field.

There used to be a police staion on the edge of Millhouses park near the cricket field.


but it burned down:hihi:

It's a fancy restaurant now.

There used to be a police staion on the edge of Millhouses park near the cricket field.
This was many years ago, it was that large building next to the steps down to the park by the train bridge. It was then a council building and now is an over priced restaurant.

There are plenty of black and white photos of it as a Police station, but they are very old and I don't think it was ever one in my life time (27 years, mostly spent around that area).

I think it was there at a similar time to train station there.

Yes Lalaland,
the millhouses police station was disused because they moved them to the woodseats police station. I think it was in the 1930s, certainly many decades ago.

Excellent, now we've got that cleared up I can start thinking about the relevance of it to this thread about the cricket pavillion burning down :D

To be honest I wasn't aware that Millhouses cricket club still played, I use that park a lot for my dog and hardly see them out there. It's normally a marked out white line and a rope around the cricket pitch. I think I've seen them play twice in a year (unless I just miss them each time).

It's a sad thing though that someone's damaged something that was in use by others though. What kind of idiot has a fire by a mainly wood building?

It's a sad thing though that someone's damaged something that was in use by others though. What kind of idiot has a fire by a mainly wood building?

An arsonist? :loopy: :evil:

There used to be a police staion on the edge of Millhouses park near the cricket field.



can anyone remember the old police box , that used to stand a few feet away from the carpet shop?

I’d have thought that knowing of fires near their club-house the Cricket Club would have thought to insure the building. If they did, no problem.

And if it belonged to the council, it wasn't the cricket club's to insure :confused:

Don't the council have insurance cover on their buildings?

Don't the council have insurance cover on their buildings?

Actually not always.
My mate works for another council and they don't insure small buildings and council houses because they own so many they have alternative houses and it doesn't make sense to waste £millions of council tax payer's money on insurance.

It is called self insuring, as they can easily rebuild or replace most structures if they want to.

So it sounds like the council has the decision to rebuild it or not and in this case may not choose to do so.

I wonder if the club members themselves organised the money to rebuild it if they'd be allowed? Might also be worth writing to the Lottery fund people.

The insurance angle to all this is undoubtadly most fascinating , but the real mysteries still remain :-
a ] Is it illegal to light fires in public parks ?
b ] If it is illegal and if it was a regular occurence , did the people who live round that area see anything and report it to the police ?
c] Did the Millhouses Cricket club people report it to anyone at all ?
d] If the police were aware that fires had been started on a regular basis , did THEY take any action or interest ?
e] Has there been any follow up to this incident ?
The whole incident seems a bit odd to me . A cricket club is aware over a period of time that nearby fires are endangering their premises . The fires can hardly be hidden and in fact were perhaps a semi-public spectacle .
The fires were possiobly [ probably ? ] illegal . No action seems to have been taken by anyone to prevent a possible accident or catastrophe ; most bizarre !
And then .......doh ! ..........a fire !

You can't get any form of funding if you don't own or have a long lease on a property. That scuppers any ideas that the cricket club could start thinking about replacing the pavilion themselves. It is all down to the Council.

And if it belonged to the council, it wasn't the cricket club's to insure :confused:

Over here, if you take the lease of a council-owned property it’s a condition that you not only insure it, you prove you’ve insured it.

You can't get any form of funding if you don't own or have a long lease on a property. That scuppers any ideas that the cricket club could start thinking about replacing the pavilion themselves. It is all down to the Council.

Not sure how long a long lease is, but the cricket club’s been there for at least 65 years. During the war, several county matches were played there. I may be wrong here, but thinking back over the years something tells me that it was one of several ‘home’ grounds for Derbyshire.

I saw Derbyshire v Yorkshire there, mid-war period.

I came past this building today and as I'm often in the park thought I'd be a bit inquisitive. The doors are definitely boarded up but the building looks otherwise intact. Obviously I couldn't see the interior but would of thought that if the fire was that severe it would of at least blistered the paint on the wooden walls. The cricket club have been there most saturdays for the last couple of months and I have to make sure my dog doesn't take too much interest in the ball as it flies into the river all to frequently. The patch of grass directly behind the building is a secluded area for sunbathing [weather permitting] and a good place to find suitable sticks to throw for the dog and I've never noticed any fire activity and it's not fenced off in the least. There are a couple of round burn marks in the grass now but if they were the remnents of fires rather than being burning material chucked out of the building [which I suspect] they hadn't damaged the rear wall at all. The fire damage is all internal and so some-one must of forced the back door or the front or managed to get something through a window to start the fire. [Sherlock Holmes eat your heart out]

Not sure how long a long lease is, but the cricket club’s been there for at least 65 years. During the war, several county matches were played there. I may be wrong here, but thinking back over the years something tells me that it was one of several ‘home’ grounds for Derbyshire.

I saw Derbyshire v Yorkshire there, mid-war period.

You must be joking if you say that county matches were played there! There was a cricket week, during and just after the war, when international players occasionally appeared. I think you are getting mixed up with Abbeydale Park where Derbyshire certainly did play home matches as, at that time, the ground was actually inside the Derbyshire boundary.

You must be joking if you say that county matches were played there! There was a cricket week, during and just after the war, when international players occasionally appeared. I think you are getting mixed up with Abbeydale Park where Derbyshire certainly did play home matches as, at that time, the ground was actually inside the Derbyshire boundary.

Thanks farmer. Yes, I got my grounds mixed up and it was Abbeydale Park! I might be equally mixed up on this one, but didn’t Millhouses Park host a few five-a-side football matches in which professionals from some of the League sides — who were at that time serving their country — played for the entertainment of the public?

I can't answer that one Peter. It was obviously before my time but, having played "knock about" football and cricket in the park on a very regular basis during both my late primary and all my secondary education period, I can remember it being very uneven and prone to getting boggy in places. I would have been surprised if the park was suitable for what you are suggesting.

They played on the nearest green area to the road and drew quite large crowds.

They played on the nearest green area to the road and drew quite large crowds.
Millhouses park runs alongside the road from the cricket ground at the Archer Road end to the other end at Beauchief. There is no part nearer the road. Are you sure you are thinking of the same park?