In Concord Park near the Bowling greens to the left hand side of the pavilion in the 1950's was a giant size draught board..For tuppence you could go into the pavillion and come out carrying a wooden crate containing the draughts, and two long poles with metal hooks on the end, these were to lift and shuffle the draughts about.
The draughts were quite heavy made of hard wood about ten inches diameter and three inch thick.
Many summer evenings were spent there with my mates just playing draughts...Can anyone else remember it, or is it still there?.

I seem to remember one of those on the Bole Hills at Crookes back in the early sixties.

Yes, I definatly remember these Ken, just next door to the bowling greens, sadly, like so much from our day, long gone.

It was still there in the late 70's but around that time the original pavilion caught fire and was destroyed.

The resulting bulldozing and landscape work removed the draught board.

The pavilion that's there now was built in the early 80's but is not on the same piece of ground.

It burnt down when the fire service were on strike. Green Goddess appliances attended the blaze.

yes i remember the draughts board.
and the swings use to be right at the bottom near the road then.
and you could always get an icecream from was it mrs lids or someone before her.
she use to sell something else to kids too.

That sounds like it was alot of fun noting like that around now i dont think. How heavy was it when you got a king?

There was one in Western park as well.

Originally posted by pitsmoor
That sounds like it was alot of fun noting like that around now i dont think. How heavy was it when you got a king? thats a chess piece Pitsmoor, draughts are all the same weight.
Mind you ,not knowing anything about the draughts board in Concord Pk they may have hired chess pieces out to as they play on the same board.

You have Kings in draughts as well - a piece that reaches the far side of the board becomes a King (2 'men', one on top of the other) and then can make 'backward' moves.

Hugh W (a chess player)

Pretty sure there was one of these in Millhouses park too.

Originally posted by HughW
You have Kings in draughts as well - a piece that reaches the far side of the board becomes a King (2 'men', one on top of the other) and then can make 'backward' moves.

Hugh W (a chess player) I see, not being a draughts player I did'nt know there was a king, though to what you describe is two 10" draught peices on top of one another which would mean not having to carry a king until its earned by getting across the board.:confused:

There was a large draught board in Abbeyfield Park in the 1950,s beside the bowling hut now long since been gone, like the lake at the bottom of the park where the swings are now

Pretty sure there was one of these in Millhouses park too.
Yes there was,by the pond. My mother loved playing but she wasn't very good like most mothers around that time 30s and 40s she spent most of her time either having kids or struggling to bring them up. She would challenge us to a game and we would deliberately shove our men in a position where she could take two or three at a time. She was no fool,far fom it,but we loved to hear her tell the rest of the family her prowess at draughts.

There was one in High Hazels too

And goig back even further there was one in a park at Darnall (can’t remember it’s name) way back in the late 1920s and early 30s

I remember the one in High Hazels park in the 40s.I think it was near the tennis courts, but could be wrong regarding the position.

That sounds like it was alot of fun noting like that around now i dont think. How heavy was it when you got a king? From what I remember there were a few King pieces in the set, these were about 4 inch high, but you could double the normal draughts as well as there was a recess in the base that fitted over the metal handle of the bottom piece...they were quite heavy but you could always slide them around on the board.

I remember the one in concord park very well, shame its now gone..