St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

OT156

Document

CIC

Swansea Cricket & Football Club

1946-1947

Printed report on history & current status of St Helen's ground, Swansea. 32 pages printed on paper and hand annotated in pencil. Dimensions: w16 1/2" x h24 1/3" (w41.9cm x h61.8cm)

This was the considered report on the St Helen's cricket and rugby ground, produced on behalf of Swansea Cricket & Football Club and presented to the County Borough of Swansea in October 1946. It's aim was firstly: to establish the legal history of the land occupied by the ground and secondly: to clarify what the future held for the famous ground following the end of the Second World War (August 1945). The Cricket & Football Club had of necessity, surrendered its lease on the ground at the start of the war in September 1939. This report endeavoured to persuade the County Borough of Swansea that St Helen's should not be built upon, but remain a sporting ground for the town and improvements made. Substantial detail is gone into arguing the various options for usage and what the loss of the ground would mean to a war ravaged Swansea. The events held during wartime at the ground are described along with the money raised for the war effort by those events. The stark choice is presented as one between building on the land or returning it to the town as a sporting venue. The dire state of Swansea's immediate post-war infrastructure and lack of funds to bring the town out of its damaged state, was the deciding factor in the Borough not agreeing to some of the more forward thinking ideas expressed in this report, though the lease was renewed. It remains however, a fascinating insight into the SC&FC's hopes and fears as Swansea emerged from the Second World War. The efforts of SC&FC Committee men like D. Ivor Saunders are very evident at a distance of time now where their efforts to keep sports at St Helen's during a traumatic period for the town, might otherwise be forgotten. Two detailed maps are appended to the report, showing the potential for the ground as the SC&FC saw it in 1946.

st helen's ground, d ivor saunders, 1946-1947, 1946-47,