I spend a considerable amount of time posting pictures from my rather extensive collection on a Facebook site called 'Cricket Grounds of Britain'. I have recently posted three groups of club grounds in Derbyshire which I have visited over the years. There are over eight thousand members of this site and it really is fascinating to see some of the pictures they come up with of obscure grounds all over the country.
One of the benefits of publishing a large number of pictures is the response I get from other members, who often remember incidents that happened to them at particular grounds in their playing days from long ago. Others take objection to not having their own club grounds included and often post pictures themselves to put the record straight. For instance this week a gentleman from Buxton complained that I had not included a picture of the very attractive Buxton cricket ground. I had to explain to him that although I did see cricket there in the early 1970s, I did not have a camera with me and therefore have no pictures.
I was delighted to receive three aerial pictures of Buxton, taken by a drone, which obviously far exceed anything I could have produced. Another gentleman complained that I had not included the best ground in Derbyshire and sent me a picture without telling me where it was. It took me some time to work it out but eventually decided it was an up to date picture of Shipley Hall cricket club. It is much changed since I visited on the occasion of the club's centenary in 1999, but there are still small similarities with the pavilion. Fortunately I could inform him that two pictures appear today in my final instalment of Derbyshire pictures.
Possibly the best comment came from a gentleman from the north west of the county who thinks that I am missing out by not visiting several of the clubs in that part of the world. He waxes lyrical, saying that they are beautiful, idiosyncratic and all very different. He has promised to send me pictures to encourage me further, as if that was needed!
Most of the comments are complimentary and I enjoy sharing my pictures and travels from the past with a whole new world of fellow cricket ground enthusiasts.
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