Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:41 pm  

newgroundb4wakey wrote:

:lol: Never heard it described like that before but a very apt description in the old days. Doesn't happen now but had some good times as kids playing in 6 foot high foam drifts at the front of Allinsons mill.

I remember walking to work at Rowntrees as it was called back then and foam all over the roads near the bridge.

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:57 pm  

When I was a kid (before the days of the automatic washing m/c) most housewives did the weekly wash on the same day. They used to say you could tell wash day because all the water from the twin tubs went straight through the drains and into the river which then frothed up going over the weir. No such problems at Wakey due to the complete lack of soap.

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:41 am  

newgroundb4wakey wrote:

When I was a kid (before the days of the automatic washing m/c) most housewives did the weekly wash on the same day. They used to say you could tell wash day because all the water from the twin tubs went straight through the drains and into the river which then frothed up going over the weir. No such problems at Wakey due to the complete lack of soap.

I'm sure it still applies, but back in the day the housewives of Cas used to hide their purse under the soap so their husbands wouldn't find it

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:14 pm  

cheshirecat57 wrote: I'l have to dig the magazine out now! May take a few days. Oh and there used to be a cycle track that ran around the pitch but on the terraces. You're spot on about the cycle track - http://www.trinityheritage.co.uk/through-the-years/ It's the reason why the terracing in front of the East stand is so sunken as that used to be the sloped track. NB: A farm building with a curved or pitched roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay - kind of fits.

cheshirecat57 wrote: I'l have to dig the magazine out now! May take a few days. Oh and there used to be a cycle track that ran around the pitch but on the terraces. You're spot on about the cycle track - http://www.trinityheritage.co.uk/through-the-years/ It's the reason why the terracing in front of the East stand is so sunken as that used to be the sloped track. NB: A farm building with a curved or pitched roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay - kind of fits.

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:25 pm  

JINJER wrote:

Yeah remember an article mentioning the cycle track, wasn't the terracing laid on ash which was contaminated with arsenic or some such thing, that's what makes BV very difficult to re develop?

Don't know how that happened

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 1:10 pm  

JINJER wrote:

Yeah remember an article mentioning the cycle track, wasn't the track laid on ash which was contaminated with arsenic or some such thing, that's what makes BV very difficult to re develop?

Nothing to do the cycle track as such. The whole north terrace is built on a pile of ash and colliery waste. The old south terrace was the same.. This is nothing out of the ordinary as most RL grounds had their terracing built in this way. They then used to step them and grade them with old railway sleepers.

We could have had sleepers on our ground at one time ,but way before I remember. Belle Vue was one of the few grounds that had concrete terracing. If you look at the terracing on the old sections you can see its hollow, and that is because its re cycled sections from a second world war floating dock, or so I'm told.


Last but not least, Yes the old south stand was demolished and sold to a local farmer as a barn.

[PopTart]

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:46 pm  

I go back far enough to remember the old west stand.
And I remember it being pulled down because of the Bradford Fire regulations.

What I can't remember is, when you look at the pictures Vasty linked, it looks like the terracing was at the same height as the pitch. What happened there. Did we lower it? Or is it just a misleading photo?

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:24 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I go back far enough to remember the old west stand.
And I remember it being pulled down because of the Bradford Fire regulations.

What I can't remember is, when you look at the pictures Vasty linked, it looks like the terracing was at the same height as the pitch. What happened there. Did we lower it? Or is it just a misleading photo?

No, the track was made of wood and built with the terrace as the base hence it is raised. I assume they changed the wood fairly often.

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:09 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I go back far enough to remember the old west stand.
And I remember it being pulled down because of the Bradford Fire regulations.

What I can't remember is, when you look at the pictures Vasty linked, it looks like the terracing was at the same height as the pitch. What happened there. Did we lower it? Or is it just a misleading photo?

Actually I think the terracing has been slightly raised and not lowered ! certainly has down the east stand side.


I can remember standing in both sides when I was young and there was a fair old drop on the pitch side. Any small children could hardly see above the wall and their heads were about pitch level.

Re: Old Stands At Belle Vue : Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:52 pm  

That was a grand old stand (west stand) and what a crowd in that picture, I bet MC wished we could get that lol