1987 – A Hundred Years On – The Club
May 30 1987 marked the hundredth anniversary of the opening of Ashbrooke. In 1887, the new combined home of Sunderland Rugby Football...
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Our Heritage
Keith Gregson
- Mar 17
- 1 min
See You on Monday
Friday Blog moved to Monday due to a major sporting commitment!
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Keith Gregson
- Mar 10
- 1 min
When the Cossacks came to Ashbrooke
Across the years Ashbrooke Sports Ground has seen massive crowds for events – some sporting and some non-sporting. The record stands at...
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Keith Gregson
- Mar 3
- 2 min
KG's Friday Blog 03 March
We've always been a crazy lot at Ashbrooke. Here is a wonderful Edwardian photograph of a mixed sports day at the club. Take a careful...
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Keith Gregson
- Feb 24
- 1 min
KG'S WEEKLY BLOG
FRIDAY UPDATE With the rugby club approaching its 150th and the wider club looking to its heritage to secure its future I will try to...
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Keith Gregson
- Feb 20
- 1 min
An Update at last
At last I have found out how to post and will try to keep people updated about the 150th of the Rugby Club. I have finished all the...
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Keith Gregson
- Mar 4, 2022
- 1 min
2022 Update
Nothing has changed since the last post. The site remains a useful resource for anyone studying sporting history and though my interests...
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Keith Gregson
- Nov 16, 2021
- 1 min
2021 update
As noted before this blog is now effectively a history of sport at Ashbrooke and can be treated as such. Please feel free to trawl...
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Keith Gregson
- Jun 27, 2020
- 1 min
2020 Update
Hi, everybody. You will have realised by now that this blog is no longer active but it still has historical uses. If interested in the...
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Keith Gregson
- Dec 15, 2019
- 2 min
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
After over 30 blogs on the club’s history and heritage and a lengthy period of research leading up to the re-dedication of the stand, the...
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Keith Gregson
- Nov 22, 2019
- 2 min
ASHBROOKE HERITAGE AND EDUCATION – LESSON TWO – CRICKET IN SUNDERLAND
Sunderland Cricket Club is thought to be the oldest sporting club in north east England to have records kept and maintained since it...
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Keith Gregson
- Nov 16, 2019
- 2 min
Ashbrooke Heritage and Education - A New Venture
For the last few weeks the weekly blog has concentrated on the run up to the re-dedication of the stand as The Last Stand and the club’s...
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Keith Gregson
- Nov 9, 2019
- 3 min
Unveiling the Last Stand - An Appropriate Fixture
Saturday 9 November sees the re-dedication of the stand at Ashbrooke and a 1st XV fixture with Winlaton Vulcans. This is an appropriate...
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Keith Gregson
- Nov 1, 2019
- 3 min
The Last Stand - Remembering Other Ashbrooke Sportsmen
'On 9 November Ashbrooke Sports Club will be holding a ceremony of re-dedication for its century old and recently refurbished rugby...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 29, 2019
- 2 min
Remembering our England Players
In the week leading up to a great day for English rugby and a fortnight leading up to the dedication of The Last Stand, it is an...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 25, 2019
- 3 min
The Last Stand (2/2) - Remembering the Rugby Players
'On 9 November Ashbrooke Sports Club will be holding a ceremony of re-dedication for its century old and recently refurbished rugby...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 25, 2019
- 2 min
Nice to hear from you, Jon!
Many Ashbrooke Folk will remember Jon Buddington – rugby player and groundsman at Ashbrooke – and indeed the whole family who had links...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 18, 2019
- 3 min
The Last Stand - Remembering the Rugby Players (1/2)
On Saturday 9 November Ashbrooke Sports Club in Sunderland will be holding a ceremony of rededication for its century old and recently...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 11, 2019
- 2 min
Oh Brother!
Followers of the Rugby World Cup cannot have failed to notice that the All Blacks have been able to put three brothers out on the park...
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Keith Gregson
- Oct 4, 2019
- 2 min
Ashbrooke's Prestigious Bowls Trophy
The bowls section of Ashbrooke Sports Club aka Sunderland Bowling Club is very strong at the moment with both male and female members...
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Keith Gregson
- Sep 26, 2019
- 2 min
Look Out For The Programme!
Sunderland RFC has been in existence for almost 150 years. During that time, the match day programme has been something of a moveable...
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Keith Gregson
- Sep 25, 2019
- 6 min
Ashbrooke's Finest Day - June 9, 1926
As an incredibly exciting Ashes series comes to a close, club archivist Keith Gregson reflects on a fascinating historical link between...
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Keith Gregson
- Sep 13, 2019
- 1 min
…AND MORE ON OUR ATHLETIC HERITAGE
It looks like last week’s athletics’ blog was well timed. Not only did many club and Strollers’ members take part in the Great North Run...
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Keith Gregson
- Sep 6, 2019
- 2 min
A HERITAGE OF ATHLETICS
Although Ashbrooke Sports Club has never had an athletics section as such, it has always had strong links with athletics. The opening day...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 30, 2019
- 2 min
Preparing for 'The Last Stand'
A recent heritage blog featured two magnificent photographs of Sachin Tendulkar, (one of the greatest cricketers of all time), batting at...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 27, 2019
- 2 min
AND GEOFFREY CAME TOO …
The interest shown in the last two blogs on Sachin Tendulkar reminded me of an interesting Ashbrooke link with another cricketing great –...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 21, 2019
- 1 min
More on the Little Master
Such has been the response to the blog on Sachin Tendulkar’s appearance at Ashbrooke as a 17 year old in 1990 that I have delved further...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 19, 2019
- 2 min
THE LITTLE MASTER DEBUTS AT ASHBROOKE
During the summer of 1990 the first match of the Indian cricket tour was fixed to be played at Ashbrooke. A one day contest with the...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 8, 2019
- 2 min
ASHBROOKE’S RARE 1878 AUSTRALIAN CRICKET PHOTOGRAPH – THE PLOT THICKENS!
Update on ‘When Sunderland Cricketers tested the Australians’ blog Since writing my piece on the Australian cricket sides playing in...
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Keith Gregson
- Aug 2, 2019
- 2 min
WHEN SAFC PLAYED AT ASHBROOKE – THE 1882/3 SEASON
When entering the Ashbrooke club by its main door, visitors will be aware of a blue plaque high up on the left hand side. The reason for...
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Keith Gregson
- Jul 29, 2019
- 3 min
WHEN SUNDERLAND CRICKETERS ‘TESTED’ THE AUSTRALIANS
In a few days’ time (1st August), the much-awaited Ashes series will get under way and it may come as a surprise to some readers to learn...
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Keith Gregson
- Jul 19, 2019
- 2 min
RECRUITING FOR RUGBY - SUNDERLAND RFC LEADS THE WAY AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
At some point over the next few weeks ( to be noted in one of the future blogs) the RFU’s heritage blog ‘From the Vaults’ will feature an...
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Keith Gregson
- Jul 12, 2019
- 2 min
Virginia – Champion at Ashbrooke (and Wimbledon!)
Only three English ladies have won the ladies’ singles championship at Wimbledon since the Second World War – Ann Haydon Jones, Angela...
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Keith Gregson
- Jul 4, 2019
- 2 min
ASHBROOKE’S WIMBLEDON STARS
With Wimbledon well under way for another year, it is a fitting time to look at a couple of club members who took part in this – the...
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Keith Gregson
- Jul 2, 2019
- 1 min
AS WORLD CUP CRICKET COMES TO DURHAM - MORE ON ASHBROOKE’S WORLD CUP CRICKET LINKS
In our very first cricket heritage blog it was noted; ‘This summer sees Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies playing...
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Keith Gregson
- Jun 20, 2019
- 2 min
Hockey - A Tale of Internationals Past and Present
According to a club handbook from 1895 hockey ‘was introduced at Ashbrooke in the winter of 1892-3’ as ‘an enjoyable means of exercise...
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Keith Gregson
- Jun 14, 2019
- 2 min
Squash Approaches its Sixtieth!
One of the authors of the club’s 1960s history ‘To Ashbrooke and Beyond' noted, there had been an attempt to get squash going at the club...
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Keith Gregson
- Jun 7, 2019
- 2 min
Who's for Tennis?
Although tennis now plays a relatively minor role in the life of Ashbrooke Sports Club, this was not always the case. The tennis section...
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Keith Gregson
- May 30, 2019
- 1 min
Your Club, Your Heritage
Today marks the 132nd anniversary of Ashbrooke Sports Club. We asked for your connections to the club to mark the occasion, here are the...
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Keith Gregson
- May 23, 2019
- 2 min
Whitsuntide - A Time To Remember
The 1/7 (territorial) battalion of the Durham Light Infantry landed in France on 19 April 1915. By early May its members were moving...
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Keith Gregson
- May 14, 2019
- 2 min
Happy Birthday, Dear Ashbrooke
May 30th 2019 sees the 132nd birthday of the club now known as Ashbrooke Sports Club. On May 30th 1887 the then Sunderland Cricket and...
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Keith Gregson
- May 7, 2019
- 3 min
A BOWLING CLUB WITH HISTORY!
As a member of Sunderland Bowling Club (or the Bowls/Bowling section of Ashbrooke Sports Club) I feel duty bound to flag up its wonderful...
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Keith Gregson
- Apr 30, 2019
- 1 min
MAY THE FOURTH IS WITH US AND WE CELEBRATE ‘WOR STARS’ OF THE PAST
It is a great honour for Ashbrooke to host a county rugby match but an appropriate one too because Sunderland (Rugby) Football Club – for...
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Keith Gregson
- Apr 24, 2019
- 2 min
THE SMACK OF LEATHER UPON WILLOW!
The cricket season is under way and Sunderland CC’s 1 st XI has got off to a flying start with a great victory away at Gateshead Fell. It...
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Keith Gregson
- Apr 8, 2019
- 2 min
A Rugby Round-Up
As the rugby season comes to a close, there is plenty still to look forward to. After a season which has seen a lot of positives for most...
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Keith Gregson
- Apr 8, 2019
- 2 min
Catching Up With Heritage
It is encouraging to see that a number of you have already looked at the heritage blog. Although there is still a great deal to be done ...
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Keith Gregson
- Apr 4, 2019
- 2 min
Welcome To Our Archives!
The archive at Ashbrooke Sports Club is one of the most complete and historically valuable sporting archives in the country. It covers...
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