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 and many fascinating documents and pictures ready to be brought to folks’ attention, there are already publications which people may like to catch up with.
To Ashbrooke And Beyond – The History of the Sunderland Cricket and Rugby Football Club 1808 – 1963 (SC and FC 1964)
This was produced by a group of excellent researchers and club members in 1964 and is a first-class record of the club’s history up to the middle of the last century. You may be able to buy copies online but I believe they are quite pricey. I feel there may be a few copies left in the archives and we may be able to sell them for something like £5 in order to start building up a fund to ensure the archives are safely stored.
My publications (mostly since the club centenary in 1987) include;
· Sunderland Bowling Club (1889 – 1989)(Sunderland Bowling Club 1989).
· Durham County – ‘Already First Class’ – Overseas Tourists at Sunderland (1887 – 1990) (SCFC 1992) ‘Excellently researched and written’ – Christopher Martin Jenkins.
· Sporting Ancestors – Tracing You Family’s Athletic Past (The History Press 2012) - features many references to Ashbrooke’s history and archives.
· One Among Many – The Story of Sunderland Rugby Football Club (1873) in its historical context ( MX Publishing 2012)
· Australia in Sunderland – The Making of A Test Match ( 2013)
If interested try online sites or get in touch with me via my web site.
Also there are over 250 biographies of club members who fought in the First World War in my on line book:
CAN YOU DO NOTHING TO MEND MY BROKEN HEART?' - THE ASHBROOKE BOYS - A SPORTS CLUB AT WAR 1914 - 1918. (Placed online 2018)
This is downloadable with details on my web site and all monies going to club charities.
Articles - Many aspects of the history of all the club sports have been covered by me in articles since 1987. The originals are stored at Ashbrooke and I am sure I can have individual ones photocopied if there is an interest. Researchers may be particularly interested in my Considering Templates for a Rugby Club History which was originally published in Open History – The Journal of the Open University History Society (No 124 Spring 2013) and which can now be viewed on the World Rugby Museum blog site – From the Vaults along with other articles of mine. Just go to;
and put ‘Keith Gregson’ into the search engine – there should be about half a dozen relevant articles available.
A couple of interesting facts to end with;
· Phil McGowan, curator of The World Rugby Museum at Twickenham has parents from Ashbrooke and is a keen Black Cats fan.
· Chris Kelly, current president of the RFU, played at Ashbrooke for Durham University and SRFC’s Barbarian side ‘The Dolphins’.
· Gary Brown, Sunderland Cricket professional some years ago, played for Middlesex alongside his brother and said of Ashbrooke on a first viewing – ‘ This is the Lords of the North’ . This magnificent photograph taken by our very own general manager proves that he is correct!
Get in touch with any queries
keith.gregson@talk21.com