Ashbrooke's Finest Day - June 9, 1926 As an incredibly exciting Ashes series comes to a close, (see below) club archivist Keith Gregson reflects on a fascinating historical link between Ashbrooke and Australian cricket.With the advent of the 1926 Australians came Ashbrooke's finest day. The date was June 9th 1926, the Wednesday before the first test at the Oval. The weather was ideal for cricket - 'the hot rays of the sun tempered by a cool breeze'. The crowds streamed in and, unbelievably,...

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Charles Thompson – a descendant of shipbuilders Robert Thompson Senior and junior and grandson of shipbroker V T Thompson. He wanted to know if we had anything on his grandfather’s links to Ashbrooke. Indeed we do – and it is quite a story! BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE Viginti Tertius Thompson (1862 -1946) was born in Southwick ( now part of the City of Sunderland) and had his birth registered in Sunderland. He was the son of prominent ship builder Robert Thompson...

And so we start off on a long ( but possibly short) road to promotion to L5 with a trip to Consett. Consett RUFC celebrated its centenary in 2023. There had been a rugby club in the area prior to this but it had fallen by the wayside – some think as a result of the First World War. For years Consett was not a regular on Sunderland’s 1 st XV fixture list but all this changed with the introduction of leagues in the 1980s and there have been regular meetings ever since. The earliest reference I...