Tideswell - Football field
Recreation Road : SK17 8NE
Tideswell - Football field : Map credit National Library of Scotland Sports in Tideswell were probably played on the recreation ground, which was gifted to the village in perpetuity, by James Fletcher, the vicar of Tideswell in 1905. There are mentions of sports taking place in the village around 1870, but there are no reliable records of these.

The only cycle racing at Tideswell appears to be at the annual Athletic Sports, which were held during wakes week. The first annual Tideswell Athletic Sports were held on 28th June 1899, there were around 1,500 paying spectators and £23 was taken in gate money. Cycle racing on the football field used a grass track five laps to the mile. There was a one mile cycle race, won by W Davis of Burslem. Other events at the sports included a Band Race with instruments, a boot and sawdust race and a treacle bun competition. Tideswell Brass Band played at the sports.

By 1901 there were two cycle races over one and two miles, with first prizes of three guineas. The attendance increased to 3,000.

In 1904, the cycle races at the sports were confined to local riders and only four entries were received for the two cycle events. Consequently, the committee cancelled the cycle events. The organisers persisted in offering bicycle races, but by 1906 they were dropped, only to return in 1910. By the outbreak of the First World War annual, the sports had stopped.

There seems to have been a period of twenty years when the sports were not held, but they resumed in 1930, when cycle races under NCU rules were advertised, but no result were reported in the press.

All cycle racing at Tideswell seems to have ceased by the Second World War. Tideswell now has a new sports complex with two football pitches, crown green bowling, two tennis courts and a cricket pitch.


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Maps    : National Library of Scotland