THE SPORTS GROUND AT WAR
On Sunday morning the annual remembrance day parade will pass along Southampton Road, just a few yards from the Sports Ground. This is quite fitting because, while we know that many Lymington cricketers served in the armed forces during the two world wars, it's probably not so well known that our beloved home ground also played its part during the conflicts. In this article we look at some of the events that took place on our small patch of grass in those wartime years. It might be worth mentioning that many years before World War 1 the Sports Ground had hosted war-related events. Way back in 1856 the ground (known then as the 'Cricket Field') played host to festivities to mark the end of the Crimean War. A procession of around a thousand children, led by the Lymington Town Band, left the Cricket Field on its way to the town hall (then in the High Street) where the children were 'regaled with tea and plum cake'. Then it was back to the Cricket Field for a 'Varie