A sparkling effort from the Workington Diamonds junior football club has renovated one of the town’s forgotten football pitches.
The pitch behind the old Moss Bay Hotel (long since demolished) had to be renovated, such was the state it had fallen into.
Twenty tonnes of stone was hand-picked off by players, parents and coaches; 800kg of topsoil was put in and the ground was seeded and levelled.
It’s now a credit to the club who boast added facilities, including toilets, changing rooms and even a café area.
All of which makes it a far cry from the days when Coronation Boys Club used the old Moss Bay pitch as their home ground – and created a number of records.
Over 60 years ago the team was in its pomp and this remarkably clear photo shows probably the best team that Coronation ever had.
The Under-18 team went unbeaten through the 1960/61 season winning the Derwent Valley Junior League, the DVJ League Cup and the coveted County Cup.
Pictured, back row left to right: Sean Smyth, Bobby Bell, John Porter, John Stagg, Alan Cross, Ken Cross, George Barnes ( Manager/ Coach ).
Front row: Albert Kilgour, John Benson, Ian Armstrong, Robert Taylor, Jimmy Ryan and Mungo Ferguson.
The highlight of the season was undoubtedly the 4-3 County Cup final win over Carlisle.
Bobby Bell was a very talented player who went on to have trials with Blackpool and several of the players are still around the town.
Ian Armstrong who lives in High Harrington says the team, under the astute management of George Barnes, swept all before them that year including that a super win in the final of the County Cup against a good Carlisle team.
The photograph was taken at Moss Bay where all their home matches were played.
The survivors on that photo would certainly appreciate the effort put in by their modern day counterparts Workington Diamonds.
