Following the outbreak of the pandemic due to Covid-19 the distribution of the Advertiser magazine was suspended. I put previous articles on the site here for people to re-visit the information I had written about Parlington and also for those who are outside the circulation area of the magazines.
From July the Advertiser is re-commencing its normal circulation so I have decided to put the articles on here, but with a delay over the printed version to prevent these articles from eclipsing the paper version. Think of them as a backup!
However I may enlarge on some of the articles as I am not restricted to the same space considerations limited by the paper edition. For the first article since the suspension I will set out the details of a summer event from back in 1945!
1945 Sports Day at Parlington
The end of the war in Europe some seventy five years ago was to be commemorated this year with great panache, however the pandemic has caused a major disruption to the events being held. Well with the re-introduction of the Advertiser gives me the chance to mention an event that occurred at Parlington in the summer of 1945. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe activities at the “Third Vehicle Reserve Depot” on the Parlington Estate continued without break. The base was not disbanded until 1946 I believe. Military vehicles continued to be shipped to foreign parts and therefore Parlington’s work was not done.
However it was not all toil for the troops on the base as a recent discovery of a pamphlet makes abundantly clear. An annual sports day was held on August 18th 1945 on the Aberford Sports Ground. There are two locations where this may have been, either off to the left of the main driveway literally adjacent to the land occupied by the Vicarage (now former). Or perhaps on the area set aside for cricket off to the right about 100 yards up the driveway.
The official programme was printed by Cope’s of Sherburn in Elmet and priced at 2d each, with proceeds from the sale to the “Wounded Warriors Fund”. Prizes were presented by Lt-Col H. M. Stevenson, RAOC Officer Commanding No2 Chilwell M T Group RAOC (The Chillwell Depot is still in existence I think, near Nottingham.)
The Sports Day was by the kind permission of the Commanding Officer Major I. Armitage and the games began at 2:30 pm. The programme was a single page folded to create four pages, the inside setting out the events, as follows:
| Event | Result | Event | Result |
| 1) 100 yards Military | 14) Obstacle Race Military & A.T.S. | ||
| 2) 100 yards A.T.S. | 15) Slow Cycle Race Military & A.T.S. | ||
| 3) 220 yards Military | 16) Sack Race A.T.S. | ||
| 4) 220 yards A.T.S. | 17) Three Legged Race A.T.S. | ||
| 5) 440 yards Military | 18) Tilt the Bucket (1 Military & 1 A.T.S.) | ||
| 6) 440 yards Relay (team of 3) Military | 19) Greasy Pole Military | ||
| 7) 440 yards Relay (team of 3) A.T.S. | 20) Greasy Pole A.T.S. | ||
| 8) 100 yards Military over 40 years | 21) Tug of War Team of 10 (RAOC, OR’s, Cpl’s, Officers & Sgts, R.E.M.E. Civ. Employees) | ||
| 9) High Jump Military | Open Events | ||
| 10) High Jump A.T.S. | 22) 160 yards Men | ||
| 11) Long Jump Military | 23) 100 yards Ladies | ||
| 12) Long Jump A.T.S. | 24) Three Legged Race Ladies | ||
| 13) Putting the Shot Military | 25) Children’s Race Boys | ||
| 26) Children’s Race Girls |
It would be good to know how the day went, how was the weather for example, so often the ruin of a summer event in this country.
ATS Group Photo Aberford 1945
The photograph is from a small collection provided by Mrs Margaret Lumb (né Chadwick) who worked at the Parlington 3rd VRD RAOC during the Second World War. The picture was taken on the parade ground, part of the Army camp now the site of the houses in Parlington Villas, off Cattle Lane.
