St Peter's Church - Stanley Village History
(page 2 of 2)
Other pastimes in the early part of the 20th century were tennis,
boxing, touring with the village cycling club or walking with the
rambling club.
Much leisure time was spent by many of the miners of the village in an
old quarry (now the location of the Community Centre). Some would meet
in 'The Tabernacle' (a wooden hut) and many of them being unable to
read would welcome anyone who could read to them from books and
newspapers. In parts of this quarry where suitable soil could be found,
allotment gardens were cultivated. Holiday Easter Monday, whether early
or late, was the day for potato planting, and a large number of men
would be there, gardeners, helpers and onlookers who no doubt acted as
advisers. Another way of providing food for many of the large families
was to rear pigs and many people kept poultry as an additional
supplement. Rabbit coursing and pigeon shoots were sometimes organized
in the cricket field. One of the pleasant sights of summer was to see
flocks of pigeons circling round the village, or to see men near a
pigeon cote waiting and watching expectantly for the arrival home of
pigeons which had been sent away for a race.
Children's pastimes were
varied, any summer’s evening half a
dozen games would be going on in different places. Traffic being
practically negligible, cricket was played on the highway (if the
policeman was not about) with other popular games such as "duck stone"
and "kick-out-can."
Stanley Newmarket Brass Band was started by a few enthusiastic
instrumentalists getting together and practicing outdoors. Eventually a
room over the stable at the Miners' Arms was used for practice and has
been known as the band room ever since. |
 |
This band provided music for
the village both when practicing and when parading the village on
special occasions, one of which was the playing of carols at Christmas.
It must be nearly a century since the band was formed, and it is still
going strong and has done well in brass band concerts.
Many miners and their families have left Stanley to live in other parts
of the country and emigrated to other countries, carrying their
Christian faith and activities with them.
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