Blue is the Colour
ties at the ground , King ’ s Road was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence during WWII . With barbed wire strewn over the pitch , and the pavilion and stand both damaged , it took until December 1946 before football could resume at the venue . An FA Cup 1 st Qualifying Round tie against Cambridge Town in September 1949 drew a record crowd of 4,500 to King ’ s Road , while the following year Bury Town turned down the chance to move to the recently upgraded West Suffolk Greyhound Stadium at Tayfen Road . The stadium ’ s chief selling point was that it possessed floodlights , but as the lights were pointed towards the racing track , they would not have been much use for football . In any case , forward-thinking Bury Town installed a set of their own at King ’ s Road not long afterwards , with the first match under lights , a friendly against Cambridge City , taking place on 12 January 1953 . Comprising of fourteen 32ft high poles , each fitted with a single bulb , the lights soon came into their own , helping the club clear that season ’ s fixture backlog .
Below : The West Suffolk Greyhound Stadium in 1950
Photo : Britain From Above
By the beginning of the 1960s , a momentous decade for the club as it turned out , Bury Town ’ s active supporters ’ club had financed the construction of covered terraces behind both goals . With cover on all four sides of the ground , including a short section on the pavilion side , King ’ s Road was ready for better things , and after winning the Eastern Counties League title and Suffolk Premier Cup in 1963 / 64 , Bury moved to the Metropolitan League . Further success ensued , with the second of two Metropolitan League title wins in 1968 / 69 , a season in which then Division Three leaders Bournemouth visited King ’ s Road for an FA Cup 1 st Round tie . Extra terracing was brought in from USAF Feltwell and erected on the space between the pitch and the pavilion . The tie , which finished 0-0 , was watched by a crowd of 3,000 , with Bury losing 3-0 in the replay at Dean Court . Because of the inadequacy of the King ’ s Road floodlights , the original tie was made an early kick-off , but after uprooting the old floodlight poles , a Christy Brothers set of lights , made up of four latticed pylons on each side , was officially switched on before a friendly against Ipswich Town on 5 December 1969 , with 1,013 in attendance . Election to the Southern League was achieved in 1971 / 72 but rumbling in the background for most of the club ’ s five season stay in the competition was the question of King ’ s Road future , through which a new road was scheduled to be constructed . Fortunately , a new , if not
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