Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2008 | Page 42

life

INTERVIEW

One mans vision to create a
dream cricket ground
By June Elford

S

peculation was rife when people
driving along the Blackwater Road
on the outskirts of Newport
spotted the huge mounds of soil in a
field. Rumour had it that hundreds of
houses were going to be built on the site
of the old agricultural show ground.
Instead the Island is going to have a
new cricket ground with a capacity
of up to 2,000 people, which has been
designed so that the superb pavilion
and the surrounding banks will give it
the feel of a modern amphitheatre.
Businessman Brian Gardner is the
inspiration behind the Newclose County
Cricket Ground. He realised the Island
had needed a Gold Standard ground

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for a long time to help the sport move
forward on several fronts. For example,
Ventnor Cricket Club (of which Brian
is president) has won the silver division
of the Southern Electric League for the
past four seasons, but their Steephill
ground was deemed unsuitable for
promotion to the gold division.
Should the club enjoy similar success
in the next couple of seasons, they
will achieve promotion and play
their league matches at Newclose –
bringing to the Island the highest
standard of cricket ever seen here.
Ventnor chairman, John Hilsum,
and former Cricket Development
Manager on the Island, David Kilpack,

were among those who helped Brian
Gardner from the start. A management
committee was formed and received
a setback when the first site for the
proposed ground at Whitecroft was
considered unsuitable by the planners.
Undaunted, Brian purchased the
old IW show ground at Blackwater.
The team then worked closely with
planners and permission was eventually
achieved. Brian said, “There was bound
to be a lot of negotiation because this
is a major sports development on the
Island, but I’m delighted that we were
able to agree on a way forward.”
Thousands of tons of earth had to
be moved so that archaeologists could

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