Derby - Darley Fields
w/e 28 May 2006
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

Twenty or more years ago I was a regular visitor to Darley Playing Fields but the passage of time has somewhat dimmed the memory and I saw things during this visit, my first since that time, that I had overlooked previously. This avenue of trees for instance although obviously there then looks so different but I can only assume that is because all of my previous visits were during the winter months when there were no leaves on the trees.

To one side of the avenue are some lawn tennis courts and if I am honest, these too had slipped from my memory banks. I do remember the hard courts also for tennis on the other side and the court marked out for five-a-side, basketball and the like (right). The reason for my frequent visits all those years ago was to officiate at junior football (soccer) matches usually on Sunday mornings. In those days and it's probably still the same today, the playing fields were thronged with youngsters and their parents every week and it was not unknown for there to be a dozen referees squeezed into one changing room.

The football pitches occupied (and still do) the wide open spaces to the right of the avenue of the trees although there do not appear to be quite as many today or is my memory playing tricks again?

I do remember seeing the bowling green back then but this was the first time I've seen it in use. What surprised me was the fact they the players were engaged in crown green bowling, a game I had only seen previously on television, and not the usual lawn bowls that is a much more common sight.

The playing fields at Darley are situated alongside the River Derwent and are within easy walking distance of the centre of the city. I am led to believe the river is used by a local rowing club and a short walk back towards the city through a small wooded area leads a cricket pitch (left). I saw neither rowers nor cricketers but did espy a couple of joggers running through the wood (right).

But here is something else that I don't recall from all those years ago, again probably because I was never there at this time of year. High in the branches of a tree a song thrush was belting out his chorus for all to hear. It took a while to actually spot the bird through the foliage but pushing the zoom lens on the camera to its limits I was able catch him in full voice.

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