A Game Sustained

99 Running out of steam: 1917 decayed and loose as to be dangerous.’ Grounds continued to be used for other purposes, some of which did damage. The Thirsk Volunteer Force, for example, met on the cricket ground for instruction in bomb throwing, while the West Riding Volunteer Regiment practised on the Hallam ground in June 1917, carrying out bombing and bayonet fighting and drill. At Driffield, the cricket groundwas heavily cut up by military occupation, although a wicket was marked out especially for matches against regimental sides. Another request for use of cricket facilities came in the form of an appeal by the Leeds Children’s Summer Holiday Fund for huts or pavilions which could be used to house eight to 15 children. Due to travel restrictions, few could be sent to the seaside or other convalescent homes, but the Fund still needed to board out delicate children. Cricket and tennis clubs were asked to give the appeal careful consideration. Elsewhere, cricket fields disappeared as they were turned over for food production. In 1916, official concern was expressed that average food consumption for the population was dropping to just above the nutritional minimum and in February 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. Prior to the war, Britain had already been very dependent on food from abroad, and the attacks on shipping meant food imports declined steadily, with shortages especially bad in working-class areas. 67 One response was rationing, but another was to turn land over to food production, with cricket fields an obvious target. In Hull, for example, the field of the Albert United Cricket Club and Hull and East Riding F.C. became allotments with 73 plots, and the old pavilion was released to tenants as a place to keep equipment. In Guisborough, there were over 100 applications for land for gardens and the Council proposed to take a portion of the cricket field to help meet demand. Part of the east side of the ground at Harrogate was requisitioned in 1917 and the main pavilion taken over by the army for the winter of 1916-17, at a rent of £40. On the east coast, Hornsea Cricket Club was also no longer able to use its field as it had been turned into a potato patch. In