Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

23 The creation of St. Helen’s the home side left something to be desired, the cricketers of the region now had first-class facilities at the new Swansea ground. As JTD mentioned during a speech at a grand Banquet at the Mackworth Arms, “things are certainly on the up for the cricketers of South Wales.” 5 But there was another agenda behind the visit of the 1878 Australians to St. Helen’s, as an increasingly vocal lobby existed within Swansea Corporation in the vicinity of the cricket field, including the field on the eastern side of Gorse Lane, now known as Victoria Park. A riposte came from the Mayor of Swansea during the function at the Mackworth Arms, with the civic leader stating that: “he would move heaven and earth to prevent Colonel Morgan’s field being built over. It was clearly the duty of towns to provide open spaces for recreational purposes so that the rising generation may grow to be healthy, happy and well-developed.” 6 In contrast, The “Build on St. Helen’s” lobby argued that the executors of the late Colonel Morgan were prepared to surrender their leasehold interest for the sum of £10,000 and with arguments for and against being played out in the columns of local newspapers, the Mayor convened a public meeting. JTD nailed his colours to the mast by saying beforehand that: “saving St. Helen’s from the encroachment of unromantic lines of bricks and mortar which puts flight all rural sweets and compels the weary denizen of the town to seek them from afar” 7 He also addressed the public meeting and argued passionately in favour of the recreational facilities as well as deploring the absence of the The St. Helen’s ground, seen in 1903.