The photographs in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane look at the history of Dunfermline Cricket Club.
The first one Nancy Gibson, of Dunfermline Cricket Club, handing over some of the archive material of the club to Sharron McColl, the Local Studies Supervisor at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries.
This historical archive, once preserved and catalogued, will then be able to be seen by members of the public and visitors to Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries.
Dunfermline Cricket Club was formed at a meeting in the Music Hall in Dunfermline on the June 22, 1857.
The team had many successes during their early days and 1875 was a memorable year in their history with the team going the entire season without losing a single match.
Our next photograph is of the opening of the Pavilion by Lord Elgin on the May 11, 1901, at what was then known as Ladysmill and is now McKane Park named after John McKane. McKane came to Dunfermline as a child and was educated at Dunfermline High School before entering a banking career as an apprentice clerk at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Dunfermline.
As part of his apprenticeship he made his first trip abroad at the age of 22 and obtained a banking post in Canada where he then was caught up in the gold and silver fever of the 1890s and decided to go silver prospecting using funds and capital secured back in Dunfermline. However this venture failed and all his money was lost.
McKane then heard of the gold discoveries in Nevada and became a prospector there having persuaded the President of Andrew Carnegie's ‘Carnegie Steel Company’, Charles Schwab, to fund his venture.
Within months McKane became very wealthy as one of the ‘Gold Millionaires’ of Nevada, enabling him to return to Dunfermline and repay all his funders and friends with interest.
In 1906 he bought Ladysmill Park from Colonel John Hunt and presented it to Dunfermline Cricket Club. It was then renamed McKane Park in his honour. McKane put a clause in the Trust Deed to allow the playing of other outdoor sports, and hockey, tennis and rugby have all been played there since then.
Our next photograph shows the Dunfermline Cricket Club team of 1934 who won the Scottish Counties Championship. Our final image is of the Dunfermline Cricket 2nd X1 team who won the 2nd Counties Championship in 1950.
Sharron McColl would be delighted to hear from anyone who may have memorabilia associated with Dunfermline Cricket Club.
“We were pleased to receive such a rich historical collection from the club," she said. "If anyone has any other items that they would be happy to donate they just have to pop in to the Local Studies Department in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries and speak to a member of staff. We would be more than happy to receive such donations.”
More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline.
With thanks to Frank Connelly
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