Dalziel Park

Dalziel Park is an area located between the small villages of Cleland, Carfin and Newarthill in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Other nearby settlements include the large town of Motherwell and the new town of Ravenscraig. The area consists of an estate, a sports facility (regarded as one of the best in Scotland), a golf course and a clubhouse. It is also used as the home venue for the local rugby team Dalziel, as well as a training location for the local professional football team Motherwell. The facility is not to be confused with Dalziel Park Stadium, the former home of Motherwell.

History

The park was established by the Dalziel War Memorial Trust, which is an organization that was formed to offer a living memorial to the pupils and staff of the Motherwell-based Dalziel High School who lost their lives during World War I and World War II.

On 27 June 1947, the former pupils committee of Dalziel decided that the school's memorial of the pupils who died during both wars should take the form of playing fields. The former Cleland Estate was put up for sale by the Right Honourable Sir John Colville, P.C., G.C.I.E, for only six thousand pounds. For the purchase to be possible, there was lots of fundraising along with a grant provided by the Lanarkshire Education Committee. After the purchase, playing fields in the form of hockey, rugby and football were laid, and later an athletics track would also be included. In 1990, the War Memorial Trust took up the challenge of maintaining the facility, converting the former Cleland Estate into what is known as one of the finest facilities in Scotland, Dalziel Park.

On 2 October 2004, the Clubhouse was open, and that officially ended a long-running journey that the War Memorial Trust embarked on to sell a portion of land for housing and also build a top-quality sports facility. The journey the trust took was never going to be a smooth one. The main problems were the high costs for maintenance and the requirement for top-quality sports facilities, and those were evidence enough to suggest something needed to be done. The trust adopted a determined attitude for the vision to become a reality, constantly refusing to accept 'no' for an answer no matter how many times rival organisations said it. Because of this, progress started to be made, and results were starting to be produced. Initially, only a handful of playing fields were formed, but that number slowly increased and the reputation of the sports facility started to grow. On 5 April 2001, The Princess Royal formally opened the playing fields and, as soon as the clubhouse was built, the dream of playing fields became a reality.

The War Memorial Trust, in existence for more than half-a-century, remain committed to keeping the facility as maintained and successful as possible.

Layout

The entire area is very impressive. It has lots of high-quality housing, which is right next to a large golf course. As well as this, Dalziel Park contains a Hotel and Conference Centre, which has a restaurant as well as overnight accommodation.

The sports fields is equally impressive. The whole facility caters for many sports, such as hockey, football, athletics, rugby and tennis, and has pitches, tracks and courts for each of these sports. There is a main rugby playing field located next to the hockey pitches and changing areas, and this is where the rugby team Dalziel play all of their home games. The pitch also contains a grandstand, which has a seating capacity of around 400 spectators.

The local SPL side Motherwell use the football pitches of the facility for training.

External links

• Dalziel High School War Memorial Trust Website park section
• Dalziel Park Hotel and Conference Website
• Dalziel Golf Course on Golf Courses Scotland
• Dalziel Rugby Club

Coordinates: 55°47′58″N 3°56′29″W / 55.79942°N 3.94141°W / 55.79942; -3.94141