This an image taken from the 1906 Torquay Town Council minutes, held in the local library. It seems that back then Torquay Athletic were not the only ones using the Recreation Ground.

Aside from a certain ‘Shop Assistants Football club’ there was ‘Belgrave Wednesday RFC’ playing as well. They even applied for use of the hot baths, which was agreed by the council for the sum of 5 Shillings each time the baths were used. (what is a shilling?!)

After much searching, there seems to be no information about this competing Torquay rugby club so one must assume the mighty Tics stole their best players and they folded.

Around the same time, TARFC were paying £32 10s for a half years rent of the Rec’, and complained to the council about the ground requiring thicker turf. The council refused because the club had not volunteered to contribute anything towards the cost.

More pitch problems.

Oh how times haven’t changed much. Here TARFC had complained to the council regarding the awful state of the pitch. They had to cancel a game against a club from Somerset and it cost them a fair amount of lost income.

No resolution, just left in the hands of the Town Clerk to deal with it with the Borough surveyor.

Ground improvements:

It seems this was the period that the beautiful ticket booths, turnstyles and gates were developed at the seafront end. This minute describes the intention but felt it unable to be completed for the start of the season so deferred it until the next year.

There is much much more in the archives of Torquay public library so as it’s discovered I’ll post more. The microfilm copies of the local newspaper hold the most interesting treasures so this history section of the blog is an ongoing work.