COVERED 2025 Spring

43 @TRENTBRIDGE HERITAGE “THERE ARE MANY STORIES ATTACHED TO THE BUILDING AS IT AWAITS THE NEXT STAGE OF ITS HISTORY. AND WHILE THE CURRENT RENOVATION WILL RESULT IN A PAVILION FIT FOR THE MODERN AGE, THOSE MOMENTS OF HISTORY WILL STILL ECHO WITHIN ITS WALLS.” Peter Smith cricket grounds of the 1880s.” Indeed, the Trent Bridge Pavilion is older, by a few years, than those of Lord’s,The Oval and OldTrafford. Having replaced two Pavilions that between them lasted scarcely a quarter of a century, this splendid building has lasted nearly a century and a half – but not without its share of changes, many of them radical. One of the most significant alterations was organisational rather than struc- tural – the removal in 1963 of the separate dressing rooms, and gates onto the playing field, for ‘gentlemen and players.’ In 1898, a first-floor dressing room was added, the professionals having previously been confined to the ground floor. Living accommodation was provided for the club groundsman and coach (thenWalter Marshall), which was in use until 1953. The Secretary originally used the room occupied more recently by the Club President, and the players’ dining room was where the entrance hall is now; later, the players dined in what became the Museum Room. The Long Room was used as a Red Cross hospital during the FirstWorld War, and was a military post office in WorldWar Two. The distinctive copper canopy over where the members sat was removed in 1953 to make room for boxes to house the scorers and broadcasters. In 1979, the Executive Suite was created from the covered spectators’ gallery above the Long Room. At one time there was a neighbouring Pavilion – officially the Cyril Lowater Pavilion but more usually known as ‘The Ladies Pavilion’ – for use by female members, who were not allowed in the main Pavilion.This restriction is, of course, now thankfully consigned to history. There are many stories attached to the building as it awaits the next stage of its history.The first international visitors to use the ‘new’ Pavilion came in that inaugural year of 1886, as a team of Parsee cricketers that were the first side from India to tour England played the ‘Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire’.That Notts side was made up of local club players and some more familiar names from the county’s ranks of amateur cricketers – most notably John Auger Dixon, a former county captain after whom the main gates at Trent Bridge are named. More recently, it has been the back- drop to moments preserved in modern cricketing folklore – from Australia’s ShaneWarne cavorting with a stump on the away dressing room balcony in 1997 to Stuart Broad striding between the members having taken 8/15 against the old enemy in 2015. The sense of tradition it embodies continues to resonate with the players who pass through its doors;West Indies’ Kavem Hodge’s delight at seeing his name inscribed on the Long Room honours board last summer was plain to see. And while the current renovation will result in a Pavilion fit for the modern age, those moments of history will still echo within its walls.