Historic Huddersfield cricket club destroyed in arson attack

It has been reported that a fire which has wrecked the clubhouse of the oldest cricket club in Huddersfield is being treated as arson.

Firefighters were called to Lascelles Hall Cricket Club at Highfield Lane shortly before 12am last Sunday but were unable to prevent the building from being destroyed in the blaze.

The irreplaceable memorabilia ruined in the fire went back 185 years.

The chairman of Lascelles Hall Cricket Club, Shaun Woodhams, said:

“Memorabilia of Alec Lodge and Brian Shaw has all gone, photographs from the early days of the club, cups, everything.

“It can’t be replaced. I was told about it at 7am in the morning and no doubt throughout the day club members will be turning up to take a look.

“The police will be looking into it. We’ve had a reasonably quiet few years with no trouble but last week we were broken into and nothing was taken. We don’t know if it’s linked.

“One of our problems is we are out on a limb and there are not many people around who can report something like this.”

The police are now working on an investigation into the cause of the fire, which happened just a few hours after fire crews had been present at a blaze at nearby Kirkheaton Cricket Club.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed that these two deliberately started fires are not being linked at present, although an appeal for witnesses to come forward was made. Any information that could help with the investigation is being welcomed by the police.