Description:This hockey match is pictured at the Hough ground in Stafford.
Stafford Cricket Club moved to the Hough site in 1890. Stafford Hockey Club shared the facilities over the years and amalgamated with Stafford Cricket Club in 1965. In 1984 the Club moved from the Hough to an adjacent site at Riverway. In March 2006 the pitches were dug up and drains and foundations began to be laid for a housing development. A new approach road known as Ranshaw Drive was built across the former pitches to access the new houses.
In the background is the English Electric Main Works (originally known as Siemens Works), with the Main Office block on the left. In later years the factory and offices were part of GEC, then GEC Alsthom (an Anglo-French venture) and in 1998 became known as Alstom. The Company has been renowned for its electrical products including generators, transformers and switchgear. In 2006 the Main offices along with most of the buildings in the centre of the picture were demolished and the area redeveloped as 'The Hough Retail Park'. In 2015 the Stafford Grid and Power Businesses became part of GE (General Electric, an American Company). The remainder of the Main Works buildings on the right were demolished in the autumn of 2020 and the site was completely flattened (February 2021), to make way for a housing development.
On a neighbouring site the Transformer Works remains and is still operational (February 2021) as part of the GE (General Electric) group.
Picture reproduced by Kind Permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.