Description:This scene shows the start of a redevelopment of the former Stafford Cricket and Hockey Club site at the Hough. Stafford Cricket Club moved to the Hough site in 1890. Stafford Hockey Club shared the facilities over the years and merged with Stafford Cricket Club in 1965. In 1984 the Club moved from the Hough to an adjacent site at Riverway.
In this picture taken in March 2006 the former pitches are being dug up by heavy duty multi-use demolition excavators and preparing the ground to lay drains and foundations for a housing development. A new road known as Ranshaw Drive would later run across this area to provide access to the new houses.
In the background on the left are the former Stychfields Hall buildings which were completed around 1960 for the English Electric Company to provide large scale catering facilities and for a variety of social functions for the many thousands of employees who worked on the nearby site at that time. It was formally opened on 9 March 1962. Over the years there were major redevelopments on the Lichfield Road Site, including in 2006 when the Main offices and a large part of the Main Works buildings were demolished to make way for ‘The Hough Retail Park’. The demolition of Stychfields Hall began in April 2006 and by July 2006 it was a pile of rubble with the ground being prepared to form part of the same housing development as mentioned above.