THE death of long-serving Dean Park head groundsman Fred Kingston has evoked memories of an iconic Echo photograph taken on the final day of the last County Championship match Hampshire hosted at the Bournemouth ground in 1992.
The photo, taken by then Echo snapper Andy Scaysbrook, shows Fred, who has died aged 84, on a tractor ready to go and work on the square during a break in play while Hampshire and Middlesex players get on with the historical game in the background.
Former Hampshire chairman Brian Ford said Fred had been head groundsman at Dean Park for many years in the 1980s and 1990s when the county regularly staged home matches there. Belfast-born Fred’s funeral took place at St Luke’s Church, Winton, on July 20.
Mr Ford said: “Fred was a long-serving member of staff at Dean Park for 10 to 15 years.
“He was very good at his job and he was used to preparing more than one wicket for Bournemouth Cricket Festival Week when it still ran.
“Fred was also used to preparing Sunday League wickets that would be played on in between County Championship matches, so he really put the time in.
“He was always very helpful, particularly when club sides used to hire the ground. He would come in and do the bar in the evenings.
“Fred was always someone who would do all he could to help people. He did Hampshire proud while he was head groundsman at Dean Park.”
Fred, who is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren, told the Echo in 1992 that he blamed the introduction of four-day matches for Dean Park’s demise from the first-class game.
At the time, he said: “We would have only been allocated one County Championship fixture a season and it would not have been worth keeping the ground open for that.”
Hampshire, who clinched championships at the ground in 1961 and 1973, had played at Dean Park for nearly a century.
They’ve only been back once since, in 1998 for a one-day first-class NatWest Trophy clash against Dorset, who have used the ground as their headquarters for Minor Counties Championship cricket since the mid-nineties.
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