The Forest Span

In 1895, cricket and hockey brought players together in the Groot Drakenstein Valley. The first games took place on farm fields, and teams travelled to neighbouring towns by mule wagon.

A permanent home followed in 1921, when H. E. V. Pickstone offered ten acres at Delta at a rent of ten shillings a year. The lease carried a condition that has become part of the club’s identity: cricket must be played.

Members gave their Saturdays to clearing trees, levelling the land and preparing the ground. They became known as the Forest Span. Their work made a place where generations could gather around the game.

The landscape has changed, but that sense of shared stewardship remains at the heart of Groot Drak.