The date of Friday 18th December 2020 marked one hundred years to the day when a Thornton Hibs team played against Strathmiglo to informally open the War Memorial Park for recreation purposes.

The teams were playing for the Robertson Cup and the match was kicked off by Mr E.H. Brown of the Crown Hotel who had presented Thornton Hibs with a new football.

The idea of a public recreation area in which a war memorial could be erected was hatched many months before this match took place following a meeting of around one hundred and fifty Thornton inhabitants and interested parties in May 1919. A War Memorial Park Committee was subsequently formed and they negotiated the purchase of 22 acres from Captain Charles Barrington Balfour of Balgonie for what was considered a “reasonable price”. After a period of negotiation, the offer of £850 was accepted in December 1919.

By June 1920, £1,300 of the £2,000 target had been raised or promised and entry was being planned for Armistice Day of that year.

At a War Memorial Park Committee meeting in December 1920, presided over by Mr James Fenwick J.P., it was reported that “……the forthcoming Highland gathering be held in the new public park next year, and that the use of the public park be granted to the Games Committee free of charge.” This agreement was reached after the Games Committee had made a significant donation of £500. Also contributing towards the cost were: The Balgonie Colliery, the National Union of Railwaymen, the public hall committee, several pipe bands, Masonic lodges, Thornton football teams, other groups organising concerts, fairs etc. – plus Thornton villagers themselves.

The date of the opening was now predicted to take place in April or May of the next year once the memorial gateway had been erected (at a cost of around £500) and the names of the men from the Black Watch (3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland) and the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who had made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I, had been inscribed on the bronze tablets.

The new war memorial public park was eventually opened on Saturday 24th September 1921 by Sir Ralph Anstruther (Baronet) of Balcaskie. Sir Ralph had stepped in to replace Captain Balfour who had died unexpectedly. A full ceremony was held, with representatives of all local bodies, in front of a large attendance. It was announced that £1,704 had been raised towards the target at that time.

Around this time, the football teams in the village (Thornton Rangers, Thornton Victoria and Thornton Hibs) played at what was known as the public park. When Thornton Rangers joined the junior ranks in 1926, they begun to play at North End Park before moving over to the New North End Park in 1928.

When Thornton Hibs turned junior in 1935, they established their home ground in War Memorial Park and raised funds to build the changing hut facilities required at the time which were opened by J.S. Martin, who was Secretary of the Fife Junior Football Association.

The local authority took over responsibility for maintenance of the park in the late 1950’s (with previously agreed permanent lets honoured) and the park became a protected ‘Centenary Field’ under the auspices of Fields in Trust in July 2015, safeguarding the use of the park for existing and future recreational purposes.

In 2020, a planning application was approved by the local council planning authority to allow the erection of a boundary fence and floodlights around the existing pitch area when this became a requirement following the club’s acceptance into the senior ranks of the East of Scotland Football League.

With thanks to John Laing and Tom Bullimore for providing additional information.