Retired shopkeeper's sporting legacy for seaside communities

Doug Raine, 67, and his wife Irene, 62, retired this year after running the general store regarded as the heart of Sandsend, near Whitby, for 34 years.

But the couple's legacy to the village also included new Mulgrave Community Sports Association Field on the top of Lythe Bank, above Sandsend.

Leading light of the project Mr Raine had played for Goldsborough United, based in the nearby hamlet of Goldsborough, as a teenager – when his success on the pitch depended on his ability to weave through the cow pats on the field.

When players changed into whites to bat and bowl for Mulgrave Cricket Club they found themselves shivering in a howling wind on a cliff-top field which slopes two ways.

Both clubs were able to play on the new pitches and pavilion as stage one of a larger project while stage two, also now completed, provided facilities for athletics, and a range of other pursuits.

Local athletes, cricketing stars and VIPs will be out in force at 4pm on Friday, July 30, for the official opening when the Marquis of Normanby will be the first to bowl on the new bowling green.

He will also try out the new 22,000 cricket nets, funded by a grant from the England and Wales Cricket Board. The site hosts three new junior football teams as well as the two senior teams.

There are also both senior and junior cricket teams, with another junior team planned for next year. Mr Raine said: "It is a project that's caught everyone's eye.

"We started the project in 2005. We had to get all the funding which took some time because all the money came from grants. But it looks quite impressive now."

Mr Raine also recently took part in a Coast to Coast walk which raised 10,000, half of which is going to the bowling club at the sports centre, and half to Macmillan Nurses.

The complex has been designed with the environment in mind. Hot water for rainwater-fed showers and central heating is provided by a heat pump which gathers natural warmth from the earth and solar tiles not only provide power on site, but a surplus can be sold to the National Grid.