THE opening of the Pressed Steel Social and Athletic Club sports ground at Cowley was a grand civic occasion.

The mayor of Oxford, William C Walker, was among a host of dignitaries who attended the ceremony off Horspath Road in April 1953.

Several thousand people turned out to watch workers at the factory take on opponents in simultaneous sports during the afternoon.

Sixty years later, we reported that the club – now known as Oxford Sports and Social Club – is facing closure.

It will mean the end of a club which was formed in 1927 to provide leisure and sport for workers who made car bodies for the Morris Motors’ plant next door.

The opening ceremony was performed by Major Albert Pam, the company chairman, who unlocked the gates to the ground with a specially-made key.

Addressing the large crowd, he said the ground had been under construction for a long period and he and his fellow directors hoped it would “form a useful and entertaining diversion for employees of the company”.

The sports on display included football, with Pressed Steel taking on the triumphant Pegasus team, which had recently won the FA Amateur Cup at Wembley for the second time in three years. Pegasus won 4-1 after Pressed Steel had taken an early lead.

Pressed Steel also lost a cricket match against Oxford University by 197 runs and lost at tennis to Cowley St John by 16 matches to 14.

But they were successful in two sports, beating Ford Motors 14 points to six at rugby and the Oxfordshire Bowling Association executive by 118 shots to 106 at bowls.

Over the years, the ground has been regarded as one of the best in the county, staging football, cricket and many other sports.

One of the highlights was the Pressed Steel gala day, which attracted thousands of workers and their families and members of the public every year.

BMW, which plans to take back the 24-acre site in 2016, offered to build a new ground nearby, but the club, which now has just 1,000 members compared with 20,000 in the 1970s, decided the new venture would not be viable.