Lancaster Park memorabilia is a self-described labour of love: an online collection created, after extensive research, compilation and design, to represent the 130-year history of Lancaster Park — Christchurch's storied 'Field of Dreams'. The project's makers want to share the main commemorative memorial, and other pieces, with all lovers of sport's history.
The centrepiece is the Lancaster Park Memorial print, supported by a poster collection, both offered through a simple online store with AfterPay accepted. Alongside the shop sits a free gallery of montages tracing the ground from the historic 1880s through the Deans Stand and PK Stand eras to post-deconstruction images, while the blog shares the stories and research behind the work.
Based at the park's Waltham address, 30 Stevens Street, Christchurch 8011, the project invites anyone with a connection to the ground to 'literally have a piece of Lancaster Park' — and to help ensure that memories of the Field of Dreams, in the team's words, 'remain undiminished'. The team can be reached at [email protected].
Every city has a ground it never quite forgets. For Christchurch, that ground was Lancaster Park — the place generations knew as the Field of Dreams. The stadium itself is gone, but its story is being kept deliberately, lovingly alive by a small memorabilia project based at the park's old Waltham address, 30 Stevens Street.
Lancaster Park (lancasterpark.co.nz) calls the venture 'a labour of love', and the description fits. After extensive research, compilation and design, the team has created memorabilia intended to truly represent the 130-year history of Lancaster Park. The goal is not simply to sell prints. It is, in their own words, to share the main commemorative memorial 'with all lovers of sport's history', and to give people the chance to 'literally have a piece of Lancaster Park' so that memories of the Field of Dreams 'remain undiminished'.
The centrepiece is the Lancaster Park Memorial print — the project's main commemorative work, condensing 130 years of the ground's story into a single piece. Around it sits a poster collection that carries the park's history onto the wall in an accessible, displayable form. Both were developed through what the team describes as extensive research and design, and both speak to the same impulse: a place this woven into a city's life deserves more than a fading photograph in a drawer.
Everything is offered through a simple online store. Browse the memorial and the posters, add your choice to the cart and check out online, with AfterPay available for those who would rather spread the cost. Questions are answered directly at [email protected], and the project keeps a public presence on Facebook for followers who want updates.
One of the quiet pleasures of the site is that you don't have to spend anything to spend time with the park. The gallery gathers montages that follow the ground across its long life: scenes from the historic 1880s, images of the Deans Stand and the PK Stand, and photographs taken after the deconstruction of the old stadium. Leafing through them feels like walking the terraces one more time — the same stands, the same angles, the same light, captured across the decades.
The blog extends that journey with stories and research behind the memorabilia — the kind of background detail that turns a print on a wall into a conversation piece. For anyone who spent time at the park, or who simply loves sport's history, it is a rewarding read in its own right.
Sports grounds hold an unusual place in a city's memory. They are where crowds gathered, where seasons turned, where the weather was endured and the moments savoured. When a ground disappears, what remains is scattered: ticket stubs, programmes, half-remembered afternoons. What this project does is gather that feeling into something tangible — a memorial, posters and an archive that give the park a permanent home.
Based in Waltham, at the address the ground made famous, the team behind lancasterpark.co.nz clearly sees the work as custodianship rather than commerce. The tone is warm and personal; the pieces are presented as a chance to hold on, not a hard sell. For Cantabrians of a certain generation, the memorial print may be a link to days spent on the terraces. For newer residents, it is an invitation to understand why a patch of Christchurch still carries so much feeling.
If Lancaster Park means something to you — a first game, a packed afternoon, a family tradition — this is where that meaning is being carefully preserved. Browse the gallery, read the blogs, and if the memories stir, take home the piece of the Field of Dreams that speaks to you.