During the remainder of his cricketing career, Donkin spent time as the resident professional at the Birtley and Dean Park cricket clubs.
Birtley is the home of the Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Birtley, and the Komatsu Heavy Engineering Company which operates from the previous premises of Birtley Iron Works (1827-, which became premises of the Caterpillar Company in the mid 20th century).
Their story was, until comparatively recently, known to a fairly small number of people in and around the village of Birtley, County Durham, England as well as a dwindling number of Belgians – and even then only imperfectly.
Birtley |