Lottery cash for Charlton and Milburn boyhood football park

A park where three English football legends played as boys is receiving £2.3m of lottery funding.

Hirst Park in Ashington - where Jack Charlton was talent-spotted and his brother Bobby and Jackie Milburn also played - will see its pitches restored.

Jack Charlton, who played alongside his brother in the 1966 World Cup winning team, called it "our very own Wembley".

£32m from the Heritage Lottery and Big Lottery funds is being shared between 12 parks and cemeteries around the UK.

Also receiving cash are London's Brompton Cemetery, where suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst is buried, and Rivington Terraced Gardens in Lancashire, the former home of Lord Leverhulme.

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Bobby and Jack Charlton played for England together in the 1966 and 1970 World Cups

Jack Charlton (middle row, right) is pictured here with his Hirst Park team-mates as a 15-year-old

Football pitches at Hirst Park will be restored thanks to the funding

Jack Charlton - who played for Leeds United for 20 years and managed the Republic of Ireland - said Hirst Park was a "precious place" where he and his brother learned their craft.

"The football pitches where we played were created on the ash tip from the colliery and these were our first training grounds - our very own Wembley," he said.

"Hirst Park made it all possible for us and we would play all day if we could - and we often did."

His brother Sir Bobby, who is still Manchester United's leading goalscorer, said the park was "as necessary and valuable to the youth of today" as it had been for him.

The money will be used to restore the pitches and establish an annual Charlton and Milburn Cup tournament for local youth groups.

A horticultural training centre and a water splash zone are also planned.

Heritage Lottery Fund chairman Sir Peter Luff said parks were where "we make some of our first discoveries and where some of us take our first steps to stardom".

Jackie Milburn won the FA Cup with Newcastle in the 1950s

A breakdown of how much each area will receive

• Hirst Park, Ashington, Northumberland - £2,389,200

• Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire - £952,200

• Sheffield General Cemetery Park, Sheffield - £3,528,000

• South Metropolitan (West Norwood) Cemetery, London - £4,845,800

• Staunton Country Park, Havant, Hampshire - £2,972,700

• Brompton Cemetery, London - £3,934,400

• Page Park, Bristol - £1,627,200

• Pump Room Gardens, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire - £995,600

• Rhyddings Park, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire - £1,389,300

• Rivington Terraced Gardens, Chorley, Lancashire - £3,414,100

• Hermitage Park, Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute - £2,333,300

• Saughton Park, Edinburgh - £3,799,100