Gardens have been reshaped to suit machinery
dealer days and training seminars. For example, Etesia has held successful events here to profile their products and the company. Going forward, I hope to expand on this and build up stronger links with these companies, as well as looking to forge new links with other companies in the landscaping and horticulture industry.” “For me, the best part of this is that it’s
a win-win situation for everyone - the campus is well presented and the staff and students are using modern and up to date equipment and, occasionally, we are also involved in demos and trialing prototype equipment like the recently introduced Etesia mulching mower.”
The Grounds
“Over the last year and half we have continued to change the lawns and borders to help streamline the
The grandstand pitch
maintenance programme. We are currently looking to start grading some of the lawn areas as, over the past year, building and pipe work has altered borders, making the shapes difficult to maintain and mow. The majority of areas were strimmed to achieve the desired affect. So, to reduce strimmer time, we changed the shapes to suit the machines that were doing the jobs.” “We have a list of tasks each month and aim to achieve them as a team. This is always affected by weather conditions, the amount of games and training time on each pitch, fixture requirements and swapping teams around to suit the needs of individual pitches so that the pitches perform at their best.”
“In December last year the college played host to an overseas schools tour. An Australian Schools Under 19 rugby team were resident and trained on site in
preparation for a series of matches against the England Academies. One of the games was played on our grandstand pitch against the under 19 regional academy XV. This required our team to change the maintenance programme to ensure that the pitch was immaculate for the occasion - a tough challenge given the weather conditions at the time.
The Sports Pitches
“In late May last year, sportsturf contractors, J Pugh Lewis, completed new pitches - two rugby and two football. These pitches have had the top 150mm of soil stripped off and stored on site before being reused. The grounds were sub-soil graded and drainage pipes laid every five metres at a depth of around 600mm. Around 200mm of pea gravel was placed on top of the pipe and backfilled to the surface with a medium-
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