“It takes just ninety minutes of football to wreck all the hard work and effort”
do though. I tell them that grass grows by the inch and dies by the foot!” “The weather certainly hasn’t been brilliant this season either and, at times, we have struggled. It is not helped by the fact that we are having a brand new, state of the art, stadium built at a cost of £3m. This work is taking place above the level of the existing pitch so, with all the heavy rain, all sorts of rubbish is being washed down towards the pitch.” “The existing ground does have
pretty good drainage but it has struggled this year as the drains have, on occasions, backed up on themselves.” “The new ground will consist of
three grandstands, two terraces and a main clubhouse area with conference facilities, players and members areas and seating for 250 spectators. As well as the main pitch there will be a third generation training pitch. And, hopefully, all new maintenance equipment! Pop-up sprinklers will be installed and the whole complex is designed to be Conference South standard, such is the ambition of the club.” “As for me, I love early mornings in the summer. I usually get up about 5am and head off down to the pitch. The first thing I do is put the kettle on for a cup of
Days OFF!
coffee. My younger brother will come with me in the school holidays to help out.... you can always do with another pair of hands! His job usually involves putting the nets down and pegging them; I lift my nets after every game to stop the rabbits gnawing them. He will also put out the corner flags and, whilst I am finishing off the pitch, he will have the kettle on again ready for breakfast. The final job we do is to string out the lines.”
“My ambition is to get to the top and, with youth on my side, I think I have made a good start on my career path. I already have PA1/PA6 spraying licence, Level 1 and 2 IOG Certificates for the safe use of Ransomes Triples and Rotaries, and I will be attending Level 3 IOG this year as well as a course on Synthetics.”
“I admit that, on occasions, I am not the happiest of guys but, hey, groundsmen spend so much time getting their surfaces into pristine condition and it takes just ninety minutes of football to wreck all our hard work and effort!!”
Top: The New Astro pitch!
Middle: The Main Pitch and Clubhouse facility under construction
Bottom: Artists impression of how the new complex will look
... or what Pitchcare readers get up to out of office hours
ROB ARCHER, Territory Manager for the South Eastern JCB Groundcare dealer Greenshields Groundcare and ‘Redexrob’ on the PC message board: My job is to identify opportunities, arrange demonstrations and generally promote the brand to any potential customers. It’s a very exciting time to be involved with a new depot to set up and new products to introduce.
with a lovely wife Jacqui and two girls 10 and 11 who are into everything from Heelys to Ipods, they are also good violin players and achieving good marks at school.Weekends can be very testing with the homework they have to do; at least we get to update on computer know-how from them! I have always enjoyed a wide
a massive empire and building some truly impressive structures. Once I helped on a dig on a villa site in Chichester, which started out as one of their supply camps and later became a palace for the local Governor. Even in sport I am fairly diverse, I
I am a busy family man at home
variety of hobbies and interests, life’s just too short to miss out on things, isn’t it? I have a truly John Peel taste in music, can be anything from pop to opera, although I will NEVER like Lionel Ritchie! I have an interest in history, particularly the Roman period, who left a huge legacy behind. They really knew how to maximise on ideas, creating
am a keen motorsports fan and was lucky enough to attend Le Mans last year, one of those things you never forget, all the colour and the sounds. I follow F1 mainly for the British drivers: Lewis Hamilton is going to be great in time. I am also a keen football follower, mainly Liverpool, just a fantastic club with the best fans in the world and a glorious history. Reading, my local team, are an example for anyone who wants to aspire to bigger things. Many people thought they would do a Torquay, my father’s local team; well the less said about them the better at the moment!
classic cars, mainly from the 1960s when Ford made some very stylish cars for everyday people on both sides of the Atlantic i.e. the Mustang, Consul, Classic Capri, Lotus Cortina, etc. Most people who know me know all about my old Mk2 Cortina 1600E. The thing with the Cortina is that, although it was a very conventionally designed family saloon car, it could be all
My main passion, however, is
things to all persons, with so many different models and styles appealing to different buyers. The 1600E was the flagship model at the time with the 1600GT engine, Lotus tweaks to the suspension and dressed with lots of chrome, walnut fascias etc., all made to appeal to the young ‘Executive’ of the day. My car is mostly original and near concours, but I never wish to get too fastidious as that would just spoil the enjoyment for me. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time cleaning things like brake callipers just to say mine’s better than yours. It really is an Old School ride with every bump in the road and cornering felt like no modern car, but believe me there’s nothing better for blowing away the cobwebs of a weekend in the summertime, and I just love the reaction it gets from people - smiles and waves and occasionally “I used to have one of those, best car I ever had”. Roll on the summer!
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