the purpose, but beggars couldn’t be choosers and, with this beast, we started to be able to prepare surfaces that were at least flat! Coupled with that, we also had a deal with one of our vice presidents, and owner of a local golf course, for a set of power driven Atco gang mowers that we still use to this day, and pull behind my father’s old David Browne 880 tractor, and this enabled us to improve our outfield considerably. No more waiting for the council to cut the grass or finding them cutting it on Tuesday so, by the time the weekend arrived, it was nearly up to your knees. For most of the time, up until his death in 2007, my father, who was by then retired, cut the outfield, built our sightscreens and was generally our handy man. His loss to the club was immense, and I have to confess my first few rounds on the mowers as a new season dawns still brings a lump to my throat. During the course of the next few years our end of season renovations and pre- season work became better as the knowledge increased. And, as the cricket club grew, so did our ability to buy better machinery. This culminated in 2007, when the club was designated a Focus club with full Clubmark accreditation. This enabled us to gain a Community Club Development Grant to have a junior pitch (U11 and U13) added to the ground with a professionally laid 3-strip square, a renovation to our net area, a 1.5 ton Autoroller and a Dennis cassette mower. It’s a real bonus, after all the years using begged and borrowed equipment, to be able to unlock the doors of our lock up and use decent equipment. But, despite all that, I’m convinced I personally spend
more time working on the ground than I ever did.
The saying
‘ignorance is bliss’ perhaps rings true; the greater your understanding of how it should be done the more time you spend trying to
where we get around seventy to eighty children each week.
achieve it, which can prove challenging when also in full time employment. During the months of May to August
the ground is heavily used by our junior teams, ranging from U11 to U17, and four senior Saturday sides (two of which play on hired pitches), a Sunday and a midweek side, the occasional Norfolk CC junior county match and various touring teams. We try to arrange fixtures to avoid
Tuesday and Friday evenings, which allows time for pitch prep and repair work. However, there is still no chance of a peaceful night as Tuesday is senior practice and Friday is Junior coaching,
As to the hours spent on this labour of love? I hate to think. But, in common with hundreds of other volunteers like me across the country, the real reward is playing or watching cricket being played on a good surface prepared to the best of our ability.
Some of us older members can
remember the early days at Melton Park when a league score of 120 would have been considered testing but, these days, you would need to double that to stand any chance. There are times when you feel the pressure, and wonder why you do it. But, I just have to walk out onto the beautiful setting of Great Melton Park early on a sunny Saturday morning, when the birds are singing and the breeze is rustling the leaves on our resident oak tree, with the prospect of a good afternoon’s cricket ahead, and I soon realise just how worthwhile it all is.
engineered for perfection
A first class finish …. everytime
For more information on our full range of cricket ground maintenance equipment call 01332 824777
PROUDLY BRITISH
www.dennisuk.com 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138