TWENTY Questions
Jim Scammell - approachable - unless you want to add a last minute fixture!
Who are you? Jim Scammell, Deputy Head Groundsman at Canford School.
Family status? Married to Carol, with three sons, three grandkids and one step grandchild.
Who’s your hero and why? My dad, who passed away in 2002, for the advice he gave me.
What is your dream holiday? A cruise around the world.
What annoys you the most? Last minute fixture requests.
What would you change about yourself? Nothing really.
Who wouldn’t you like to be? The Prime Minister.
Favourite record, and why? Anything by Simple Minds and U2.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? My wife Carol.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Help out family and friends.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? A guitar - good on its own or in a group.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? To be positive in everything you do and learn from your mistakes.
What’s your favourite smell? A cooked breakfast.
What do you do in your spare time? Spend time with my wife, grandchildren and the family.
What's the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? “What way up do you plant the grass seed?”
What’s your favourite piece of kit? The John Deere 2653A triple.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Hard working, approachable and loyal.
What talent would you like to have? To be in more than one place at a time!
What makes you angry? People who are rude and lazy or show little respect.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? Extra bank holidays please!
The par 3 third (210 yards) and 12th (192 yards)
assists Head Groundsman, James Lathwell, who was featured in the previous edition of this magazine. Bournemouth has a pitch reserved solely for its use, and Jim tries to ensure that it mirrors the stadium pitch as closely as possible. However, its proximity to the woodland does mean that one edge occasionally suffers from being ‘a bit damp’, so the players do sometimes encroach on to the adjoining school pitch. Jim is assisted by Rory
Harrington, Arran Grant and Aaron Parsonage.
The final member of the supervisory team is Senior Gardener, Tim Handyside, another former student of Kingston Maurward College. With twenty years service at Canford, Tim honed his horticultural skills working for Bournemouth Council for seven years.
He, and his team of John
Ladbrook, Shaun Dixon and Karl Whiteley, are responsible for the extensive formal gardens and ornamental lawns around the campus, along with tending the Round Garden. Tim also designs all new beds,
being responsible for the choice of species planted. All plants are sourced from local nursery, Marchants. With the formalities conducted, it is time for lunch before a tour of the grounds. Kerry takes me to the ‘canteen’, a splendid baronial hall, c1600, with a stunning stained glass window, vaulted ceiling, wood panelling, stone floors and two enormous chandeliers. This is the first of many times, during the afternoon, that Kerry will say “not a bad place to work, is it?” Over lunch we discuss the machinery Kerry and his team use. The majority of equipment is John Deere, purchased from and maintained by New Forest Farm Machinery. Toro machinery is also used on the golf course and the gardens, supplied by Clarks Turf Machinery of Wellow. C&O Tractors of Blandford supplied their New Holland TCE40 tractor. The majority of the arboreal equipment is Stihl, purchased from Longham Garden Machinery. Each of the dealerships are
responsible for servicing their own
franchises but all cylinder grinding is undertaken by Clarks, on a yearly basis.
Day to day set-up and maintenance is the responsibility of the team.
Other machinery includes a Honda HRB rotary mower for verges and first cut of cricket tables, a Dennis Premier for cricket squares, a Lloyds Paladin and Baroness LM22 for cricket wickets, three Tornado TM300 blowers - “with 3,000 trees, they are extensively used in the autumn,” says Kerry - a Trilo SG200 vacuum sweeper and a trusty autoroller.
The ride-on mowers are replaced after 4,000 hours, and the tractors after 5,000. Kerry explains that the 250 acres
are made up of thirty-five acres of grass pitches, two artificial pitches, one sand based and one a strange mix of water irrigation and a light sand dressing; “but not a water based pitch.” Kerry points out. “I’ve not come across anything like it before. No one knows why it was built like that, but it plays perfectly well!”
The golf course occupies a further
thirty-five acres and the footprint of the school gardens, including buildings, another forty acres. The remainder is woodland. During the Summer term, five
cricket squares come into play, two of which are on winter sports pitches. “That makes for some rather interesting and ‘urgent’ pre- season work,” says Kerry. The two artificial pitches are converted to twelve tennis courts on each to supplement the six asphalt courts on site. “Tennis is becoming increasingly popular and there is now a demand to play floodlit tennis.” says Kerry. “We have temporary floodlights in place on some of the asphalt courts, and planning permission is currently being secured to put permanent floodlights on the second artificial pitch which, incidentally, is right next door to my home. Still, that might mean we’ll save on our electricity bills!” A 400 metre grass athletics track, along with all field event stations, completes the summer term requirements.
The Christmas term sees the
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