TWENTY Questions
Tim Parker - dog owners, scratching batsmen and renaging ‘team’ members be very afraid!
Who are you? Tim Parker, Head, Groundsman at Royal Hospital School, and Club Captain and Groundsman at Woolpit CC. ECB County Pitch Adviser for Suffolk.
Family status? Married for over 20 years to the lovely Kathy, daughter Alice 22, son William 20.
Who’s your hero and why? Ian Botham. Natural talent, irreverent, but box office when he came off, in all aspects of the game.
What is your dream holiday? An MCC Tour of India.
What annoys you the most? Dog owners who don’t clear up their animals poo in amenity areas.
What would you change about yourself? Stop eating so much to regain the figure I had in my twenties!
Who wouldn’t you like to be? Mike Gatting, the second before Malcolm Marshall rearranged his nose!
Favourite record, and why? Stones ‘Brown Sugar’. It was the iconic song during my ‘pomp’ around Guildford in the early 70s - beer, girls and fun!
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? Naturally, my wife.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Retire, travel, MCC tour every winter and keep preparing pitches for Woolpit whilst playing lots of golf and setting up my children’s future.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? Drums - a constant in the background to depend on.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Believe in your natural sporting aptitude, I was a nervous young man.
What’s your favourite smell? Fresh mown grass - of course!
What do you do in your spare time? I don’t have much as, in the summer, I rush from the huge task of maintaining the school to my village ground to prepare and tend cricket pitches right through the season and, at weekends, I play. My wife is the ultimate cricket widow, so she scores and helps with teas or she would never see any of us, as my son, when back from Loughborough, opens the bowling for the 1st XI and my daughter skippers the ladies when she can get off work! In the autumn, I help loads of clubs putting their squares to bed and delivering the county trailer.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? One of the school teachers asked me at the end of term if I was looking forward to having the rest of the summer off!
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Dennis 510 wicket mower - so easy to use and adjust.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Big, dependable, greedy!
What talent would you like to have? I would love to be able to read music and play an instrument.
What makes you angry? Pathetic excuses to not play for the team at weekends, when I think of the commitment and sacrifice people like myself are making to prepare surfaces for sport all over the country - and it’s getting worse!
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? Penalties for cricketers who vandalise the pitch with their studs after taking guard and before each ball thereafter! Trott you have a lot to answer for!
draining and ideal for winter sports and, as a result, Tim doesn’t feel the need to verti- drain too often given the free draining nature of the sub soil. The school doesn’t have its own weather station at present, but is looking into the possibility of purchasing one. This will provide an additional tool to help Tim make more informed decisions in the management of the unique environment. In the meantime, he currently uses the Pitchcare website for weather forecasts, as well as local weather reports.
Hedges
The school is reputed to have eight miles of hedging, although Tim admits he hasn’t measured it to be sure, but agrees there is a lot! It is all cut by hand using double sided hedge trimmers, as it is impossible to use tractor mounted equipment because a large part of it forms the boundaries of the gardens of staff housing. The outlying hedges that do not form part of the main school campus are the only exception, where it is possible to use tractor mounted equipment. It is mostly a mix of yew and holly, plus some mixed hedging around the Headmaster’s garden. Cutting it back starts in August, with the aim to finish in early January.
Wildlife stewardship
The school attracts an assortment of wildlife, mainly because of its location. Wildlife that can be seen includes oystercatchers, redshank, various gulls, egrets, and little owls, as well as the usual squirrels, foxes and rabbits. Within the current management plan for the grounds there is no specific wildlife stewardship scheme, save for a few owl boxes that have been installed, and some measures that have
been taken to control foxes and rabbits. But the site is quite diverse and large, providing a wide range of naturally occurring habitats, so there is no need to manage the wildlife at present. There is a surprising number and variety of trees on the site given its open field appearance. Holly, oak, beech and lime are all in abundance, providing additional wildlife habitats. The tree population was boosted further in 2005 when ten acres of school land was planted with mixed woodland species by the school’s pupils. The wood, adjacent to the school and now known as Prince Wood, was previously a poor stony tract of land that was not suitable for crop production. The planting achieved an 80% success rate and is well on the way to becoming an established wood.
Succesful pupils
Pupils from the RHS are generally renowned for their musical talent. This was more than ably demonstrated by the school’s band, which was invited to play at the England v France Six Nations Rugby match at Twickenham earlier this year (which England won 17-9). The band led the singing of ‘Jerusalem’ and the two national anthems. However, RHS pupils have also found success on the sportsfield, with many representing their counties and regions across a variety of sports disciplines. Success at national level has also been achieved.
Jonathan Ilori, a year 13 pupil, is one example. Jonathan won the Under 20 (U20) Triple Jump at the South of England Athletics Association Indoor Championships, with a personal best of 14.92 metres, for which he became ranked number one in the U20 category nationally.
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