Winter Sports
“This revealed that the brashy soil was as shallow as 150mm in
places, causing plough shares to bounce along the bedrock!”
August 2012: 1800 tonnes of medium coarse sand applied
below the surface. The next stage of the construction saw 1800 tonnes of medium fine sand shipped in and applied to the higher specification 1st and 2nd XV pitches, leaving a 50mm layer of sand on the surface of the pitch areas. This was incorporated with the top 50mm of topsoil, using a power harrow to form an imperfect mixture and then a final tilth prepared with a lightweight drag harrow. Despite the wettest summer for many years and all its interruptions to work, barely seven weeks from the start of the operation on 24 August 2012, the entire area was given a 400kg/ha NPK application of 10:15:10 pre-seed fertiliser and then seeded at 40g/m² with Barenbrug Bar 7, a pure ryegrass blend of four cultivars.
Manual stone picking followed this; the surface was firmed with a light roll, then left alone to establish for a month before the first mowing as the grass reached 60mm height. Four further autumn cuts were managed, as well as a winter 4:12:12 feed being given in October 2012. “It was an extraordinarily mean winter
with record rainfall, persistent wind and a late cold spring, meaning that grass did not start growing very early. But it
drained well, allowing us to fertilise at 12:6:6 in late March and get on with the Blec Vibra Sandmaster a month later,” explained Bretton. The Sandmaster added 15mm wide x 150mm deep sand bands to connect the surface to the free- draining bedrock beneath, with the four day operation providing further improved drainage properties. An overseeding at 15gm/m² rounded off this phase before the next operation of vertidraining (25mm tines at 100mm centre spacing) and applying 700 tonnes of Sportsturf topdressing sand, which took place in early June 2013. A light weed control was needed mid-summer due to low populations of Ribwort, Plantain and Chickweed which weren’t really being controlled by the mowing regime Finally, almost a year after starting, Ecosol was able to mark out the four
Emerging seedlings of ryegrass blend
pitches and erected 13m aluminium goalposts from Mark Harrod Ltd, hinged because the strict planning consent requires the club to be able to take them down from time to time. On June 30th this year, John Hacker convened the handover meeting and duly signed off the pitches for the RFU. The contractor will continue to mow, whiteline and provide day to day groundscare duties until the end of 2014 as part of a separate aftercare contract, something widely regarded as essential nowadays if investments are to bring about long-term successes.
“Ecosol have been pretty brilliant to work with,” recalled Morgwn Atkins. “The quality of the work speaks for itself, but also, they have been excellent communicators, keeping us up to speed every step of the way, even sending photos of the work and erecting signs to keep the public informed and the site safe and secure. They have acted over and above the call of duty.” Having the new ground has been
Further improving drainage with Sandmaster Sand Banding 70 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
excellent for the club’s morale. The club’s committee were ecstatic when they bought the land, hit a trough and anti- climax whilst struggling to get the various permissions, but then shot back onto a high when everyone saw the construction kicking off. The new ground has raised the club’s profile, brought everyone
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 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156