Pitchcare Classifieds USED MACHINERY
Specialists in Turf Care Machinery t: 01282 453900
e:
sales@balmersgm.com w:
www.balmersgm.com
• Compact Tractors • Ride-On Rotary Mowers • Ride-On Cylinder Mowers • Chippers • Trailers
• Attachments • Accessories • Mini-diggers • Pedestrian Mowers • Hand-held Equipment
The largest stock of second-hand turf care machinery in the UK
Visit our new website
www.balmersgm.com The John Mills Ballpark
As far as volunteer groundsmen go, Glyn Lightfoot’s position is somewhat unusual
Used Turfcare Machinery 01283 704664
Email:
enquiriesderby@boughton.co.uk www.boughton.co.uk
MY name is Glyn Lightfoot and I am a volunteer for Halton Baseball Club in Runcorn. My job title is Field Development Officer, which involves me working to a five year plan that I started two years ago, which I produced for the future development of the field.
Always a good selection of used equipment Tel: 01260 224568
Email:
info@campeyturfcare.com www.campeyturfcare.com
Our field is called The John Mills Ballpark, named after a previous head coach who helped form the club. I have been working at the club for approximately twelve years and started as a helper when my son Daniel played for the Rookies, 7-10 year olds, and I helped put out equipment and fill in holes that rabbits had dug.
At that time, I was working as a Shift Team Leader in the Research Laboratories at Thornton for Shell and, after thirty-six years, retired in September 2012.
The field is a local sportsfield and was originally used for football and rugby until our club had to move from the Norton Priory (which we had been at since 1997) to this facility at Halton Sports ten years ago.
All our help is from volunteer parents, players and coaches, with only the council giving us outside help. Coaches are parents and players who take the time to go on baseball coaching and umpiring courses to help the club.
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
You can have each and every copy of Pitchcare delivered direct to your door for just £30 a year (Overseas £50).
Subscribers also gain 2 BASIS CPD points
The independent, bi-monthly magazine for everyone involved in the turfcare industry.
Go to
www.pitchcare.com to subscribe on-line or call 01952 897910 for further information
150 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014
As we are solely a volunteer, non-profit making club, money is only collected from subs, paid by players for indoor and outdoor training which pays for the field hire from the council, the hire of halls for winter indoor training and also for equipment such as batting helmets, bats, balls, gloves and shirts. Also, we occasionally get small grants or donations, which help pay for improvements to the field or equipment we can buy.
Baseball Diamond Geezer!
We currently pay the council for a twelve month lease and, for this, they helped set up the field initially, supplied a container for all our equipment and now they cut the outfield once every two weeks.
Also, we have had problems with burnt-out cars, quad bikes and motorbikes racing over our field and, when this happened, the council disposed of the wrecks and have now put knee bars in place to at least stop cars but, unfortunately, not quads or motorbikes which are still a problem on the field.
Any money I want to spend on the field has to be agreed with the admin committee; my usual budget is £500 for the summer, which pays for white lining paint, petrol for the mower and strimmer. What’s left is used to buy loam, sand and red gra to top up the bases and pitching mound.
The junior field drains reasonably well down to the pond area, but has a few patches of heavy clay, whereas the main field has a lot of clay and gets waterlogged if we have heavy rainfall. If the field gets waterlogged or covered in snow, we have to let it drain away in its own time, which can cost us game days. If we had the funding, drainage would be one of our priorities.
The field is approximately four acres in size, with about three acres being used for baseball. The Broncos (10-13 years) play about twelve games at home between end of April to beginning of August. On the
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