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GETTING Personal...
Adam Witchell - judging by his choice of romantic date, he is very much into sharing!
What’s the best part of your job? Cutting pitches like I see Premier clubs have - Man City’s Lee Jackson, for example.
… and the worst? Months of rain!
Do you have a lifetime ambition? To see my family all happy.
Who wouldn’t you like to be? Anyone who works in an office - I like it outside too much.
Favourite record, and why? Plan B. Song 3, pumps me up and reminds me of my youth.
Who are you? Adam John Witchell, Head Groundman, Beversbrook Sports Facility.
Family status? Girlfriend and four dogs.
Who’s your hero and why? John Terry Chelsea and England captain and leader.
What would you change about yourself? Be more patient.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Playing cricket.
What do you drop everything for? My family.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? Winning Grass Roots 2013 and meeting Lee Jackson (Man City)
Glass half full or half empty? Half full.
Climate change - fact or fiction? Fiction (climate has changed for years - rolls round every so many years).
What’s your favourite season? Summer.
What are your pet peeves? Rude people and managers who think the pitch will drain after a few hours when we have had weeks of rain.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Las Vegas.
124 I PC JUNE/JULY 2014
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? Luisa Zissman or Nicole Shwerzinger - preferably both!
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Las Vegas.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? A guitar, everyoone loves a guitar.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Patience.
What’s your favourite smell? A good fry up.
What do you do in your spare time? Match day groundsman at Swindon Town.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? Would putting a willow tree by all the pitches help get the water off the surface?!
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Our Martin Lishman Sprayer or Jacobsen 305.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Hardworking, passionate and knowledgeable.
What talent would you like to have? The ability to control the weather.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? People who severely mistreat animals should be beaten and jailed!
Aerial view of Beversbrook Sports Facility
L-r: (back row) Adam Witchell, James Down, Martin Butler. (front row) Jamie Lloyd-Davies and Kevin Whitehorn
hope, one day, that I’ll be able to work with him’. Now, I class him as one of my friends and work alongside him on match days at the County Ground. I think he is one of the best groundsmen in the industry. His pitch is always immaculate and has been for years; he has given me a great insight into the job, along with some very sound advice.” Adam explains that the
wildlife and ecology of the site is an important part of his remit - although not the moles! Fortunately, they are the only pests the site currently suffers from and are easily kept under control using tunnel traps and techniques he learned from his time at Aberdovey Golf Club. For weedkilling, he uses
Depitox and Relay Turf together; “I find that these do a cracking job.” “The local flora and fauna is
very important; we need to help the bee population and, to that end, we will be planting
wildflower areas. I am working on an environmental policy this year, with input from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and English Heritage.” “We recycle all of the
rainwater that drains through our pitches, it goes into a pond and the irrigation takes that water and puts back onto our pitches. I also store rainwater to water our bedding plants.” Adam is clearly on top of his
game, so much so that he won the White Horse Contractors IOG Grassroots Sports Ground of the Year; an award he is immensely proud of. “We are fortunate to work in the best industry and I believe we are moving in the right direction,” he concludes.
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