Summer Sports - Cricket
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He previously worked as a regional sales manager with a medical company but, when he took his leave from there five years ago, started dealing in his love of grass. “I pretty much learned on the job, although last year, our league, in conjunction with the Kent Cricket Board, decided to sponsor ‘volunteers’ to go on a number of industry training courses.” “My training from my late father, Peter,
gave me a decent grounding in mechanics, part of which was being given a car for my seventeenth birthday - a Vauxhall Chevette - with one proviso; I had to take the engine and gearbox out, break it down to the last component, recondition any parts, and put it back together. If it worked, I’d have a car!” “Our Head Groundsman (and my mentor)
is Fred Naden. He is still preparing the wickets after many years, as well as bowling some very tempting leg spin, much of which takes the scalps of many a decent batsman.” “Fred sat on the committee as Grounds
I had to take the engine and gearbox out, break it down to the last component, recondition any parts, and put it back together. If it worked, I’d have a car!
Chairman until recently. Andy Hills is our Chairman; Bob Richards, Youth Coach, Club and Fixtures Secretary; Tim Seegar, Treasurer; Carol Richards, Social Secretary; Kadine Pearce, Child Welfare Officer and Matt Hird looks after our website (
www.fourelmscricketclub.co.uk).” “Between us, we decide expenditure on an
‘as needs’ basis. Budgeting has never been any sort of formal exercise, more like gut feel and experience.” Clive goes on to explain that the soil
profile on the outfield is a very thin layer of low-grade top soil, covering clay. “A lot of this has been compacted over the years by cars driving over the outfield to get to the pavilion. The square is Surrey loam, with two layers of root break at 40mm and 75mm respectively, with very low levels of thatch on top.” “The outfield is cut at 19mm over the summer to prevent the grass becoming too stressed, and is left to grow to 35mm in the
winter. The square is cut to 15mm and the strip to 6mm. We play one game on each strip then rest it for five or six weeks, allowing any repairs to be reseeded and recover.” “We have a Ransomes T185D for the outfield. We obtained it secondhand; the previous owner used it to keep his airfield runway serviceable. On the square, we use an Atco 30 and a Ransomes 20 Auto Certes, the ages of which are anyone’s guess, but probably date back to the eighties: they’ve certainly been here longer than me!” “We had the whole ground mole drained
and fitted with a network of perforated pipes, all draining into a ditch at the bottom of the ground. Although this was done some twenty years ago, it still provides some drainage. The ground was was once a hop field.” “The local school uses our outfield for some of their sports in the summer, as well as providing a place for their pupils to walk
PC APRIL/MAY 2015 I 79
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