Educational Establishments


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The crowning glory has to be the peregrine falcons - said to be the speediest birds on earth - which nest locally just above the rock face of the scar


prove “a nuisance”, but deer and badgers have, to date, failed to add to his headaches. Sea trout swim in Thames Beck, while salmon spawn in the stream, he adds - and a wild pond acts as an education focus for younger pupils. The crowning glory has to be the


peregrine falcons - said to be the speediest birds on earth - which nest locally just above the rock face of the scar. Craig and the team actively encourage


diversity - making and fitting up bird boxes right across the estate and planting wildflowers along sports pitches and woodland peripherals. Craig is clear on his priorities in the years


Never a line out at Giggleswick, except during a rugby match


School rugby is certainly moving along the right lines at Giggleswick, where the youth game is mining a rich vein of form, whether non-contact tag rugby for the seven-year-olds or the powerplay of the U18s.


Geographically, Giggleswick lies at the


epicentre of northern counties competition and stages a host of events across its age groups, such as the festival it holds in November for Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and


Northumberland/Cumbria/Durham U16s. When England selectors are attending,


presentation is paramount, which is why Craig ensures his ‘Fields of Dreams’ are pitch perfect throughout. “Boys and girls rugby is big here,” says


Craig, “with festivals for the U9s, U10s and U11s right up to the U18s. We maintain the pitches to withstand intensive use for several months of the year, but they also have to look the part and laying down bright, sharp lines is an important element of our preparations.” Seeking to emulate the success of last year’s U16s festival, Craig has applied


44 I PC APRIL/MAY 2017


ahead - to create a level playing field, literally, by recontouring cricket outfields and winter pitches and to continue his planned programme of other improvements in the quality of the sports surfaces under his care. He reflects on his journey into


groundsmanship. “I left school at sixteen, was a builder for a year, worked for Yorkshire Dales National Park, as well as Settle Golf Club, as I wanted to gain experience in several fields.” What are the most important elements he


can take from his predecessors at Giggleswick? “Martin’s attention to detail - he is an extremely good groundsman and is known especially for his work on cricket


Supaturf paint once again, using the Supaturf TXE252 linemarkers that have served Giggleswick consistently well over the years.” “I had tried several makes of marker machines and paint, but had suffered various problems with them. “Either the machines were prone to blockages or the batteries had issues. Martin used the Supaturf machines and, when he moved to Sedbergh School, recommended them.” Rugby is just one of several sports the school provides that needs machine reliability and professional finishes to satisfy Craig’s attention to detail and standards of presentation. The floodlit synthetic sand-dressed


hockey pitch comes in for heavy use over autumn and winter, whilst football enters the arena at the turn of the year before cricket on the three squares, and rounders start in earnest over the spring and summer terms. After boundary marking, using their


TXE252, the team reverts to hand painting the creases, applying neat paint to provide “a bright, strong, hard-wearing line that fits the bill,” says Craig. The grounds team use the machines for making out athletics for summer, also


grounds - skills that have developed my understanding of them.” “Kevin taught me the value of


presentation; applying the finishing touches - the flags, posts and nets - that I’d overlooked as a youngster.” “You never stop learning, from those older


and younger than yourself. I try to take in the industry shows and seminars but, being on the border of Yorkshire and Cumbria, we are a good couple of hours from urban centres like Leeds, so travelling time is an issue.”


“doing the job” on the three grass tennis courts, he adds.


Machine manoeuvrability means the


team can quickly mark out corner quadrants and other arc lines on playing surfaces. “Our different coloured aerosols serve us well there too,” states Craig. “Depending on which sports are


planned, we use red, blue and yellow. They also come in handy for measuring out pitch and track dimensions initially, ‘Ground under repair’ notices and at Settle Golf Club for marking out the fairway when it stages straightest shot competitions.” "Our wheel-to-wheel line markers had


proved good value for money but, when I was given a demonstration of the spray markers, I just had to switch,” says Craig. “Even after a full day’s marking out our


four senior and four junior rugby pitches, there’s still plenty of battery power for the pump to flush out the system with fresh water ready for the next job.” Why are the TXE252s still his mainstay?


“There is nothing complicated about them, so there are fewer parts to malfunction. They do what they need to.”


The Supaturf range of spray linemarkers is available from the Pitchcare shop.


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