Schools & Colleges
Neville Johnson heads to the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus to meet Paul Griffiths, the man whose job it is to see that the grounds always get a First
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Welshman through and through and, not surprisingly, a passionate rugby man, Paul Griffiths has, these past twelve years, become a Man of Kent, in outdoor spirit and by definition, because he lives and works on the east side of the county’s River Medway.
He became Grounds Maintenance Manager at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus a year ago, taking over from Mick Woods, who had been looking after the grounds since 1975. Paul says these were big boots to fill. He had previously been the Senior Groundsperson, looking after the university sports pitches - grassed and artificial - but this was a big mantle of responsibility and one that would necessarily take him away from daily hands-on pitch care and into the realms of overall management - groundcare and men. Paul’s early move into groundsmanship was, he admits, vague and without any specific aim in view. In 1992, after leaving school, he embarked on a City and Guilds NVQ in General Horticulture at
A matter of DEGREES!
Riseholme College in his home city of Lincoln, and was pretty much coerced into it by his parents. He liked it and a further 2-year National Diploma course followed. His initial venture into turfcare meant moving south, and it was a job on the grounds at Oaklands College in St Albans that set him on his way. It was being appointed head groundsman at Dover Athletic in 2000 that really sealed his career though and got him putting down Kentish roots, he says. He settled at Ramsgate, where he and his wife started a family, but was at the Dover club’s Crabble ground for just a year when he became the victim of stringent budget cuts. He retains a fondness for the club, referring to them still as the mighty, mighty whites. East Kent is renowned for its golf clubs
and Paul sought to get his career back on track by a move into greenkeeping. He sent his CV to the host of private clubs in the county’s easternmost Thanet area in particular, and was soon rewarded with an invitation to take up a greenkeeping position at Westgate and Birchington Golf Club, a cliff-top course not far from Margate, where he learned much about
fine turf care - and Kent’s weather extremes.
It was in 2006 that Paul applied for a place at the university. He was successful and engaged by the Estates Department as a senior groundsman. At that time the grounds extended over nine hectares but, because the university has continued to expand, with more teaching blocks and student accommodation, this has been reduced to 6.5 hectares. The responsibilities are no less challenging however and, if anything, the demand for yet higher standards for outdoor sports and amenity facilities keep on growing. The site is surrounded by farmland, principally arable and orchards, and the grounds maintenance department itself, where machinery is kept and maintained, is a series of former farm buildings, including a listed barn. The Grounds Department has eight full-time staff and is an integral part of the University’s Estates Department. Paul’s head groundsman, Chris Wright, who was promoted to the role he held a year ago, is kept pretty busy and his results are impressive enough for him to
The Canterbury campus in summer with the Park Wood pitches - natural and artificial - in the foreground and the Cathedral City a mile or so in the other direction
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