Schools & Colleges
The golf course wraps itself around the abbey sports day.
The sports pitches and outfields are soil based, having a 300mm depth of natural soil overlying Dorset limestone bedrock, so they tend to drain very well. The sports pitches are mown weekly between 25-30mm, depending on time of year, using a Toro triple cylinder mower. Every year, Joe renovates the winter sports pitches, usually scarifying, vertidraining, topdressing and overseeding them. He is governed by a tight budget, so not all the pitches get the amount of topdressings he would like; he often has to prioritise which ones get topdressed. Sixty tonnes per pitch is the norm.
The staff take pride in the presentation of their pitches and currently use a spray
jet linemarker for best results, marking on a weekly and/or fixture basis. String lines are used at all times. In addition, there is a nine hole golf course, designed by Peter Aliss in 1972, that wraps itself cozily around the abbey. It is here that the best views of the building can be had, along with some magnificent old cedar trees, all of which appear to watch every shot played! Brian is in charge of maintaining and
presenting the course. It is available to 150 local members all year round, who have access every day from 8.00am until 12.30pm, and at weekends. Afternoons and evenings are reserved for the pupils. Greens are mown daily in the summer months and kept at around 5mm. Tees are mown twice or three times a week to
12mm, and fairways are cut at 15mm once a week. The rough is also cut weekly. The school have invested in a Toro 5500 fairway mower and Toro 3100 Triple cylinder mower to maintain the course.
Joe, Lee and Chris Prior look after the
cricket facilities. The main square has seven wickets, of which four where relaid two years ago, digging out to a depth of 100mm and replacing with new Ongar loam. Joe and his staff carried out the work themselves and have been very pleased with the results, which has led to Dorset U17s now regularly playing on the square. Dorset U10-U18 also use the cricket facilities three time a week during the summer.
The setting for the sports pitches is FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 PC 97
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