Educational Establishments
What’s in the shed? Kubota M6040 tractor loader
Kubota L4240 lighter tractor unit, used mainly to pull the Lloyds Leda triple gang units on some cricket outfields and grounds
JCB/Tym 354 compact tractor, to haul the Progressive TDR‐15 Tri‐Deck roller on the rugby fields
Iseki TX622 small compact tractor for the “2G” sand‐filled or dressed synthetic surfaces implement power unit
Jacobsen TR3 triple cylinder mower for the main cricket outfield
SISIS Tee star triple cylinder mower for Ampleforth’s second X1, U15s, U14s and 3rd X1 outfields
Amazon Profihopper self‐propelled scarifier/flail cutter collector with high lift tipper
Dennis G860 34in squares mower
Two, Dennis FT610 24in wicket mower with Verity cutting cassette
Allett Tournament 20in wicket self‐ propelled professional cylinder mower
Two Auto‐roller cricket rollers. One at each site
Wiedenmann Terra Spike XP
management is the thing ‐ thinking more about when we do mark out.” Steering the rugby strategy is former Welsh international lock Will James, who is bringing his experience into teaching. “Will, who was a member of the 2007 Welsh Rugby World Cup squad, playing four games for his country, joined us two years ago after retiring from professional rugby union, playing his final game for Gloucester Rugby before a packed Kingsholm Stadium after 187 appearances,” Colin says. “We are fortunate to have such a well‐ qualified and enthusiastic head of rugby bringing his experience into teaching. He leads the 1st XV and has had an immediate impact on the forwards.”
Will also heads the sports development programme, which ties in the most promising sporting students with lectures on nutrition to practical sessions on swim fit and strength and conditioning ‐ the new £170,000 fitness hub enabling the school to deliver bespoke training for every athlete he oversees.
With ten pitches spread across the Ram’s, Jungle and Old Grounds, rugby ranks big time at the school, with teams spanning age ranges right across the school in regular action.
Six mobile, diesel‐run floodlights are used to line the Dallaglio Match Ground pitch perimeter for boys’ rugby training on Thursday nights, Colin mentions. "Academic lessons usually finish at 5.20pm, so they are very useful in winter months to enable training to go ahead.”
Although rugby has always been the most popular sport, football was introduced six years ago at Ampleforth College and around fifty students are in the line‐up to play this year on the two pitches devoted to football plus one used for training,” says Colin. “I’ll be rotating one of the pitches between football and rugby, depending on the weather and the ground conditions. We have a short season as we have no full‐time director of football.”
Here at the College, cricket stands tall, but 82 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018
the girls game is just getting started although the cricket B X1 only sprang up last season, beginning the process of establishing a fresh tradition at the school. "At this time of year [January], any maintenance done depends on the weather ‐ conditions after heavy rain prevent us from venturing onto the pitches until water has drained away,” Colin explains.
“The type of land we have is arguably our biggest issue. Maintenance early in the year is confined to work on the synthetic surfaces and the tennis courts and ensuring all our machinery is serviced and ready to go, knowing it won’t be long before our thoughts are turning to cricket." The team stripped and renovated the grass turf practice nets at the end of October before the weather turned, he says, but 2018 will witness a packed programme of action across all the squares. As well as hosting a massive fixture list including cup and a Twenty20 tournament, the team also provides for the local village to play their home games.
“Five to six weeks of cricket events are’planned for this year,” says Colin, "including the County Cricket Festival, which lasts three weeks, and the Chris Brice Pro Coach programme, when the Yorkshire team descends on Ampleforth."
The advent of summer term introduces tennis and athletics, as well as cricket, onto the schedule. The eight‐lane Redgra track, constructed in the 1960s, is soldiering on, along with long and triple jump, discus and javelin field sports housed within its perimeter.
All but three of Ampleforth’s eighteen tarmac tennis courts alternate with netball (Christmas to Easter) then all serve a single purpose as the seasonal passion over the sport builds to Wimbledon fortnight. “A total of 150 students play tennis, so it’s busy much of the time,” reports Colin, who is wrestling with maintenance issues on the hard surfaces.
“Three of the courts are painted and, when we need to run the Kersten rotary
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