EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS
The way we were - early aerial shot of Maiden Castle provision
department to tackle everything.” Several ‘extracurricular’ turfcare duties sit
in Paul’s lap - his remit including Durham Cricket Club (“we cut their outfield twice a week”) and Durham Rugby Club. Also, the team tends two more rugby pitches since acquiring land at Shincliffe, with the club as sitting tenants.
As a university ECB groundsman of the
year, Paul’s passions are the ten strip square at Maiden Castle and the eleven at the Racecourse. “Money was pumped into improving the cricket provision several years ago and I was able to start a rolling programme of wicket improvements at the Racecourse,” he says. “Umpires mark us for pitch quality, so keeping standards high is important.” Synthetic pitch provision is something of a necessary evil in Paul’s eyes. “We’ve sacrificed grass surfaces on the altar of artificial, but I accept that this is the way forward to raising intensity of participation. In an ideal world, how much better to have natural turf.”
Sports surface manufacturer and contractor SIS Pitches recently resurfaced one of the hockey pitches they installed in 2007, complete with a vibrant purple and green colour scheme and perimeter fixtures to create a colourful focus for what is a highly popular university sport.
The new pitch perimeter tree planting has created a softer setting for sport, which “looks good on an architectural plan,” Paul points out, “but is not necessarily practical from a maintenance stance,” and may add to day-to-day duties on and around the synthetic areas, he fears. “We sweep them daily to clear any rubbish and debris, then use the purpose- built John Deere X300 compact tractor to dragbrush after every ten hours’ use. Pop-up sprinklers flood the hockey pitches before a game - essential as the short carpet fibre can feel a little like Velcro when dry. “The FA come in regularly to check 3G ball bounce, and we always stress the need to wear studs for synthetics as flat soles flatten the pile and reduce the lifespan of
the surface; a flat profile wears the whole length of the fibres. You have to hire boots to even tread on the pitch, that’s how highly we value correct maintenance.” Aside from that, their upkeep is “pretty routine”, Paul adds. “Touching up the penalty spots on the 3Gs occasionally, which stage first team college football, is the only other task really.”
Team dynamic
As efficiencies have come in, the four full- time staff and summer part-timer aiding Paul when he arrived in 1991 now number two. “Lad” Stephen Brown had joined in 1976 straight from school, training up at Houghell College. “He maintains the cricket squares and practice wickets.” Robert Taggart works mainly at the
Racecourse ground, preparing pitches and cutting Durham Cricket Club outfield, football and rugby pitches. “Joe Simpson worked here for a year to give us a hand - an enthusiastic amateur putting his hand to gang mowing mainly”. Paul reports to facilities manager Laura Green, also liaising with head of sport Mark Brian when occasion demands. “My weekly events meeting with Laura covers private bookings, college sport fixtures and cleaning priorities, whilst the facilities meeting airs any issues or problems.” “On such a dynamic site, with so much
Dramatic entrance to the new centre
activity, the team needs to know which pitches to focus on and when,” Paul explains. “With a compact team tending two sites on this scale, we have to turn our hands to everything.” EU Directives have kicked in to further challenge the demands of the working week. “The 39 hours when I started here have been reduced to 35 and is a flat rate, with no overtime.” Added to that, the university’s two sports sites are geographically close but require road access between the two.” The expanded car parking capacity at Maiden Castle has resolved what had been a “massive” traffic co-ordination issue,
PC December/January 2020 99
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