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EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS


Winter maintenance continues on the rugby pitches


One of the three cricket squares


soapbox racecourses, manage all the trees and grow all the plants - they don’t know we do that, so it’s getting that out there that really brings it all together.” “Anything that we can see to improve we’ll look at, like the new fencing we put in around the rugby pitch. And that applies all over the site, the car park is something we suggested and are now finishing and, if there’s a green space where we think a tree would look nice, then we’ll go and plant the tree. There’s always something that we can look at within reason because we can’t go ripping stuff up without consultation, but generally, if we put a decent plan together and we can prove it’s beneficial, then we can do it.” “There’s a well down the bottom of one of the fields which was completely forgotten about. We decided to clear it out and turn it into a nature area. We’ve got trees planted down there now, and we’ll create a pond dipping area for the junior school during the winter. We’re only doing that because we can, and it’ll benefit the school. It doesn’t


We have a full season of rugby now and then a full term of football and then, all of a sudden, you need nine cricket outfields - on pitches that have been churned up for the last six months - on a three week turn around


” The Soapbox track ready for action 88 PC December/January 2020


cost a lot, only our time, but if we’re keeping busy when we wouldn’t usually be busy, then it’s good all round.”


“I think when you say you’ve got ten members of staff people assume you’re quite well off, and we are, but we do a lot that other grounds or garden departments wouldn’t. We do lay paths, build roads and patios and put sheds up. We do all of that, and that’s the element of keeping us busy for twelve months of the year, and sometimes we do take on a bit too much, but we get there in the end.” Keeping busy all year round isn’t difficult on the sports side. Going through the terms, there are thirteen football pitches, eleven rugby pitches, two grass athletics tracks and three main cricket tables with six outfields making up nine cricket fields. This excludes extra events like the recently hosted cross country or the summer soapbox race which is prepared in great detail by both teams. As it’s November, the pitches are set for rugby and, given the wet weather and constant use, they are in excellent condition.


For Chris, keeping them at this standard is down to doing the basics well and ensuring maintenance is done regularly.


“The pitches are getting played on every


day. It’s split between junior school and senior school and then the year groups and they’re out there pretty much all the time. In the cricket season, it’s pretty much all day every day, apart from Sunday when they might get a bit of a rest, but then we host county sometimes as well.” “We’re good at keeping on top of the scarifying and that sort of thing in the springtime, so we generally don’t get a significant build-up of thatch or anything like that, which helps us throughout the year.” Will adds: “I like to think we do the basics well; we don’t try and be flash. I think sometimes people get too caught up with spray programmes and things like that. I can see in a stadium environment where you need that colour, but I think basic grass management is really it.” “You have to be ahead because I think the hardest time is from Christmas to the cricket


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