CONTENTS The Pitchcare team
KERRY HAYWOOD Editor
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JOHN RICHARDS Sub-editor
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Issue 90 April/May 2020
LEE WILLIAMS Editorial
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lee.williams@pitchcare.com PETER BRITTON
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peter@pitchcare.com Our contributors COVER STORY: The Life of Riley
Wallsend Boys Club has gained a formidable reputation for the early development of many professional footballers, including Alan Shearer, Michael Carrick, Steve Bruce and Peter Beardsley, to name just a few. Lee Williams met up with Site Manager Ian Riley who, along with his other responsibilities, is also the club’s groundsman. P54
GOLF Walking in Jim’s footsteps! JANE CARLEY BLAIR FERGUSON
The cliff tops overlooking the English Channel is where Lee Williams met with Paul Newcombe, East Devon Golf Club’s longserving Head Greenkeeper, whose original dream was to be a professional golfer. However, he is proud to hold East Devon’s course record with a sixty-four, which he achieved at the age of sixteen. P12
Proper job! NEVILLE JOHNSON CHRIS McCULLOUGH
Yeovil Golf Club is set in the beautiful countryside on the Somerset borders, at the eastern edge of Yeovil town centre. It boasts two excellent courses; the eighteen-hole Old Course and the nine-hole Newton Course. On a very wet day, when the course was closed for essential works on the clubhouse, Lee Williams met with Jason Connaughton, the club’s Course Manager. P20
Relationship building! DAVE MEARS GREG RHODES
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Ramside Golf Club in County Durham comprises two 18-hole courses, but it wasn’t always that way. Tucked away in the middle of the older Prince Bishop Course is the greenkeepers’ sheds, which is where Lee Williams met up with brothers-in-law Roger Shaw and Craig Hardy to discover more about the young history of the club. P28
KEYNOTE INTERVIEW
Let there be light There aren’t many stadium images you see these days without a lighting rig in view! Kerry Haywood met with SGL founder Nico van Vuuren at their Netherlands Headquarters to find out how his vision revolutionised the industry. P36
WINTER SPORTS Catering for the pitch!
Maidenhead United Football Club’s York Road home ground is acknowledged by The Football Association and FIFA to be the oldest continuously used senior association football ground in the world by the same club, having been their home since 1871. This perhaps little known piece of history has seen the club awarded a blue plaque by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. P46
SCHOOLS & COLLEGES Oldest school ties
Lewis Pattinson arrived at Bradford Grammar School in July 2109 to take up the post of Head Groundsman. Eight months into the job, he’s achieved much. David Mears went to find out more. P62
Under pressure
Crosfields School is one of the leading co- educational schools in the country, educating pupils between the ages of three and thirteen. Grounds Manager Stuart Gower has had a varied career, spanning forty years, and we paid him a visit to find out why this is the opportunity he couldn’t turn down. P72
The Main man
Northumbria University is regularly voted as one of the best places in the UK for students. The facilities at its Coach Lane Sports Centre include a sports hall, strength and conditioning suite, classrooms, changing rooms and several outdoor pitches - which is where Lee Williams met with Michael Main, Sport Grounds Supervisor, who has served the University for the last thirty-five years. P80
Ian Riley, Wallsend Boys Club
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