CONTENTS The Pitchcare team
KERRY HAYWOOD Editor
t: 07973 394 037 e:
kerry@pitchcare.com
JOHN RICHARDS Freelance sub-editor
Issue 93 October/November 2020
LEE WILLIAMS Editorial
t: 07375 419 442 e:
lee.williams@pitchcare.com PETER BRITTON
Advertising & Production t: 01952 898 516
e:
peter@pitchcare.com Our contributors COVER STORY: The man with a plan
The current ‘situation’ may have put many hopes and dreams on hold but, at Towcestrians Sports Club, it’s just another minor challenge in the progress of an ambitious development designed to bring several of this Northamptonshire town’s sports together and raise standards, whilst enhancing an established community facility. Jane Carley meets the club’s Head Groundsman, Tom Waldock, to find out more P66
GOLF Hand in glove facilities JANE CARLEY BLAIR FERGUSON
Elmwood Golf is one of the premier golf and greenkeeping training facilities in the UK. Here, Lee Williams met with Programme Manager Michael Clark, Lecturer Andy O’Hara and the club’s Course Manager Greg Kilgour to discuss what the college offers and how they manage the course around teaching the students. P12
Through the ranks NEVILLE JOHNSON CHRIS McCULLOUGH
Set in 180 acres on the border between Devon and Cornwall, China Fleet Country Club in Saltash is one of the south west’s leading clubs. On the first call of what has now become Lee Williams’ annual summer tour of the south coast, he met up with Nathan O’Sullivan - the club’s forty-four-year-old Course Manager - who has worked his way through the ranks over the last twenty-one years. P24
Leaving his Mark! DAVE MEARS GREG RHODES
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PC October/November 2020
For twenty-two and a half years, Mark Broughton has resided as Course Manager of Suffolk's Aldeburgh Golf Club. It takes something special, and perhaps someone special, to stay at a club for over two decades, and on the drive towards the Suffolk coastline, it is plain to see the attraction. P34
Cooking up a sand dune
Perranporth Golf Club is situated on the beautiful North Coast of Cornwall, overlooking the glorious Perran Sands beach. It sits on top of a disused tin mine, among the dunes of blown sand and old mine workings and the views from every hole are dramatic and a delight. Lee Williams met with Course Manager Rob Cook, who is tasked with the general upkeep and maintenance of this unique links course. P42
Thirty years man and boy
Situated a stone’s throw from Cornwall’s beautiful south coast, St Austell Golf Club is a private undulating parkland/heathland course designed by James Braid. The area is best known for the Eden Project, The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the surreal landscape of the china clay mines. Lee Williams met with Vince Vosper, the club’s forty-eight-year-old Head Greenkeeper, who has been at the club for thirty years. P50
WINTER SPORTS Down to the Wire!
To get an idea of what the new normal is like working for a top Super League rugby club and the challenges a groundsman now faces getting a pitch ready for a Covid-19 secure game, Lee Williams met up with the Warrington Wolves dedicated and long-serving head groundsman Melvin Jones who celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday in October. P58
SUMMER SPORTS The Wee County
Clackmannanshire is the smallest county in the UK and is often referred to as ‘The Wee County’. Clackmannan County Cricket Club was established in 1868, making it one of the oldest cricket clubs in Scotland. During their long history, the club has played at a variety of venues, but the side now call The Arns, on the outskirts of the county town Alloa, home. P72
Tom Waldock, Towcestrians Sports Club
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