New home nearly complete
New pitch nears completion
This was delivered by the lorries on a constant basis, though not too quick a rate that it all piled up before it could be moved around the pitch area.
The sand required to fill a 200mm layer was approximately 3,000 tonnes. Once this was done, the final layer,100mm of upper root zone (sand/soil), was imported to start the spreading and levelling in a similar manner.
Ourmove is getting close now, for me, the move can't come quick enough-it will be like a child let loose in a toy shop wanting to have a go on everything!
The sockets for both football and rugby posts have been set in and the posts placed in temporarily whilst they were set properly-it was thought better to put these in now rather than start digging once the grass has become established. In the case of the rugby posts we didn't want to have to dig into the pitch to install sockets should rugby be staged here after the Desso fibre is installed.
We have also had extra goalpost sockets set in just in front of the perimeter track so that when we carry out fertilising, cutting or spraying operations the goalposts can be moved out of the way. The other advantage is that because of the size of the headlands, the keepers can use it as their warm up and practice area without the need to go in the six yard box.
Situated inside the main service tunnel in the north west corner, the finishing touches are being put to the workshop area that will house all our machinery and also be used by the Facilities and Maintenance departments. Where the machines will be stored will have a partitioning wall to avoid the possibility of accidents involving moving machinery.
With only a matter of days before the work is completed, in terms of final seed bed preparation then the seeding and fertilising we have a provisional moving in date of mid-June. When we officially move in, the monitoring of the pitch's progress will be easier to assess and it will give us the opportunity to get to grips with the new surroundings in our new home, well in advance of the coming season.