Grounds News

We're very excited to be taking on the management of our new site in August 2021. The committee are working hard to develop a plan for the maintenance of our grounds but we'll need some volunteers to help! We're lucky to have such a fantastic site, and we're really committed to ensuring that we maintain the amazing quality of our new pitches.

So far two of our committee members have gained pitch management qualifications from the Grounds Management Association, and we've taken lots of professional advice on how best to manage and maintain our pitches. We're currently applying for funding to purchase a tractor with mowing and aeration attachments and are working with a contractor to plan the larger annual operations such as top-dressing with sand and deep-spiking. It's vital that all of these operations are carried out to a high standard in order to maintain the condition of the pitches. We're also developing a schedule of grounds maintenance tasks so that we can carry out the right tasks at the right time of year.

We would love to carry out much of the work through volunteers because the size of the site means that using contractors will be very expensive and unaffordable for the club. We're therefore hoping to form a group of volunteers to meet at the site weekly on a Monday morning to carry out regular maintenance tasks such as grass cutting, line marking, pitch repairs, goalpost checks, boundary maintenance, and also some internal tasks in our new club house such as fire alarm tests and cleaning. Teas, coffees and snacks will be provided!

Could you help? Or do you know of someone else who could? Perhaps a parent, grandparent or friend of one of our players? If so please contact us at bishopthorpewhiterose@gmail.com. There will be no commitment to come every week so even if you can only spare a small amount of time any help will be greatly appreciated. The more volunteers we can get the better we'll be able to manage our fantastic site!

Look out for further updates soon, and we'll hopefully see all of our players enjoying playing matches at our new site when the 21/22 season starts later this year.