We actually have some news in this blog, and it’s all positive thankfully!
We finally had the go-ahead for the family fun day which is happening 2 weeks today, so it’s all systems go getting everything sorted for that! So far we’ve booked an inflatable assault course, bouncy castles and slides, sorted goals for a penalty shootout, trophies for a ‘kick-up’ champion and welly throwing champion, a football dribbling time trial, stocks for ‘soak the coach’, tuck shop, tombola, food and drink stalls and raffles and plenty more to keep everyone occupied! We still need donations for raffle prizes and volunteers to help on the day if anyone’s interested please get in touch?!
I forgot to mention on the last blog that Stephen Morris (who has raised a lot of money for various charities) donated £180 to us to buy a petrol strimmer and we can’t thank him enough for that!!
We also had a positive meeting with the council this week and all things going well we should hopefully have the lease sorted by the end of the month?! They also asked us to cut the grass on the embankment so they can give us some guidance on what exactly needs doing to make it safe for the kids. We don’t mess about so myself and Scooby spent the morning over the ground today with petrol strimmers (one of which was our new one thanks to Stephen Morris!). Apologies to anyone that was a bit fed up of the sound but if it’s any consolation it’s been 8 hours and I still can’t hold a drink in my hand without spilling it because my hands are still shaking from the vibration!!
This is the extent of the long grass/bushes/brambles that covered the ramp and embankment.
This grass hadn’t been cut since the seniors used the pitch about 4 years ago, so it was hip height (for me, shoulder height for Scooby 👀) and full of stingys and all sorts (before you ask Kev yes we ran through it first to scare the bloody slow worms away!). The bank is really steep at the moment so was a bit tricky (Scooby ploughed on with that and I didn’t argue with him!) while I did the rest of the ramp and then we both did the edge of the pitch.
A clear embankment, ramp and edges of the pitch.
It looks so much better already, hopefully we can get the council engineers out this week and they can guide us with the embankment works. Not sure where we are going to put the material that comes out of it (if anyone knows anyone after some rubble/subsoil please get in touch?!) but it will be much safer for the kids once we take the steepness out of the slope.
We also had help today which was bloody lovely!! Andrew who is one of my players parents and also a coach came and re-fitted the heras fencing at the entrance for us so we can now open our new gate! He also fixed some mesh to the new fence to plug the gap that was beneath it making the ground safer and more secure. Finally he de-weeded the wall (a job we’ve done a number of times and glad to have his help with that!!).
A before and after of the heras fencing by the gate, and the mesh plugging the gap under the fence.
We still have a number of things that need doing ready for the fun day which involves clearing the car park (could do with a skip if anyone knows of someone that could do this cheap for us?) strimming the rest of the pitch and putting some temporary fencing up to make sure everyone stays on the pitch on the day as it’s safe and secure for the kids.
We are also hoping to get the rest of the rusted fence renewed at the entrance in the next couple weeks, and need to repair the wall by the gate. Still waiting on our mower as well so we can finally start working on that pitch!! It may look alright from afar but up close its full of weeds and bumps and not so much grass 🙈. Baby steps.
Thanks for reading.
KJ