Equipment Bank 

In partnership with Larch Groundwork Ltd and Nottinghamshire Cricket Board we have secured a grant from the Football Foundation, a charity funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England) to help improve local grassroots sports pitches across Nottinghamshire.

Nottinghamshire FA and Nottinghamshire Cricket Board will work with local grounds maintenance company Larch Groundwork, to support local clubs and organisations to improve the quality of natural turf pitches. The project will see a maintenance equipment bank – consisting of Kubota 34hp tractor / 7316 Verti – Drain / Speedseed 1600 / Verti – Quake 2516 / RDM Roller Mower and a 5m Flatbed trailer available to hire along with trained staff.

£47,886 in grant funding is secured from the Football Foundation, with a total project costing of £67,886.

Ricky Stevenson Business Development Manager commented “We identified the main issue with natural turf pitches, seen during our work is in season maintenance. Clubs and organisations are carrying out pitch renovations at the end of each season which is fantastic, but in season they are just mowing and marking the pitches with little or no maintenance carried out. The reason clubs gave was ‘It is too expensive’ which is why we are working in partnership with Larch Groundwork to offer affordable prices to local clubs and organisations.”

Mike Aplin from Larch Groundwork said “It’s an exciting venture to be with. As a company, we are passionate about producing quality surfaces for local sport and this gives us an excellent opportunity to provide clubs with a high quality service at an affordable price.”

The partnership with Nottinghamshire Cricket Board was developed following a report carried out with Mansfield Hosiery Mills Sports Club (who house both football and cricket). The football club had expanded its number of teams and needed more pitch spaces, so by using the outfield of the cricket square and providing in season maintenance to these pitches saw a better quality of outfield developed for cricket.

Alan Harrison Cricket Development Officer (Workforce) from Nottinghamshire Cricket Board said “This partnership makes perfect sense with the two sports often sharing sites and will allow the Board to offer our clubs a much wider range of support in maintaining and improving clubs’ playing surfaces, at an affordable cost. Improved drainage on outfields and general playability of grounds will enable clubs to ‘Get the Game On’ and should increase player satisfaction, as poor pitches have been reported as a major ‘turn off’ during Player surveys."