Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

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jackgg
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Joined: 25 Sep 2018, 16:51

Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by jackgg »

Me again...

Looking at the photos of this weekend just gone's games, both pitches are looking a bit muddy for want of a better word. I know there was plenty of rain at the end of last week and Saturday but it's a bit worrying this early in the year - surely only going to get worse (especially the stadium, with so many WFC games on it).

So, question for Ground Maintenance committee - what is the plan to keep both pitches playable? Do we have a relationship with Matchday Centres where we can speak to or help the groundsperson (if they have one)? What's the match day plan if it looks like the game might be in doubt?
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dowdinsk
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by dowdinsk »

Me again too...

I'll start but perhaps others from Grounds Maintenance will chip in, and I'll flag it up to the rest of the committee.

My understanding is that as tenants we rely on Matchday Centres to maintain the pitches, and that we await confirmation from them on the day of the game that the pitches are considered playable (and then the ultimate decision lies with the ref, should there be standing water on the playing surface just before kick off, etc). With this it's important to bear in mind that we are not sole tenants, and in the case of the stadium we're junior partners in the groundshare. On Friday afternoon coincidentally MC and I bumped into the groundsperson just as he was finishing work for the day, and we took advantage of that to have a bit of an introductory chat. Otherwise there's liaison with Paul, the Manager at Matchday Centres. We were concerned for both Saturday's game in the stadium, and for the Sunday's at the Stray Dog given the forecast for further overnight rain.

We've started talking about the scenario that we might need to ring around and assemble a crew on the morning of a game to make the pitch playable, but so far there's no plan beyond hazy good intentions.
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jackgg
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by jackgg »

dowdinsk wrote:Me again too...

I'll start but perhaps others from Grounds Maintenance will chip in, and I'll flag it up to the rest of the committee.

My understanding is that as tenants we rely on Matchday Centres to maintain the pitches, and that we await confirmation from them on the day of the game that the pitches are considered playable (and then the ultimate decision lies with the ref, should there be standing water on the playing surface just before kick off, etc). With this it's important to bear in mind that we are not sole tenants, and in the case of the stadium we're junior partners in the groundshare. On Friday afternoon coincidentally MC and I bumped into the groundsperson just as he was finishing work for the day, and we took advantage of that to have a bit of an introductory chat. Otherwise there's liaison with Paul, the Manager at Matchday Centres. We were concerned for both Saturday's game in the stadium, and for the Sunday's at the Stray Dog given the forecast for further overnight rain.

We've started talking about the scenario that we might need to ring around and assemble a crew on the morning of a game to make the pitch playable, but so far there's no plan beyond hazy good intentions.
Yikes, not the response I was hoping for...

According to our website, the committee’s roles & responsibilities are:

- Liaise with the Club's landlord on any concerns about maintenance or health and safety relating to the upkeep of the ground
- Develop a programme of activities to ensure that the Club has taken all reasonable precautions to keep its ground in a playable condition.
- Coordinate any emergency measures deemed necessary to try to ensure home games can go ahead during adverse weather, including the coordination of volunteer support from amongst the membership.
- Responsibly manage the Ground Maintenance Committee's delegated budget in consultation with the Finance Committee.
- Take minutes of meetings, record all decisions and ensure a copy of the minutes of each meeting is given to the Club Board so it is available to the wider membership.

Are you saying that the first 3 can’t be done or just aren’t being done?
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dowdinsk
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by dowdinsk »

Hi Jack,
It's a shame no-one else has chipped in here. Grounds Maintenance has its discussions on Whatsapp and I'm not on that, so far I've not heard if your comments have been noted. What I would say to this is that we've not yet had a home match cancelled. I'm certainly not saying "the first 3 can’t be done" and can assure you the first most definitely is happening, we've a good working relationship with landlords MDC and we've requested improvements to address the puddles in front of the dugouts (so within the playing area) and flagged up the deterioration of the walking surface mesh. My personal view is that we will slowly develop a more formal contingency plan for "any emergency measures deemed necessary to try to ensure home games can go ahead during adverse weather, including the coordination of volunteer support from amongst the membership" but at present, and with our present capacity - bearing in mind events around the OSD are taking up a great deal of our time at present too - this happens on a more ad hoc basis.
--
ps: Re your offer "Donation of scarves for OSD fundraising?" https://www.claptoncfc.co.uk/forum/view ... 3264#p3264 I believe this is now in hand and you've been contacted by PM
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MattSee
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by MattSee »

Aye, apologies for low interaction on here.

To echo what dowdinsk says, Grounds is covering those points to the limits of its ability, given that MDC are responsible for the upkeep of pitch and ground, and given that MDC are scheduling so many games on the pitch (as well as Walthamstow 1st and Reserves and our first team, there are regular Sunday fixtures).

So, GM have fed back concerns regarding pitch condition and overuse, and of the wear and tear to the facilities, to MDC, where the ultimate responsibility lies, and have gone furrher in some cases, offering to carry out work ourselves.

With regard to point 3, I assume we are talking about having people available to bail a suddenly water-logged pitch or maybe clear a snowbound pitch. As dowdinsk says, we have an ad goc arrangement which hasn't really been tested yet. We could do with formalising that, so perhaps that would be helpful? We could meet to sort that.
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jackgg
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by jackgg »

Great, thanks both for taking the time to answer.
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dowdinsk
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by dowdinsk »

So, since I last replied saying we'd not actually had a cancellation as yet, we've had shedloads. I'm popping up again to cheekily put the question whether anyone's keeping score? Dulwich Hamlets Women's Reserves took an early lead but is there a league table tracking postponements, especially those due to waterlogging in recent weeks, that we can gauge our performance against?
While here, the Clapton FC home game in the Errington Cup last night was also in doubt awaiting a pitch inspection at around 3:30pm but went ahead with a delayed kickoff: but on that score maybe this is the real talking point for any who've missed it:
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jackgg
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Re: Question for Ground Maintenance committee - Wadham Lodge pitches

Post by jackgg »

Any update on our pitches?
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