Welcome to the first of our newsletters for 2023. It’s been a frustrating start for the year, and so this update is going to focus on what the committee of volunteers is doing to address the disruption caused by the weather conditions over the last few weeks.
GROUND DISRUPTION
You don’t need us to tell you that the ground has taken a fair battering from the weather over the past month or two (not least this current weekend, with an unforecast frost), leading us to have weekends where we’ve had to close pitches off, and in extreme situations, the whole ground.
This is always last resort, and this is always with safety in mind. However, we’re aware that some teams have been more affected than others, and we’re trying to redress this before the season is out.
It’s a problem that’s affected seemingly every other ground in the area, and there have been widespread closures affected grass roots football. We’re hugely grateful to the efforts of Asa and Marisa for getting as many pitches as playable as possible: they’ve done an amazing job in very, very difficult circumstances.
PITCH INSPECTIONS
From now until the end of the season, on weekends of problematic weather, a pitch inspection is conducted at 8am on Saturdays and Sundays. We will get the information out by 8.15am. We’re aware that many travel long distances to get to Kewford, and if games do have to be called off, we’ll be getting that information out as early as possible.
DRAINAGE
In the last newsletter, we mentioned an inspection taking place with off-site drainage, to see if it was affecting the surface water we’re seeing at Eagle Park. There's clearly some problem somewhere, given that the problem is a lot worse than in previous years.
The council has now been out and completed this work, placing dye in the local drainage system, but this hasn’t been conclusive. Work is ongoing. We’ve identified one or two drainage issues on site ourselves that we’ve worked on. The club has now also invested in a water removal machine as well, to help with the clearing of pitches in wet conditions.
Adding too to the update last time, we’ve now started work on the three year plan to upgrade the drainage across pitches at Eagle Park. Over the summer, we’re targeting work on the most problematic pitches firstly, and we’ve got extensive quotes now for extensive work that we’re keen to press on with. We’ll keep you all updated with news on this.
STORAGE
In tandem with the upgrade work on pitches, we’re also addressing the storage facilities around Eagle Park. This has long been requested, and further details will be following soon.
HARDSHIP
For those struggling to make ends meet, Kewford does have a hardship fund in extreme circumstances to help keep players playing. For more information, please email Jo at
TOURNAMENT
Finally, a diary date: this year's tournament at Kewford will take place the weekend of July 1st and 2nd. More information on that imminently.
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Thanks for bearing with us during a difficult period of disruption for the club, and huge apologies for the unavoidable closures. A special thanks too to all the other volunteers who’ve helped us get as many games going as possible, and here’s to better weather in the weeks ahead.
Thanks again,
The Kewford Eagles management committee
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