9 minute read
Whitgift School
Scott MacCallum catches up with the Independent School Grounds Team of the Year, and has his premeditated illusions shattered
Whitgift: The lesser known giant
It’s great to have a plan, a focus, a direction of travel. But just sometimes it doesn’t work out and a Plan B, or, in modern parlance, a Plan 2.0 has to be hastily deployed.
I had a scenario in mind when I was considering my interview with the Grounds team at Whitgift School, in Croydon. The guys had just won the Independent School Grounds Team of the Year, at the GMA Industry Awards and the school who they had pushed into the runners-up spot was a particularly big name.
That other school was Eton College, probably the most famous educational establishment in the world, with the most famous “playing fields” in the world, with an alumni which includes countless Prime Ministers, Kings and Princes.
So, there it was. My angle – David triumphing over Goliath – a giant killing along the lines of Sunderland against Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final; Buster Douglas bettering the invincible Mike Tyson in 1990; or 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet triumphing over Ted Ray and Harry Vardon in the 1913 US Open.
But when I started to chat with the team, the beautifully crafted story I had envisioned in advance, didn’t quite seem to fit.
Whitgift won the same award back in 2015 and were also runnersup a couple of years later. In many ways, with such an impressive record, they were the school to beat this time around, and not David taking a speculative punt with his sling and striking the huge Goliath right between the eyes.
And the more Daniel Ratling, Grounds and Estates Manager, spoke the more my story line seemed to be disappearing further into the long grass.
“Honestly, I didn’t see it as a competition. I just wanted the work of the team here to be recognised. I did think that we had a good story to tell, but had we come second I don’t think we’d have been cut up about it,” he explained.
“The two sites are so very different. Eton is the size of a town, while we are a relatively small site. How the judges make the call I just don’t know,” said Daniel,
Whitgift School are winners of the GMA Award for Grounds Team of the Year
who added that Lee Marshallsay (Grounds Manager at Eton College) had texted the very next day to pass on his congratulations.
“So, I don’t really feel that it is a David and Goliath tale.”
Thanks Daniel. No need to rub it in!
The compelling “story” that Whitgift had to tell was that of the installation of two hybrid pitches in the summer of 2021, the first of their type at any school in the UK independent school sector.
“That may well be worldwide, as we’ve not heard of any others,” explained Daniel.
The decision behind such a trail-blazing move came following extensive research and taking on board advice from industry experts.
“We also looked at other facilities. We went to the Crystal Palace Academy, which is quite close to us in South Croydon and Bruce Elliot and his team there were really helpful in sharing their experiences. We then went to Regent’s Park where they had installed a carpet hybrid which was really low input with low levels of maintenance, and it was interesting to see what they were getting out of that in terms of usage.
“What we had identified was a high usage and high input facility at Crystal Palace and a high usage and low input pitch at Regent’s Park. What we were looking for was somewhere in the middle.”
Having weighed up the options the decision was taken to go for two hybrid pitches, the cost of which was similar to one 3G pitch.
“If you think about it, a 3G pitch will give around 35 hours of use a week for £800,000. You can build two hybrid pitches for around the same amount of money which would give 20 hours a week. Or, for a conventionally drained pitch, you might spend £150,000 but only get six hours usage a week,” explained Daniel, who has since welcomed a number of interested Schools and Grounds Managers to view the new pitches.
“We knew that what we required was covered by those 20 hours, and that the 35 3G hours weren’t needed, as we weren’t going to be hiring out the pitches to generate }
income,” said Daniel, who revealed that the construction was carried out by White Horse Contractors and the stitching by Desso GrassMaster.
With new pitches come new challenges and the maintenance requirements meant that Grounds Team Leader, Peter Booth, and Deputy, Michael Williams, were faced with a steep learning curve to get up to speed with the new demands.
“We’ve educated ourselves on the maintenance and renovation requirements of the hybrids,” explained Peter.
“It is really intensive and you must get your timings just right. The pitches do need hours of work on them to ensure that they keep performing. Accuracy with the fertiliser programme is important to keep the colour and to retain the strength in the grass. Then just keep cleaning the surface to ensure that the drainage remains free flowing. Michael, who joined the School from Coombe Hill Golf Club in 2012, is the man responsible for the irrigation.
“The team has meetings to discuss the turf and what we are going to do to maintain and improve the pitches. So far we haven’t had any issues come to light and we’ve gone through one renovation programme and got the pitches back up and running again,” said Peter.
From a machinery perspective, new pitches do have a habit of demanding exciting new kit.
“It’s not cheap, but it is essential if you are investing in the new surfaces, that you also invest in the correct machinery,” said Daniel.
The school is currently waiting for the arrival of three Dennis rotaries which will help the post-match clean up tasks.
“With these pitches the main operation is the vacuuming after games. Scarification and raking is dealt with through the usage levels. The rugby stud is quite a good scarifier and keeps the surface clean,” said Dan.
It currently takes two and a half hours to clean a pitch with the school’s Honda vacuum machines, time which should be markedly reduced with the arrival of the Dennis machines.
The Whitgift team is nine strong, plus two working at the nearby sports club, and together they manage football, rugby and hockey in the winter and cricket, tennis and athletics in the summer while they also look after 1.5 hectares of woodland.
Playing surfaces are of such a high standard that the Australian and New Zealand cricket teams trained at the school during the last home World Cup.
As is the case at these establishments, the Grounds Team are the go-tos when it comes to resolving most issues at the school.
“Two of the guys are currently building a summer house, while maintaining the school fence line is a on-going task. We also handle car park management for major events,” said Peter.
With the GMA Award being for the Grounds Team of the Year it is interesting to learn from the winners, what goes into making a good team.
Who better to ask than Peter, the Grounds Team Leader.
“It takes honesty, hard work and humility. You also have to understand other people’s space and, importantly, you must all want to learn,” he said,
“You also have to accept that things don’t always go right and learn from the mistakes that are made,” said Peter, whose mentor, from his time in Scotland, was the great Alex Miller, in whose name the top GMA Award is now known.
Peter worked at Glasgow Botanic Gardens under the guidance of Alex who also ran the football team Peter played for.
“He was very good to me as a youngster.”
Peter is also an advocate for the British Cycling mantra of incremental gains, which saw the track team clinch Olympic Gold Medals at an impressive rate at recent Games.
“We talk about small margins in everything, in a bid to ensure continual improvement. When we drive out of here on a Friday afternoon with a big weekend of sport on the calendar ahead of us,
we should feel proud when we look at what we’ve prepared. If we don’t feel proud, then we need to do more.”
Peter only needs to look to his boss as a man who encapsulates what a diet of hard work and continual improvement can bring. Daniel is a shining example, not just to the rest of the team at Whitgift but to anyone in the industry, as to what can be achieved in the sector.
“I left school at 16 to work for the London Borough of Barnet as an apprentice, before going St Albans School in Hertfordshire where I worked with Ian Smith for over eight years,” he recalled.
“It was there that I started my Foundation Degree. I then moved to my first Head Groundsman job at the Honourable Artillery Company, in Central London, and it was during that time that I began studying for my Bachelor’s Degree.
“I came to Whitgift in 2015 as my second Head Groundsman job. I finished my degree and two years ago I was promoted to Grounds and Estates Manager.”
Who says there are not opportunities for all in this industry?
“We have a lot of passionate people, but the important thing is how you get the message over to young people that there are viable career opportunities with progression throughout the industry. It can take you as far as you want to go.”
Daniel is aware of the perceptions that exist outside of the industry.
“Grass cutting is a part of the job, but there is a level that you reach where you need to have more involved knowledge. There are many intelligent people working in this industry who are very good at what they do but I daresay a lot of their employers wouldn’t recognise the level they are working at and perhaps take it for granted.
“We have to change that perception but how you do it, possibly requires a separate article entirely!” said Daniel, who is responsible for an excellent apprentice scheme at the school, which has produced some very fine groundsmen.
With this latest GMA recognition there can be no excuse for anyone doubting that place at the giants’ top table for Whitgift and its Grounds Team.
It is very well deserved.
