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Part 2
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together
Original sketch plan of the lawn (circa 2006). As the development proceeded changes were made to this plan; notably the location of the clubhouse which now lies directly to the East of the lawn.
Club development
May 2006
It was on a Sunday afternoon in May 2006 that work finally began on the construction of the lawn. Jamie’s father, Douglas (who went on to become the club’s first captain in 2009), was at first reluctant to see the boys attempt the impossible. After all, the area they had chosen had been used as a midden for the last few decades and wasn’t exactly flat as a result.
Using his father’s old JCB, Jamie managed to level off the plot as best he could. The next step was to get the top soil broken down into a fine tilth – fine enough to create a smooth playing surface. Weeks and weeks went by with the boys, together with their new members, working all hours to prepare the ground for seeding. Even those who had initially ridiculed the concept seemed to be lending a hand.
Thousands of stones and boulders were picked from the soil by hand and it was raked over and over again until a level surface appeared. Eventually it was deemed good enough to sow.
After months of hard graft, the boys finally threw down some grass seed and prayed for rain. Unfortunately July brought a heat wave with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees. Every day the boys went up to the lawn and watered the entire site by hand to encourage the grass to grow. As the next few weeks passed by the grass eventually came through and on 15 August Ronnie cut the lawn for the first time.
Spring 2007
With the lawn now growing well the boys left it to develop and came back to the project the following year. During the spring months of 2007 the boys continued their efforts up at their new lawn. To finish off their plans they wanted a fence around the lawn, a patio area, petanque rink, barbeque and clubhouse.
As word spread of the success of the initial lawn construction, many people within
and around the village were keen to lend a hand and donated what they could to the
club. Hundreds of redundant paving slabs were collected from homes around the village
and laid adjacent to the new lawn forming a huge area where people now stand to watch
the action. A small fence was erected around the lawn -
The clubhouse was kindly donated by George Imrie of Grangefield and came in the form
of an old fibre-
Having produced a line of ‘Season 2007’ shirts another batch of new members signed up to join and the funds raised were put back into the club. All in all, it is estimated that the construction of the lawn and all the surrounding infrastructure cost only £133.88, with the vast majority of materials procured by way of donations. With the money they had left the club decided to buy a new croquet set as the antique set that they had been using for the past few years was on its last legs.
And so after nearly a year of hard work the club finally had their very own croquet lawn to play on together with an extensive patio area and clubhouse to accommodate their members and guests. All that remained was to host a launch party to reward all those who had contributed to the development of the club and promote the cause.
The old ‘stackyard’ site at Newfield was disused and overgrown. Work began to build the lawn in May 2006.
The boys hard at work clearing the site of stones and levelling the surface (May 2006).
Work continuing on the petanque rink (May 2007).
The site prior to sowing the grass seed (circa June 2006)
The lawn established (circa August 2006)
The lawn completed (June 2007)
The clubhouse in development (May 2007)