Duncan Ross Ltd has completed the first-ever drainage installation at Egremont RFC after 80-years of the club playing at Bleach Green.
The Cumbrian rugby union team has invested heavily in their site over the last decade after storm Desmond flooded their pitch and destroyed their clubhouse in 2009. With the help of RFU funding, they were able to redesign and rebuild a clubhouse that now hosts corporate events, with the income used to fund their youth development programme.
Despite only having a single grass pitch, the club runs one adult team and six youth teams from under eight years of age up to under 17. The club is very proud of its extensive youth development programme which regularly has over 200 young people participating and has developed ten players who have represented England at various levels and two players who have played for the famous Barbarians.
They have always used volunteers to maintain the single pitch but heavy usage and no drainage has often resulted in waterlogging, leaving the pitch unplayable. In 2017 the Rugby Football Union (RFU) offered the club funding to install a piped drainage system using the funds generated for grassroots rugby from hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2015. This backing by the clubs governing body was used as a springboard for successful applications for additional grant funding from Sport England, the Copeland Community Fund and the United Utilities Legacy Fund. All told the club raised a total of £91,000 with the support of Liam Nichols (Cumbria Rugby Development Officer) and Alex Bowden (RFU Facility Manager, North) who were crucial in guiding the club in their quest for the funding to carry out the project.
Speaking about the project Alex said: “In partnership with the other funding providers, Professional Sportsturf Design (NW) Ltd and Duncan Ross Ltd we are pleased to have been able to support the club with a grant from the RFU Facility Fund. The installation of pitch drainage, and the club’s commitment to the maintenance of the pitch, will improve the quality of the rugby experience for everyone using the site and provide more playing opportunities.
“Egremont rugby club has an enthusiastic group of hard-working and dedicated volunteers and the completion of this project is deserve recognition of that. The pitch drainage project will not only provide a better quality-playing surface, it will support the club’s financial sustainability and will create a lasting rugby union legacy for rugby in the community. The pitch drainage project will help the club raise its profile and encourage more players, volunteers and spectators to share the special values that distinguish the sport.”
Dale Firth, Consultant agronomist at Professional Sports Turf Design (NW) added: “We were happy to support the RFU and the club with the pitch improvement works by carrying out the initial investigation, design, tender and contractor appointment followed by monitoring visits during the works and post work support. All parties worked together to achieve a successful project which required adaptations to the installation by Duncan Ross Ltd and regular post seeding maintenance by the clubs ground staff”.
The contract was awarded to Duncan Ross Ltd on 1st May 2019 after a competitive tender for the project and work commenced on site on 20th May. The challenge of bringing heavy machinery on to a small compact site without disrupting the corporate conferences and meetings taking place in the clubhouse was mitigated by close dialogue between Duncan Ross the club’s project manager, Ian Marr. This was crucial as it maintained the club’s income during the construction of the drainage system.
This close working relationship was critical throughout the installation of the system and allowed issues, such as the large granite boulders found during the excavation of the lateral drains, to be dealt with quickly to keep the project on time.
Since completion, Egremont’s volunteer groundsman, Willy Maxwell, has nurtured the pitch back into service through regular cutting. The new drainage system and pitch were given a stern test during the 2019/20 rugby season hosting all of the club’s adult and youth fixtures through one of the wettest springs on record including three major storms, Ciara, Dennis and Jorge. The final element of the drainage project was carried out after the end of the rugby season when the pitch was given two top dressings of sand followed by overseeding and vertical aeration.