School in Running for National Groundsmanship Award

Having been short-listed by the Institute of Groundsmanship, Bolton School will be judged on Friday 28 October for the Independent School Award.  The onsite judging will take place at 1.30pm and if successful the national awards will be at the Reebok Stadium in December. 

Lee Thorne, Grounds Manager who heads a team of six staff at the School, said: "I'm delighted that we've been nominated and short-listed for this prestigious award. Everyone works incredibly hard to keep the pitches and grounds in first class condition, as well as undertaking a wide range of work including environmental projects involving the hundreds of students of various ages at the school.  We are continually looking to develop and improve our facilities as our grounds are available to, and used extensively by, the local community and sports clubs, including for town and county tournaments, and trials for football, cricket, lacrosse, rugby, tennis and netball.  This is great news and everyone has their fingers crossed for Friday!"

The grounds department maintains around 32 acres of multi-use amenity areas on five sites, including five shale tennis courts, 15 all weather courts, athletics areas and practice pitches plus four football, three rugby, three lacrosse, a 1m x14m cricket square and two artificial wickets and play areas.  The site also includes lawn and garden areas including winter, spring and summer bedding displays. Most areas are bordered extensively by mature trees which necessitate extensive maintenance to keep courts, pitches and the grounds paths and drives safe and free from leaf debris.