AFC Barwell Fundraising

The Pitch

Problem statement

Following a recent inspection of our pitches, all 6 were graded as 'poor' by the Leicestershire Turf Academy. The recommended advice, stated in our Pitch Power report, is that we need to have a regular and consistent mowing regime using the correct maintenance machinery. We don't currently possess any mowing equipment and are trying to raise funds to be able to buy the recommended machinery and to improve the quality of our pitches. This will subsequently improve the safety and quality of play for our 300+ players. At AFC Barwell, the safety of our players is of paramount importance and the motivation behind the project comes from wanting to ensure the highest level of safety possible.

Solution

We would ultimately like to bring our pitches up to a 'good' standard, for the best quality of play. The money would be put towards a rotary roller tractor lawn mower and multi-sports attachment (as recommended as a priority piece of equipment in the PP report). At the moment, we are renting several other pitches for our training sessions, in order to preserve our grass as much as possible for training sessions. We would really like to bring unity back to our club and to make as much use of our facility as we can, which. The impact on our players and volunteers would be significant as it would allow us to make consistent use of our pitches and have our teams playing at their home ground.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

Improving our pitches is a top priority for our club this year. We have recently secured funding for a 5 year pitch improvement programme, with the Leicestershire Turf Academy and this has been a fantastic boost for us. As a club, we are fully committed to whatever project we may have in hand and will dedicate the necessary time, resources and people in order to achieve the best outcomes for our players and volunteers. If we secure funding for this project, two of our volunteers would need to take the necessary test/qualification to enable them to use the tractor mower. We have researched the machinery, had demonstrations and been able to test drive the tractors.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

500 people

Expected impact

There are many positive impacts that securing funding for this project would have. These would include, increased player experience: the overall experience of the players would be better, the interaction with the surface would be improved. There would be a more natural bounce for the ball. There would also be a reduced risk of injury with more grass coverage, improving overall health and safety.