East Leake Playing Fields and Pavilion has become a thriving community sports hub in just three and a half years, providing facilities for rugby, football, cricket, archery and a wide range of community activities. However, like many grassroots venues, maintaining high-quality natural turf while coping with unpredictable weather has become an increasing challenge.
Thanks to a close partnership between Replay Maintenance and Nottinghamshire FA, the facility has now secured Football Foundation Grass Pitch Maintenance Funding, ensuring its pitches receive a long-term programme of professional maintenance that will benefit players and the wider community for years to come.
For Dave Curtis, Facilities Manager at East Leake Playing Fields and Pavilion, the priority has always been to maximise participation.
"Our aim is to provide sporting opportunities for people of all ages from East Leake and the surrounding areas," said Dave. "We've got two main halls for classes and community events alongside our outdoor sports pitches. The aim is to keep the whole facility as busy as possible and attract as wide a range of users as we can."
While participation has continued to grow, maintaining the playing surfaces has become increasingly difficult.
"The weather is so unpredictable now," Dave explained. "We've had droughts, we've had flooding during the winter, and it becomes really frustrating because matches get called off, which obviously loses us revenue. We want to provide the best facilities and the best pitches we can for everyone who uses the site."
That challenge led Nottinghamshire FA to introduce East Leake to Replay Maintenance.
"We'd worked with Nottinghamshire FA before and they'd given us advice on how we could improve our pitches," said Dave. "Earlier this year they put us in contact with Replay Maintenance. From the first conversations they talked us through the whole process, explained how the funding worked and made everything seem really straightforward. They held our hand step by step all the way through, and we were able to secure the funding."
The funding has enabled East Leake to enter into a long-term maintenance programme, with Replay delivering a schedule of weed control, overseeding, aeration and fertiliser applications designed to steadily improve the quality of the playing surfaces.
Replay Maintenance's Head of Natural Turf, Ben Sadler, said the project demonstrates how specialist support can make accessing funding much easier for clubs and believes Replay's role extends well beyond carrying out maintenance work.
"We can do all the legwork to help clubs access the funding," he explained. "We handle the administration, support the application and make the whole process as simple as possible, allowing clubs to focus on running their facilities while we help improve their pitches.
“Our partnership with Origin Amenity Solutions ensures we use the highest-quality, industry-leading products, including fertilisers, herbicides and grass seed, to deliver exceptional results on every project; here at East Leake, we have used a 100% Perennial Ryegrass with three high-quality cultivars.”
The partnership approach is something that Nottinghamshire FA believes is making a real difference across the county.
David Whyatt, Facilities and Investment Lead at Nottinghamshire FA, said: "Replay are brilliant at what they do. They create site-specific maintenance plans and renovate pitches to a really high standard, but they also support clubs through every stage of the process. From completing the PitchPower inspection through to the funding application and post-award support, they give clubs the knowledge and confidence to make the right decisions and improve their pitches for the long term."
Reflecting on the experience so far, Dave has no hesitation in recommending Replay Maintenance to other clubs considering the funding route.
"They've been absolutely fantastic," he said. "They're friendly, proactive and really open and honest. I'd never been through this process before and there was a lot involved, but they made everything really simple. Any questions we've had, they've always been available to help. I would absolutely recommend them."
As more grassroots clubs look for sustainable ways to improve their playing surfaces, East Leake provides a clear example of what can be achieved when facility managers, County FAs and specialist contractors work together. Through expert advice, practical support and a long-term maintenance programme, Replay Maintenance is helping ensure that better pitches lead to more games, stronger communities and a brighter future for grassroots sport.
For more information, visit www.replaymaintenance.co.uk
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