In order to support Shropshire cricket club needs, SCB GA has a bespoke batch of aerators and scarifiers available to hire at extremely good prices. Machinery for North Shropshire and Shrewsbury clubs can be hired from Ian Morris and Telford, Bridgnorth and South Shropshire clubs can be hired from Adrian Shelley. The Machinery Requisition Form can be found in the Download section. - (TOP)

Over the last 2 years the Shropshire Cricket Board Groundsman Association (SCB GA) has been redeveloped to closely support the needs of cricket clubs in Shropshire.

In order to provide additional benefits to Shropshire clubs, the SCB GA are looking to recruit clubs to their new Club Membership Benefit Scheme. The scheme has been designed to support clubs with purchasing loam, seed, fertiliser etc at reduced costs. There are other benefits such as training days and evenings through SCB GA for club groundsmen and there will also be access to discounts from partner ground equipment suppliers, plus the SCB GA machinery. The cost for a club to become a member (this includes all groundsmen at your club) is £20 per year.

I hope you will see this as excellent value and I hope your club joins the SCB GA membership scheme. Membership starts from September 2011, but if you join now you will receive a minimum of 19 months membership until September 2012.

SCB GA is not a profit making organisation and membership fees will help support the cost of SCB GA's insurance cover for all their ground machinery, guest presenters or instructors and any necessary maintenance required to keep the machinery in good working order.

In order for SCB GA to get their bulk buying scheme working well for clubs in 2011, clubs need to become members in by early July so they can be in a position to provide potential suppliers with an audit of club ground requirements by the beginning of August.

The more clubs that join, the more money SCB GA can save your club. - (TOP)

In order to try to support clubs further SCB GA are looking to put together a bulk buying scheme for member clubs whereby clubs can receive vital products such as loam, seed and fertilizers at a fraction of the cost they would pay if they purchased as an individual club through a supplier. In the Download section you will find a case study and purchasing template for you to view and use should you wish to become part of a bigger bulk buying scheme. In order for this to work SCB GA require information of the amount of fertilizer, seed and loam you commonly use during the year including end of season renovations.

The more clubs join and provide information, the bigger the benfits will be.

'Case Study' from Shifnal CC Groundsman – Adrian Shelley

'Our Club's pitch assessment which was done by an ECB Pitch Advisor and also subsidised by SCB, contained a recommendation that 'deep linear aeration' and scarification should be carried out on our cricket square during autumn renovation. The club does not have a machine capable of carrying out this operation and as a result, we hired equipment from ALS. The machine was a tractor-mounted scarifier and the job was completed in approx 2 hours. The cost to hire this machine was £350 plus £52.50 VAT, a total cost of £402.50.

Most of the pitch assessments carried out by the ECB Pitch Advisor in Shropshire between 2008 to the present day, made similar recommendations; so there seems to be a trend to renovation work required at Shropshire Cricket Clubs. As a result, the newly formed Shropshire Groundsmans Association took steps to secure funding to purchase 2 'Sisis 602 scarifiers' capable of 'doing the job' to support clubs needs. To hire one of these machines from the Association will cost an affiliated club, £65 per day, no VAT. By my calculations this is a saving of £337.50 to do the same job - ok it will take a lot more time, but it is still a tremendous saving!!

Our Club uses Boughton loam on the main square at Shifnal and on the second ground at Weston. We ordered 180 x 25kg bags to do our end of season renovation. For the first time the club included in the order, 50 bags of Boughton loam for Forton Cricket Club, a total of 230 bags. The bags were priced at £4.85 plus £0.85 VAT with a total cost of £1,311.00. Had each club placed their own order the total cost would have been £1,371, so by having a joint order we saved £60.00.

So just by hiring the scarifier through SGA and ordering in bulk; savings to Shifnal CC would amount to some £380.00 - not bad for being part of Shropshire Groundsman Association. The cost to clubs to become members of SGA is £20.00 per year. What could the savings be to clubs if SGA were to make bulk orders with key suppliers on behalf of Shropshire clubs? The price of loam, grass seed, fertilizer and line whitening is not getting any cheaper.' - (TOP)

Terms of Reference

Introduction - The ECB Pitch Advisory Scheme is funded by Sport England and ECB, and represents the first governing body to address the issue of groundsmanship, in particular at recreational / non-professional level. The project is to place 45 County Pitch Advisers across England and Wales and for their activities to be fully embraced into the work of County Cricket Boards (CCB's).

As part of the project the Pitch Advisor is able to assess facilities on a standard that is recognised nationally and conforms to nationally accepted criteria (IOG Performance Quality Standards – see attached information).

The Shropshire Cricket Board Pitch Advisor – Alan Lewis - Alan Lewis was Head Groundsman at Shrewsbury School for 11 years and is currently the technical director of a sports consultancy business whilst also working on an advisory basis for many sporting bodies including the ECB. Alan's experience with regards to Groundsmanship and facilities is second to none and is a huge benefit to all Shropshire clubs. The Shropshire Cricket Board was delighted to have Alan on board as the recognised County Pitch Advisor and recreational clubs made use of the excellent service he provided.

Ian Morris Head Groundsman at Ellesmere College and Adrian Shelley Head Groundsman at Shifnal CC supported Alan's during this period.

Aims & Objectives of the Pitch Advisor Scheme - The purpose of the Pitch Advisor scheme is to address issues regarding:

• Minimum Performance Quality Standards (see enclosed information) • Consistent advice across England and Wales • Active response to clubs • Higher profile for Groundsmanship • Accurate assessment of cricket priority sites • Identified costs • Proactive move between professional and voluntary sector

- (TOP)

There are four bands of fees that were applicable to Pitch Advisers

Costing is currently under the process of being reviewed, previous costs as a guideline can be found below.

1. Basic Assessments - Basic Assessments (such as for ECB machinery fund) are arranged and paid entirely by the club, please contact the Shropshire Cricket Board for further details. £50 + Travelling expenses + VAT. The Basic Assessment includes a site visit and a brief written report on the findings (no core samples).

2. Prioritised Detailed Assessment - Prioritised detailed assessments are arranged centrally by the ECB or SCB where the organisation has been identified as part of a funding scheme. Costs may be subsidised by the County Cricket Board or the Community Club Development Programme (CCDP). £250 + Travelling expenses + VAT. The Prioritised Detailed Assessment includes a full report on fine turf facilities (including the results of a core sample) and return visits as required.

3. Performance Quality Standard Assessments - The Shropshire Cricket Board Groundsmen Association had targeted that by September 2008 a minimum of one third of identified S.C.B Focus Clubs (including all those competing in the Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League) will have undergone a PQS Assessment carried out by Alan Lewis or his assistants.

From 2008 - 2010 this assessment service was also available to all other affiliated cricket clubs upon request at the following prices;

£200 - 1 x Square/Outfield - (including a core soil sample report from square and a full PQS report on all fine turf facilities)

£250 - 2 x Squares/1 x Outfield - (including a core sample report on each square and a full PQS report on all fine turf facilities)

£250 - 2 x Squares/2 x Outfields - (including a core sample report on each square and a full PQS report on all fine turf facilities)

NB: All prices include travel. For further information on current prices for any of the above or to book any of the above assessments please contact the Shropshire Cricket Board offices. Details above. - (TOP)