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Building the Diamond |
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Building the Diamond |
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Groundwork at Broadwater – 29th March 2009 |
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The mound is built, the areas around the bases have been skinned & filled with dirt & both home plate & the pitching rubber have been anchored. All that remains is one backstop!
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| Having laid out the new diamond a couple of weeks ago & removed the turf to a depth of 2 inches, 16 tonnes of dirt (sand/clay/silt mix, with a greater clay content for the mound), were needed to fill these areas. They were all then compressed, rolled & rolled again, so that the dirt areas were level with the grass playing field. As luck would have it, some rain showers followed the completion of the work & hopefully a few days of sunshine will help set the clay to produce solid areas over the mound & home plate. |
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Next weekend, the holes for the backstop & the fences up the first & third base lines, together with the new batting cage will be dug & the poles cemented into place. Assuming all goes according to plan, then the fencing should go up over Easter & the ground ready for play the following week. |
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Aside from hailstorms Friday afternoon & Dave nearly demolishing the schools science block with the powered roller, it has basically gone to plan.
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Groundwork at Broadwater – 4th April 2009 |
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The poles that support the backstop fencing have now gone up & have been concreted into place. The backstop has also been extended with waist high fencing along the first & third base lines. The intention is to take it past the bases but we will need permission from the school for that, so for the time being, it is only half way down the lines. A safety gate has been built into each side for access to the field of play. |
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The batting cage has also been fixed into the ground, running parallel to the fence on the Leisure Centre side. This will be covered with netting, allowing it to be used in conjunction with the pitching machine or simply as an extra batting practice area. The next step will be attaching the fencing to the backstop & this is due to take place over the Easter weekend, in time for the start of the Season the following week. |
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Groundwork at Broadwater – Easter Weekend 2009 |
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All the fence & backstop poles have been painted green & the new netting is in place together with some protective edges on the exposed poles – it looks so much tidier now….
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All that’s left to do is to install the base anchors for the adult & junior diamond & we have finished – we will get up there one evening & complete this small task & we are ready for business….. A great big thank you to everyone who helped on the groundwork project, particular thanks go out to Mike, Brian, Yvonne, Jeremy, Jazz, Heather, Owen, Rob, Tom, Dave, Nick, James, George, Edward, Karen, Michelle & Hamish…who worked very, very hard to get this done in time………
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Ed gets a bit of practice in…….. |
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| GALLERY: | |
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Jazz Bails Out! |
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Owen & Edward load the mound mix |
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Richard & Jeremy packing the mound… |
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Its all over – better get the old boy home……… |
