SCHOOLS & COLLEGES
BUTLER SERVICE Repton School offers a packed sports programme and has produced more than 150 first-class cricketers and three Test captains. Accolades which wouldn’t be achievable without exceptional surfaces prepared by Head of Grounds and Gardens Andy Butler and his team.
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n a very wet and windy day late October, Editor Kerry Haywood visited the school and commented: “I have lived in Derbyshire for almost twenty years and Repton School is a mere four miles from my house. I pass it often and its grandeur and history has always intrigued me, so it was great when Andy invited me to look around.” “Arriving under the iconic school arch (moved to its current position in 1906), you immediately get a sense of the history, but it soon emerges that Repton today is undoubtedly modern in terms of its practice and outlook.” Andy commented: “I have been at Repton for fourteen years now, and things have changed
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PITCHCARE November/December 2023
a lot during that time. Before I arrived, the maintenance was very reactionary and there was no remedial work done at all. It’s now a strict regime with seasonal programmes in place to undertake decompaction and renovations, whilst Chris Knowles from Agrovista Amenity advises on fertiliser inputs; a programme of MM50, MM Tetra Sport on the outfields and a variety of Compo Expert products.” The team of thirteen grounds and garden staff manage the main site and also the Prep School in total comprising: 25 football pitches, 2 indoor and 12 outdoor tennis courts, cricket pitches, a multi-million-pound Sports Centre including 2 floodlit water-based Astroturf hockey pitches, a state-of-the-art, full size indoor hockey facility, plus netball and squash courts.