10 minute read
GIRLS ALLOWED
Wellington College’s Jackie Evans is possibly the only woman head groundsperson in the independent schools sector and is proud to have three other women on her team. We discuss her role and why she wants to encourage more girls into the industry
BY KAREN MAXWELL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN WRIGHT
The team – from left: Esmee, Sarah, Jackie, Scott and Jess – in the gounds of renowned school Wellington College
There are infectious peals of laughter as head groundsperson Jackie Evans leads me into the grounds shed at Wellington College. Jackie’s grounds team – Sarah Hack, Esmee Sturges, Jess Jackson and Scott Osler – are on their mid-morning break and Esmee, the most talkative member, is holding court. The camaraderie is obvious and, in between smiles, Jackie says that the same team spirit is evident on the school grounds too, adding that when the pressure’s on, which is often the case at the prestigious independent school facility, their work ethic and attention to detail is exceptional.
Another exceptional fact about the grounds team is that four of the fi ve members are women – and Jackie says she’s keen to shine a spotlight on their roles to encourage more women to join the industry.
“I think I may be the only female head groundsperson in the independent school sector, which is why I’m getting more active on social media to highlight the work we do here and hopefully inspire young women to get involved.” she says, adding that she’d happily employ more
women on the team if she could.
“The girls go above and beyond to get things looking good. Every member of the team understands that we all need to pull together to make things work,” she says. “We prepare County-standard cricket surfaces here so everything needs to be spot on.”
According to Jackie, the college’s excellent facilities have also attracted the London Irish rugby union team for training purposes, as well as the England rugby union team and the New Zealand All Blacks. The college also hosted three Women’s Cricket World Cup matches in 1993.
Jackie has led the team for just nine months. Her dad held the role previously and knowing how hard he worked over the past 35 years she says
Esmee gets to grips with the line marker
Jackie loves working outdoors Inset: Jess rolls the cricket pitches
Sports facilities at Wellington College
Jackie’s team work hard all year round to prepare high-quality sports surfaces for the college’s 1,200 boarders and day pupils. The two astro surfaces are also available for community use in the evenings and during school holidays, and pupils from the neighbouring Eagle House School use the facilities twice a week.
Sport facilities include:
n 1 lacrosse pitch n 12 tennis courts on one astro n 12 hard porous tennis courts n 8 netball courts n 14 winter pitches (rugby and football) n 9 cricket squares n 14 grass cricket nets n 14 artificial cricket nets n 1 grass athletics track, javelin, discus, high jump, long jump and shot put
Other college grounds team members include six gardeners and three greenkeepers who look after the nine-hole golf course. he must have thought she was “slightly crazy” taking on the role. “The past few months have been intense, but I absolutely love it,” she says.
“I was having a conversation with Karl McDermott [head groundsman at Lord’s CC], and he was asking about my story and how I got into the industry. I told him that it was very male dominated when I first got involved and it was difficult – as a woman and because my dad was the boss. The perception was ‘she’s here because she’s the boss’ daughter’ and ‘she’s deputy because she’s the boss’ daughter’, but it wasn’t that at all, and I constantly felt that I had to work extra hard to prove that I was doing it off my own back and not because of who I was related to.
“When my dad’s health started to decline and I was second in command here, I was taking on a lot more responsibility, so stepping up was easy because I’d been working in the role for a number of years anyway,” Jackie explains. Although she did apply for other jobs, she says the school didn’t want to lose her and asked her to stay.
ALWAYS LEARNING
Jackie says she learned a huge amount from her dad, who is now enjoying a quieter life in Wales. She has gained her GMA Level 3 supervisory qualifications and is working towards her GMA Level 4 management qualifications, although she admits that it can be tough to juggle studying with her full-time job and spending time with her eight-year-old son.
Throughout her time at the college she says her biggest passion has been cricket pitch preparation and that the main cricket square was her “baby”. “I worked so hard to get it up to a high standard that I did struggle to hand it over,” she laughs.
However, she has now passed it over to Jess, who used to work on Kent County Cricket Club’s outground – so she knows it’ll be in safe hands.
TEAM WORK
As well as Jess, in the last eight months Jackie has recruited Esmee, who is new to the industry; and Scott, a former cricket volunteer, Merrist Wood College student and greenkeeper who came to the college from Reading FC’s training ground. Sarah, on the other hand, has been working alongside Jackie at the college for the past 20 years.
I asked Scott, who has also worked as a greenkeeper in Australia, what it was like working in a predominantly female team. “I worked on a golf course with loads of blokes and one girl, and now I’m here as the only bloke amid women. But I don’t find it weird,” he says. “We all work well as a team and long as the work gets done, what’s the problem?”
Esmee, who will be embarking on the GMA Level 2 Technical Certificate, says she joined the team because she “always wanted to work outdoors” and was interested to learn how to maintain multi-sport pitches, but didn’t have the skills. “When the job opportunity came up, the fact that there were already women working here made it sound more interesting to me, because in all the other jobs I’ve done it’s been quite male dominated. Not that it bothers me, but it’s nice to have girls on site too,” she says, adding that the fact that Jackie and Sarah have been at the college for 20 years she thought “something has got to be right at this place”.
Within Esmee’s first 12 weeks she says she’s been doing a bit of everything. She explains: “Sarah has been showing me the ropes regarding mowing, edging, line marking, fertilising and hedge trimming. There’s much more to this role than I realised. Presentation and attention to detail is really important to me so I’m pleased to be helping to keep up the college standards. When I look back at my work, I think: ‘Wow, that’s what I’ve done’.
“People may think they can’t change careers and get a job in this industry because they haven’t done it before, but you just have to have the passion to learn. If more women get involved, it will reduce the common assumption that this is a job for men only.”
OUTSIDE CHANCE
Sarah says she has loved every part of her role over the past 20 years. Having started as an apprentice at Alton Town Council, she worked on a golf course for a couple of years before joining the college team and has already been highlighted on social media (by Allett Mowers on International Women’s Day) as one of the few women who work within the sector. “I joined the industry because of my love of sports, my interest in horticulture and because I love working outside,” she says.
Jess had worked at Kent CCC for five years before she joined Jackie’s team. “A combination of things attracted me to this role, such as learning to work on a variety of sports surfaces,” she says, adding that she really enjoys being part of the team. “They are a great group of people to work with.”
Jackie, Sarah and Jess inspect one of the school’s mowers
The team get to work at the cricket nets
Scott says he’s not fazed by being the only male member of the team
The college’s groundskeepers are proud of their achievements at Wellington’s facilities
Jackie is keen to help her team develop their knowledge and skills – they are all working towards a personalised programme of GMA qualifications.
PRESSURE POINTS
Regarding team pressure, Jackie says it is prevalent pretty much all the time in the independent school sector – particularly during the summer term when the fixture list is “insane”. “We are a small team with a big area to cover and grass grows like mad in the summer. We make sure that everything is ready for when the pupils start back at the beginning of each term, which makes the job quite intense all year round,” she explains, adding that it’s particularly important to ensure that everything looks good for visiting and prospective parents.
Working closely with the school’s director of sport regarding sport programming, Jackie’s team renovate the cricket squares in the summer holidays then move onto rugby once the pupils come back for the autumn term, although she says more winter pitches are also needed to accommodate an increasing number of football players at the school – both boys and girls.
Jackie says most of the machines are serviced by Lister Wilder, and she buys the tractors, ATVs and ride-on mowers from the dealer too. Auto Guide services the Auto-Rollers, and she uses Advance Grass Solutions for grass seed and fertilisers, Surrey Loam for GOSTD 125 cricket loam and Fleet Linemarkers for paint and line markers. Contractors include Elite Turf Solutions for winter pitch renovations and Complete Weed Control for spraying – although she plans to get every team member trained to use pedestrian and ride-on sprayers so they can do more in house.
The synthetic surfaces are maintained once a month, plus weekly leaf clearing and goal repositioning as needed. The tennis courts are also maintained once a week during the summer too.
EMBRACING ECO
Jackie is reducing chemical use in favour of more sustainable methods, such as organic soil conditioners to treat worm casts on cricket squares and washing powder for moss control. “Spraying is not the only answer – in fact, this year we don’t have as many weeds due to our cultural methods and the fact that we routinely pick them out with our forks.”
Jackie also networks with other school head grounds manager, such as Lee Marshallsay at Eton School and James Pope at Charterhouse. “We compete against all schools at our level so it’s good for me and the team to check and compare surface standards and maintenance methods. We all have similar challenges to overcome and standards to aspire to – whether we are a team of men or women,” she concludes.
The extensive grounds sheds
