Job done at Mountain Ash (with a little help from our friends in the community)
Posted on: April 21, 2009 by normanmaitland posted in News
There is a saying that there is no pain without gain. Nowhere was this closer to the truth than in Mountain Ash in Aberdare where much valued recreation facilities were to be restored with the help of funding from development agency Amgen Cymru
However, this would take place at the potential price of major disruption to the local community while the work was going on. Our task was to carry out the work and keep the community on-side by liaising closely with community group Darren Las.
The project: careful planning, even more careful consultation, and rain-soaked execution!
The work to be undertaken was relatively straightforward and included spraying-off the existing sward, levelling and grading the existing ground - at all times working around the existing rugby posts since it was a requirement of the contract that they were not moved. Having been made at one of the local pits they had a considerable historical significance.
It was in fetching in the materials for the new pitch that the potential for upset existed: 3000 tonnes of topsoil and 600 tonnes of sand in over 150 lorry loads through narrow terraced streets. There would be noise and vibration, people would have to park their cars elsewhere, and as with any scheme of this kind, there were one or two people who were just waiting for us to make a mistake.
However, since the overwhelming part of the community was behind the project and thanks to very detailed liaison with Darren Las and the local police (including using the Blog area of this website as a channel of communication) the materials were got onto site with hardly a hitch.
Once the topsoil and sand were on site they were mixed, slit drains forced down the pitch, and the surface prepared and seeded. Work started in October 2008 – just as the heavens opened and didn’t seem to close again for weeks on end – and it wasn’t until April 2009 that the job could be completed.
Those historic goal posts still stand, and come the Autumn 2009 Mountain Ash will, once again, be one of the finest community pitches in that part of Wales – thanks to Inscapes, and our friends in the community.
