Talking Turf: Volunteer to Victory
Volunteer Head Groundsman at Melksham Cricket Club, Tim Carpenter, recently won the ‘Outstanding Achievement’ Award from the Cricket World Groundscare Awards, hosted at Lords Cricket Ground.
Tim still doesn’t know who nominated him for the award last April. After years of hard work, he said: “I still haven’t got to the bottom of who nominated me, but winning the award has given me recognition for my commitment and dedication. I don’t receive a salary for the work, but when someone comes and says how nice it looks or says thank you, that’s the only payment I need.”
When asked about being at the home of cricket, Tim said: “Being at Lords for the awards was fantastic. It was very interesting to be able to visit somewhere with such a wealth of history, and Karl McDermott was fantastic with all of us. He attended the event himself and invited us to look around his shed and all the equipment which was an eye-opener; I learnt a lot from the experience.”
In addition to helping out at the pitch as a volunteer, Tim owns and operates Sparkles Window Cleaning Services in Melksham and going down to the ground can be his escape from normality. “The nicest thing about being in charge of the grounds is being able to escape from the stresses of my day-to-day work. Rolling the wicket for a couple of hours, or even cutting the outfield, gives you a nice feeling. It is what I call my happy place.”
Despite the ground giving Tim an escape, it can be challenging to manage a ground and a business at the same time, he explained: “The main word here is time. I need to manage my business which takes priority and then quite often the weather stops me from getting out at the ground.”
Tim insists that the club is a team effort and credits others who are involved: “My wife is very supportive and even offers to help during the summer months when I go out at 8pm, as she knows that no one else is going to prepare the pitch. Deborah Burns is also fantastic with getting grants for the club, because without those we would not have half of the equipment we have and it would be impossible to produce a pitch to the level that we have managed to get it to. The committee are also massively supportive.”
When asked about not receiving pay for his work, Tim highlighted the bigger picture: “In grounds management you don’t always get it right; that’s part of the process. However, when you get it right and you get the praise, that is payment enough. We had an ex-South African International cricketer come and play here last year and he shook my hand and told me I had done a good job. That’s what it’s all about.”
Tim’s journey so far
“I’ve played cricket since the late 80s and I have always had a passion for sports. The groundsman position happened by pure chance.”
“One day back in 2010, the previous groundsman (John Wiltshire), asked if I wanted to help with the pitch. I had already tried my hand at umpiring and playing, so I thought why not try… it evolved from there.”
Tim described how far they have come since then: “We had very limited resources and budget, so it was really difficult to create a playing surface to be proud of. The developments in terms of finding grants and increasing the budget have helped to turn the pitch around. We’ve had to persevere when things have been tough. Our pavilion was recently restored after it was burnt down, which was a very tough time for all at the club. It’s about community spirit and drive to keep going.”