We’re very happy to report that work on restoring the back wicket to a grass square has been all but finished. To give you a potted history, the Recreation Ground was, at one point, home to two cricket clubs, Northwood Central CC and Northwood Hills CC playing on two different pitches. Once the clubs merged the second square was abandoned until the old AstroTurf pitch was created in 2011. If you want to learn more about the history of the club, head over to the history section of the website.
After an application from NTCC, Hillingdon Council chose to allocate Chrysalis funding to returning the grass square to a playable condition as well as replacing the AstroTurf wicket which was starting to show it’s age. The council’s contractors finished work a few weeks ago, leaving the new square to germinate before the surface of the new artificial strip is laid in a few months time.
This is obviously a massive boost for us as a club and will allow us to provide the 3rd XI with grass cricket as well as giving the Junior section dedicated wickets too. Sadly, the grass square needs a year to establish itself so we won’t be able to play on the wicket itself next season, but we will at least have a shiny new AstroTurf wicket to enjoy in the meantime!
All club members are encouraged to go and have a look at the work that has been done on the square and to keep an eye on the area as it’s crucial it’s allowed to grow properly – if any member sees anyone on the area, please ask them to move off immediately. If you’re interested in getting involved in helping with the ground side of the club, get in touch with Ground Secretary Rob Fanner. He’s the one grinning in front of the tractor in the photo.