Ground

When I joined the club in November 2004 the club was playing its home games at Leegomery, which for those of you who don’t know is a small area outside Wellington. For those of you who do know it also know that it is not the nicest place to play or watch a match.

Club Chairman Dave Gregory has for many years been trying to find a ground that The Amateurs can call home. Little did we know that we would end up taking over a ground that our local rivals Oakengates Town had called home for many years.

In March 2005 a meeting committee meeting was called to discuss the way forward for the club. The main one of these was the “Holy Grail” of a ground of our own. Numerous ideas had been suggested such as Wrockwardine Village, Denso Works pitch and even a cheeky suggestion The New Bucks Head.

The suggestion of School Grove came from Manager Mike Armstrong. All around the table knew the pitch (Brian and Betty Herbert live next to it!!!) the idea was discussed and it was agreed that enquiries should be made as to the availability of the ground.

Contact was made with Wombridge Junior School and discussions began over Wellington Amateurs taking over the ground. The School put Chairman Dave Gregory in contact with the Local Education Authority. After long discussions a 5-year Lease of the ground was agreed.

It may seem to you the reader that the process was very straightforward and was agreed in a matter of days. It was August 2005 when the deal was finally agreed, thanks in no small part to not only our Chairman but Committee Member Tim Davies. They worked tirelessly for the club and deserve a great deal of credit.

This was just the beginning of the hard work.

No doors, smashed up furniture, graffiti and holes in the roof were what greeted us. There was an awful lot of work ahead of us and it wasn’t going to come cheap.

In September 2005 “The Big Project” began.

A skip was delivered to site and all the rubbish from site was deposited into it. Well not strictly true. Several skips and quite a few car journeys to the local dump were required in order to clear all the rubbish out.

Player Lee Tristham secured the building with two new exterior doors and the water and electricity was restored to the site.

New partition walls were put up, the away changing area was knocked into 1 room, new toilets were fitted, New shower areas constructed, lights were fitted and many other jobs to get the clubhouse to a habitable standard.

The club had been given away fixtures until 29th October 2005 so the race was on to get the ground ready.

The club obtained New goal posts and arranged for the pitch to be cut by Norbridge Nurseries. Main club sponsors Wrekin Building Supplies had kindly agreed to give the club £1000 worth of materials to complete the work.

Player Greg Owen , who also runs his own firm Wrekin Drains Services unclogged the drains. Brian Herbert, Dan Drayton, Mike Armstrong, Anthony Cotterill, Andy Richards, Alan Webb, Tim Davies and Club Chairman Dave Gregory all contributed in getting the clubhouse ready.

Many late nights and weekends were spent getting the building to an acceptable standard. To say it was all plain sailing would be a lie, but everyone put in the effort.

The work continued right up until an hour before the kick off in a Sportsjamkits.com Premier Division Cup first round match against Wem Town.

The hard work many had put into the project off the pitch was matched by those on it. In the 56th minute Lee Tristham rose majestically above the Wem defenders to head home the first Wellington Amateurs goal at School Grove. It was fitting that somebody who had work so hard should have this honour.

Throughout the rest of the season the work continued.

As the season came to a close the committee Identified areas that need work.

The key area was the barrier around the pitch. Thanks to our sponsors Wrekin Building Supplies we were able to obtain materiel to build a continuous barrier around the pitch.

Dugouts were also required and thanks to Dan Drayton we were able to start the season with 2 collapsable dugouts.

Extra drainage was also installed to improve the playing surface.

Little did we know that the developments on the pitch were going to be superseded by achievements on them.

As has been documented elsewhere on this site the club achieved a long held ambition of the club to gain promotion to the prestigious West Midlands Regional League.

To attain promotion the club was requested to develop the away changing rooms. Other work undertaken was a refurbishment of the Kitchen area to allow the club to serve refreshments. This work was undertaken by AD Basement Solutions.

The most noticeable piece of work was the installation of a hard standing area around the perimeter of the pitch. This was essential to house supporter for the upcoming Pre Season friendly against AFC Telford United.

Working to a very tight schedule the ground sparkled like a polished diamond. All who visited were impressed with the improvements and in front of a crowd of 450 plus The Amateurs senior side played The Blue Square North side. Despite losing 8-0 the club made a lot of friends that night.

So what does the future hold for School Grove?

The most important thing is that the ground has a future.

Further developments are in the works to improve the ground even more and to turn it into one of the best facilities in the county of Shropshire.