This spring we have an amazing opportunity to achieve two sporting goals with just one fundraising effort. This is a rare opportunity to make a huge difference to both school sport and the local sporting community in Sandwich.
Goal One - naming the new Astro
After many years of harbouring an ambition for a full sized AstroTurf pitch, the school has finally been able to build that pitch on the Farrer Field. This Astroturf pitch will predominately be used for hockey, but can also be used for football, tennis and netball. The pitch is now down and nearly ready for use!
Old Manwoodians have been given the opportunity to name the pitch and we have chosen the legendary figure of the late, great Peter “Furry” Firminger / PF (student between 1946-1952 and staff from 1958 to1992). Here was a man who made an unparalleled contribution to development of sport (especially hockey) at the school. "PF is the reason I put a stick in my hand all those years ago!" Mel Clewlow (1987-1994) Canterbury, England, GB hockey (Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games) Commonwealth Games silver 1998 and 2002 and bronze 2006 Currently Director of Sport at University of Kent
The school has graciously agreed, if we can raise £10,000, to name the pitch after Furry. If you would like to donate, please consider adding Gift Aid so we can boost your donation by 25%. In addition to the money raised on this page, we have also received various donations which have been transferred directly to the Manwood Trust. We are actually more than halfway to the target!
Goal Two - refurbishing the pavilion and making it an asset for our local sporting community
As Lee Hunter, the Headmaster says in the video, the money that you help us raise to name the AstroTurf will be used to refurbish the sports' pavilion - a building that holds a special place in the hearts of many OMs but which has fallen on hard times.
The refurbishment of the pavilion is important for two reasons. Firstly so that it can be fully utilised by the school. But it can also become a comfortable club house for the community sports clubs that want to rent and use our fantastic facilities on the Farrer Field. We already have a community girls football club using the Farrer Field, but other clubs have been put off by the lack of suitable changing facilities. If we can resolve that, we have a local cricket club, hockey club and football club who all want to base themselves at Manwood's and take advantage of our fantastic facilities, including the amazing new AstroTurf.
Sadly, with the squeeze on maintenance and repair budgets (Manwood's receives an annual budget of just £30k a year for building work for the whole site!), the pavilion is in need of some significant TLC.
The school has already applied for a government grant to completely refurbish the building, but these grants are heavily oversubscribed and projects related to safeguarding and health and safety are seen as much higher priorities, so we weren't successful.
So, the focus has to be on getting the pavilion back into use within a reasonable budget. The work needed has been costed at £45k - and of course, the school can't spend its annual buildings budget (and more!) on just one building. However, we are now able to get this project off the ground as, thanks to some nimble negotiations on the AstroTurf, there is a £25k underspend that will go towards repairs to the roof, guttering, electrics, staircase and doors. In addition, the cricket club that want to move to Manwoods want to contribute to restoring the scorebox.
The money from this Crowdfunder will pay for making the changing rooms fully functional. This means replacing the broken hot water system and getting the showers and toilets repaired and working, so that those community clubs will choose to use Manwood's as their home. We have received quotes of £20k for this work.
We are also applying to Sport England,who have a matched funding scheme of up to £3k for the refurbishment of community sporting facilities in our area, so please keep your fingers crossed that we are successful with that! We'll let you know the outcome of that.
Our fundraising deadline.
The official opening of the AstroTurf will be on the afternoon of Thursday May 23rd May (Founders Day). The ribbon will be cut by David Firminger (1946-1952) twin brother of Peter Firminger and triple Commonwealth Hockey Medalist Mel Clewlow (1987-1994).
And finally...
Why contribute? You may want to contribute to help the school. You may want to contribute to support the local sports clubs who want to use the pavilion as their club house. Or you may want to DO IT FOR FURRY!!
If you've got a memory of Furry or want to say what he meant to you, add that to the "comments" once you've made a donation. We will collate and publish these as an additional honour to PF.
“Pete thoroughly deserved this recognition of 35yrs service at Manwoods. I only wish that that he was here to see it” David Firminger (PF’s twin brother)