N O. 1 2 1 T H E T R U S T Y S E R VA N T
Stuart Churchill
Robin Chute( E, 61-65; Estates Bursar) writes:
Stuart has worked as a groundsman for the College since February 1970. He was 19 years old when he started after three years grounds-keeping experience locally, and lived at Owslebury, just east of Winchester.
The College was extremely lucky to obtain his services at all as another, older, candidate was offered the job of Assistant Groundsman, but sadly suddenly died before he could take up the post. Stuart started on the princely remuneration of £ 15 per week with two weeks holiday, but received an annual bonus for working during the then two-day Eton Match. He became Head Groundsman in September 1982 and oversaw the amalgamation of the Gardens and the Grounds Departments. He has since been responsible for four groundsmen, four gardeners and, indirectly, two river keepers.
It seems remarkable now but, even in the 1970s, the College ran its support departments on Victorian lines and, to differentiate between them and the dons, they were called‘ Non-Teaching Staff’. The heads of the various departments largely wore jackets and ties and did very little physical work. Stuart’ s predecessor was no exception and limited himself to mowing Lords square.
His promotion in effect increased the work force by one as he always led by example and from the front. He would never give his men anything to do that he could not do himself. Whilst he may have been considered a firm boss because his standards were so high, his staff were all immediately loyal to him. I can only remember three members of his team leaving voluntarily in 33 years – and one
did so to become a gamekeeper. He has a very quick and ready sense of humour and delights in pulling people’ s legs, particularly his superiors’, and bringing them down to earth.
His role was made more difficult because of the small size of the College campus and the increasing sporting demands made upon it. Much of the grass has to support three different major sports being played on it: Lavender Meads, for example, caters for cricket, soccer and Win Coll football. To do that requires not only dedication and hard work, but the right kit. Over the last three decades Stuart has‘ persuaded’ me to increase the day-to-day Grounds budget( excluding salaries) from £ 12,500 to £ 175,000 per annum.
He has always been looking for ways of improving our playing surfaces and the
Stuart and his team
following are just a sample of what he has achieved:-
� New Meads square � Gater Field drained � Five all-weather cricket strips � Two all-weather cricket nets
� Levelling and draining Bull’ s Drove and Doggers
� New canvasses on Lavender Meads
He has also supervised the landscaping of the Boarding House gardens, Warden’ s Garden, QEII, War Cloister and Music School. His skills have been appreciated by outside use of our facilities, such as: Robin Smith’ s testimonial on Lords; the Hampshire Schools Football Cup final; England v Australia U19s in a three-day match on
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