Archive for Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine getting ready for Caldy Sevens
ANY visitor to Caldy rugby club’s famed Sevens tournament will quickly realise why the club’s Paton Field home is owned by the National Trust.
Well appointed pitches and grounds are delicately framed by the colourful gorse and bracken on the surrounding hills, combining with views across to Wales over the nearby Dee Estuary to create one of the most picturesque settings for sport in the country.
The men charged with maintaining this breathtaking setting for the last 23 years are known as the Last of the Summer Wine, a hardy band of volunteers who meet up twice a week to lavish care and attention wherever it is needed.
The idea of the group came from the late Arthur Parkinson, who was captain, chairman and president of the club – it was his wife Barbara who christened the first three members as the Summer Wine.
Their work includes anything from marking one of the 11 pitches that are in near constant use by the club’s 21 teams, gorse and bracken control, path and track laying or even mole catching.
Dickie Smith, one of this unique band of brothers, said it is a satisfying way to pass the time.
“We started off with a few people and that has grown to the 12 or so regulars we have now,” he added. “We get together twice a week, or more often if necessary, and spend a few hours doing whatever needs to be done.
“It is nice to work in the outdoors, especially when the sun is shining, and to get together with people as part of your routine.
“When you retire, quite often you miss being in the regular company of people, as you were with your workmates. With the Summer Wine we meet up, get to work and then have a pint and put the world to rights in the clubhouse. We have even started having an outing here and there.
“It is very satisfying and good fun too, although sometimes the chats go on longer than the work!”
While the emphasis of the team is on enjoying themselves while they get the work done, they also bring the same dedication and attention to detail to their roles as they did in their working lives – which are as remarkable and varied as the tasks they take on now.
Their former jobs included a Mersey and Channel tunnel engineer, the chief electrical engineer for the Shell Group, successful restaurateurs, a regional bank director, probation officer, head of parks and garden for Merseyside and a Marine Insurance specialist.
Dickie said: “We come from a range of backgrounds, although most of us have played for Caldy and held positions here too.
“I suppose that helps us because we are all used to getting things done through our working lives and we bring that to bear here. Everyone pitches in and has a go at any task necessary to maintain the grounds in tip-top condition, to present the best face of the club to visitors.”
He added: “We all feel a great sense of satisfaction when we can come in and see the results of our work, stretching back over more than a decade.
“In that time – with the growth of the minis and juniors – the amount of players using the grounds has increased massively, so to see the quality of the pitches being a real feeling of achievement for all of us.”
Dickie continued that those achievements have only been achieved by a collective effort between the Summer Wine volunteers, the club as a whole, and outside bodies too.
“You only have to look around to see what a beautiful and special place this is,” he said. “We liaise with the National Trust regularly and are very aware that we can’t make any changes without assessing how they would affect the overall look of Paton Field.
“As I said, we have a link to the club going back several decades and want to feel we are giving something back by doing this work.
He added: “There are no bosses or orders, just friends working together to maintain the grounds for today’s players and visitors to the club.
“That is something we feel very strongly about and work very hard to achieve, as a true team, not a collection of individuals. We are very fortunate to be able to work in such a magnificent setting and everything we do is meant to enhance that in the best way possible.”
Paton Field History
- In 1923, at the suggestion of Calday Grange Grammar School headmaster RT Glasspool, Sir Alfred Paton – a governor of the school and West Kirby High School for Girls – bought a parcel of land from a farmer in Thurstaston.
- That land (20 acres, including one road and three perches) is now known as Paton Field, home of the Caldy club (rugby, cricket and archery)
- The land was then conveyed to the National Trust, with the proviso it was used for the playing of sports by the young people of the district.
- By 1927, the old boys of the school – Old Caldeians RFC – had constructed a rugby pitch on the site of the present third team pitch.
- By the early 1950s, the present middle pitch was added following sterling work by the ladies committee. They not only made the teas and so on, but wielded pick axes on the site.
- In the mid 1960s, during the chairmanship of Guy Tills, the present first team pitch was constructed.
- This was part-funded by a lottery win of £1000.
- Additional funding came from the profits of the famous post-Sevens jazz dances. Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Humphrey Littleton, Mick Mulligan and George Melly were among the performers.
- The Last of the Summer Wine have overseen the maintenance and development of the grounds for the last 23 years.
