Earning his Spurs - Pitchcare

“It was difficult to get others
to understand that, being
new and with the bad
weather coming in, we
needed the new pitches to only
be in play when conditions
were favourable - it was a
frustrating two months to be
a sports turf manager!”
Stewart Ward, Grounds and Sport
Turf Manager, Hartpury College
Stewart Ward, Grounds and Sport
Turf Manager, Hartpury College, is
highly qualified, highly committed
and highly motivated to deliver the
best possible facilities for the
students.
Here he talks about his career to
date and the plans he has for
improving all aspects of the grounds
Hartpury College is
located on a
beautiful 200
hectare campus
just five miles
outside the city of Gloucester.
It is home to a vibrant and
international community of
3,200 full-time students of all
ages, studying further and
higher education courses,
who all share a keen interest
in the animal, equine, land or
sports sciences.
Hartpury’s continual
campus development
programme ensures that
students have access to
excellent teaching and
recreational facilities. The
college offers both further
and higher education courses,
and has links to the
University of the West of
England (UWE) - it was
awarded associate faculty
status in 1997. This means
graduating students leave
Hartpury having obtained a
UWE degree qualification.
Stewart Ward is the
Grounds and Sport Turf
Manager who oversees “a
dedicated nine man team”.
“I began my career as a
grounds man/gardener on an
YTS scheme run by Rowntree
Mackintosh plc,” says Stewart
“with ‘off the job’ training at
Askham Bryan College in
York. I spent two years
learning the ropes on sports
turf maintenance, looking
after two rugby and five
football pitches, one hockey
pitch, two cricket squares and
the factory’s bowling green
and, in addition, an eighty