The picture below shows the assortment of objects which can cause damage to gang mowers, found on the recreation ground from mid March to mid April

The gang- mowers must have an annual service due to constantly hitting objects left on the grass. The latest service identified the fact that new bottom blades were now required to enable the mowers to function correctly. The cost of purchasing, grinding and fitting these blades was just over £500 the equivalent of 25% of the trustees disposable budget (total budget is £3000-00 of which insurance is £1000).
The ground has been rolled and mown in March but from mid March to mid April over two buckets of stones, sticks, flattened cans and other metal objects have been found on the ground. These objects were found away from the edges in areas regularly gang mown. Some have been seen when gang mowing was taking place, others already hit during gang-mowing and some picked up by people using the ground and placed by the changing rooms and the person who does the gang-mowing (on a voluntary basis) informed where they were found. The large stones vary from large pebbles to Hornton stones and these have obviously been brought to the recreation ground from other areas. Many of the sticks have the imprint of dog’s teeth and have obviously been brought by dogs being exercised up the old railway track. A large amount of small pebbles were found in numerous little heaps by the goal mouth by the estate entrance. This was on the first day of the school holidays, overall this was the most dangerous as they are so small that if they are not all collected they can be split by the gang mowers and propelled at great speed in any direction and could cause serious injury to people using the ground at the time or the tractor driver.
The Recreation Ground receives a grant of £2000-00 from the Parish Council and the Trustees have not requested an increase in the last six years even though costs of insurance has risen by over £600-00 during that period but obviously this may have to change for 2010 as the contingency has been used up and there is only sufficient funds to meet all the other regular charges ie fuel for the tractor and mowers, buildings maintenance, swings and seat maintenance, tractor service, and other grounds cost. At present the Parish Council paid for the new safety surfacing under the swings as the cost is far beyond the trustee’s finances and as safety inspections have to be met for insurance purposes it is a case of install the surfacing or remove the equipment.
The Recreation Ground Trustees hope that any person leaving stones, flattened cans, sticks and other objects on the recreation ground will ensure in the future that they are either taken home or put in the litter bin.
One other interesting fact to note is at the last Annual Parish Council meeting in April at Jubilee Park Hall where there were more councillors present than residents, in the treasurer’s report the grant for the maintenance of the recreation ground which is open to everyone 24 hrs per day, 365 days per year was £2000  and the cost of emptying the dog bins was £1,000.   In the current climate of value for money this is an interesting comparison.

Bloxham Recreation Ground Trustees.