Go Astro

The final Pitch watch report! ;( – Pitch opened

Our pitch is finally done and opened and its no less than what we expected.. it is the pitch of dreams, and it is quite simply amazing!

So let’s raise our glasses and have a big pitch watch ‘cheers’ to the future of Botanic Hockey Club. May the new pitch bring plenty of wins and trophies into the future, but more importantly may it continue to hold the amazing fun and family centre that is Botanic Hockey Club, well into the next generations. Ladies… we’re home.

Go Astro!

25th April 2008

WE’RE GETTING THE KEYS TO THE ASTRO TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE AT THE PITCH OF DREAMS AT 7PM TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!! GO ASTRO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Message from Go Astro Steering Committee:

ASTRO UPDATE:

The pitch is very nearly finished and at the moment we are going through the ‘snagging’ process, whilst the contractor completes the finishing touches to the pitch.
We are all looking forward to the opening of the pitch soon. We will keep you updated.

December 14th 2008

The tarmaccing of the ground in front of the pitch is now done.. pics to follow… Go Astro!

7th December 2008

Had a trip down to check out the circles and they’re looking magic! The markings for the long corner etc are also now down, so apart from assembling the goals I do believe the pitch part is complete!! There is of course the cleaning up and tarmaccing of outside the pitch before hand over but it can’t be long now! There are two signs gone up on the fence warning about regulations of use for the pitch (wear studs on it and we’re legally allowed to kill you etc. ) It’s the usual sign, no smoking, chewing gum, studs, keep it clean and that kind of jazz. As for the goals, the un-assembled parts are on the pitch at the moment ready to be pieced together, check out the gallery for the snaps. Go Astro!

5th December 2008

The podium has been set! The gauntlet thrown down! ….Where pressure will buckle some and make heroes of others …The circles are down! Excited???? Go Astro!

23rd November 2008

C’mere c’mere I’ve a secret to tell ye.. shhhh.. shhh… THE TURF IS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the way! The full length of the pitch is turfed!!! It’s CRRRAZY!! Now don’t get too excited just yet (well ok, just a little too excited tho!) It won’t be ready for the weekend if, like me, thats what you were thinking! There are some jobs still left to do so theres a bit in it yet, but it’s hella close!! The circles and lines of the pitch have to be cut in yet, there’s the cleaning of around the edges of the pitch to be done, and then theres the clearing of, and finishing off of, the outside of the pitch around the car park area. But it looks amazingly green, and even at this stage I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that it will clearly be the greatest pitch in the world!

Got snap happy again down at the pitch today so check out the gallery for some shots of what amazing-ness looks like! Pitch pano is looking a little dodge this time but you’ll get the idea! Also managed to get some shots of the floodlit pitch in the gallery as well. Go Astro!!

22nd November 2008

Got some snaps of the (half) pitch of dreams! Check out the gallery for a gander! Looking good, keep it up! Got a pitch pano for the full idea of it. Go Astro!

21st November 2008

Oh dear Lord we have half a pitch!!!!!!! Can you believe it!!! I saw the half way line passing by this morning! Unreal! Go Astro!!

November 19th 2008

Passed by the pitch on the bus this morning and am happy to report that we have our very own 25 yard line!!!! Yay!! No pics as of yet but rest assured it is as clean and crisp looking as the end line! Fantastic stuff! Go Astro!

November 16th 2008

Had a quick peek into the pitch this morning and things seems to be moving steadily enough on the turf laying. The fencing is all secured now so pics will be through the fence for the next while but the progress is still looking good. The turf seems to be done up to around the 25yard line mark thus far. All the rolls of turf have been moved inside the secure fencing so the area in front of the pitch is a good bit clearer now. Heres a pitch pano for yis.

You’ll all be thrilled to hear that the main bird himself, Bob, was there this morning and is only delighted to have found a new perch on top of the floodlights to survey the matches! Check out the gallery for the pic! Hope you’re all still prayin for good weather for the coming weeks! Go Astro!

November 12th 2008

Turf!

Work continues today on the pitch of dreams. May have gone a little crazy in the photo department with about 7 million pics of the new turf but yes my friends it is THAT good! Have a pitch panorama right here for you guys so you can get a feel for what its like to be standing on the pitch of dreams! The schedule has turf laying in for 12 days, but as was said before, this is weather permitting so keep those fingers and toes crossed for at least another 10 days!!! Big up to the guys working down at the pitch for letting us in taking pictures and wrecking their heads as they work! Thanks a mill guys, smashing job! Go Astro!!

November 11th 2008

Yes you’ve heard right! It’s true!! The turf laying has indeed started!!!! Check out todays pitch watch pic (thanks Angie!) to see what all todays excitment was about!! Theres a couple more in the gallery for you to check out. Also in there is the new turf under floodlights!!! Yes the floodlights have finally been caught on camera on and I have to say, standing on the pitch with turf on it and lights on is probably the best thing ever in the history of the world! It’s genuinely unbelievable! Miracles happen girls! The lights pics arn’t great but hopefully will manage to get a few better ones soon for yis. Keep up the great work on the turf guys! GO ASTRO!

November 9th 2008

Rumour has it the floodlights were on during the week!! Didn’t see it myself but as soon as I do there’ll be pics up don’t worry! The shock absorber layer seems to be complete now, the result looks a lot like another layer of tarmac but going by the pieces left outside the pitch it’s more like bouncy tarmac! Hopefully we’ll start seeing the turf being put down at some stage next week as I believe that’s the last layer to go down before the green amazing-ness. Apparently this section of the job is weather permitting so fingers crossed everyone for no rain for the week!! Heres a pitch pano to give you a feel for the way the site looks at the moment. Go Astro!

November 5th 2008

Just got a quick correction for you guys from Steering, the turf that is currently down at the pitch is NOT our turf! Ours is due in next week. (Well I did say it looked a little long!!) Thanks for that update! Very excited about seeing the real turf now!!! Go Astro!

November 4th 2008

News down at the pitch today is that the underlay is underway! According to Angie (and mucho thanks for the update dude!) the rubber matting is created by granules which are currently being spread out onto the pitch. These get glued together forming the shock absorber that’ll protect your knees for years and years to come!! Pitch watch pic today is the guys in action putting down the rubber. Thanks for the update and remember if anyone is passing the pitch during the now limited hours of light do take a snap and send on an update! We love to hear what’s the latest! Getting close now!! Go Astro!

November 2nd 2008

Latest news down at the pitch is that the main gate for the astro is now up and working. The trench down the hill to the school seems to have been filled in now as well so lots of progress still happening. But where is the green you ask??? We are into the last couple of weeks of the build so as soon as theres sight of green on the pitch you can be sure you’ll hear about it right here!! For the meantime I’ve done up a new panoramic of what the pitch is like right now. You can download it by clicking here and you’ll need quicktime or real player to view it. Click and drag around the image to get a full 360 degrees of the progress so far. Couldn’t get ye any closer to the action If we tried!! Go astro!!

October 27th 2008

New netting going up around the pitch these days. It’s gone down the right hand side of the fence thus far, sitting up on the wiring that went up last week. Check out todays pitch watch picture to see for yourself how its looking. Other ongoing work is a trench going down from the pitch all the way down the hill and towards the front of the school. This is presumably going to hold all the wiring for the lights? (does that mean we’ll see them lit soon???? v.exciting!!) All pics up in the gallery to see the distruption we’re causing! All for an excellent cause my friends!! Go Astro!

October 22nd 2008

I can’t believe it was there all along!!!! The turf IS there and has been for AGES!!! Argh! I thought it was the underlay but they opened up one of the wrappers today and the green was jumpin out everywhere!! Check out todays pitch watch and the gallery for the snaps!! Can’t believe it! It was all wrapped up so tight I never saw any green! Anyway, the grass looks deadly, if a little longer than expected, but I’m sure it looks very different on the ground anyway.

Phew! Now that thats out of my system… In other news there’s wiring gone up above the fencing also, to stop people climbing over, 2 lines of it up there. It’s on 3/4 of the fence now with just the front to do by the looks of it. The front side of the pitch is also now all fenced up since the last report. Moving swiftly these days I tells ya! Go Astro!

October 19th 2008

Just a quick update to let you know that three quarters of the pitch is now fenced in and looking ace. Pictures are up in the gallery now. Noticed theres another gate going in at the St.Brigids end on the path way side should we ever need a quick escape route! Have also spotted that theres a hole in the ground in the closest dug out. There’s a picture here, it has wires coming out beside it. Don’t think its another floodlight but not sure what it is really! Any one got any ideas?? Let us know if ya do. Go Astro!

October 15th 2008

Someone should probably tell the guys down at the pitch that there’s nothing on this earth able to contain the might of the Botanic Pitch of Dreams…However this new fence will do a good job of containing the ball I reckon! Ace!! We have a fence! A proper fence! No more reaching through thorns to get the ball over the end line! We’re made! Around half the pitch has the new fence panels up now with the other half to come shortly no doubt! Wohoo! Go Astro!

October 11th 2008

Tarmac = Awesome! The pitch is incredibly flat these days and looking in super condition. The tarmaccing and rolling looks complete and it is flat to perfection! Check out the gallery pics to get an idea of it coz it looks great. As was said today: funnily enough, it looks almost as good as John D had the grit for us every Saturday!

Had a bit of an incident with the gate on Fri but the gate has been removed for fixing and will be back up in no time I imagine. Pile up the fence and lets get rockin!! Go Astro!

Did I mention we got Floodlights?

October 9th 2008

Been lackin a bit on the updates lately, but I’m back in action! Have been down taking pics alrite but havn’t gotten the writeups done, so I’ve put up a whole pile of new pics for ye in the gallery so you can see the progress leading up to the tarmaccing. Noticable includes are: the rectangular bit at the front of the entrance for wiping our shoes before stepping onto the astro of dreams. The lights appear to have been hooked up to a well secured box that sits outside of the pavillion door now.

Today was more laying of the tarmaccing, and I have to say it is looking really really good now. It was getting a bit dark but it looks like the tarmac is on the whole of the pitch now and they’ve done a decent portion of the rolling to get it ridiculously flat done. Heavy duty machinery down there getting the job done I tells ya. Bit of work left on the tarmac but after that according to the schedule its the fence panels, and we all know what that means!!! We’re getting closer and closer to greenage!!!! Go Astro!

October 8th 2008

We’re tarmaccing it up down at the pitch these days!! The many wide and varied levels of astro eh?! Lots of new machines down to get the tarmac down perfectly flat. Rumour has it there was a big crowd down getting everything sorted today, keep it going guys, we’re loving your work! Go Astro!

1st October 2008

Ah! I thought the carpet arrived today!! Then I realised I’m jumping well ahead of the schedule and what arrived today (and which does genuinely look like carpet!!) must infact be the shock absorber pad / underlining and not the green amazing-ness. Thats my guess anyway, anyone else knows otherwise, do let us know! I did some thorough investigation so you can see what it’s like for yourselves. Other than that, seemed like another layer of stone was put down and is almost rolled. Go Astro!

Page is getting a bit huge so… For Aug/Sept Pitch Watch and build to pitch-watch click here