Also cleaned 17 feet of the inside of the original pitch wall in this section and trimmed back some of the larger branches that have overhung this patch of terracing. There are 7 dead trees around this section and our intention is to first coppice and then fully remove all of these, thus clearing more sight lines of each corner of the pitch, which are currently hidden by brush at the moment.
Some lovely feedback from the local community regarding our work this week again and even had tools donated today! 4 more bags of rubbish also collected this week and picked up by the Council. What do do with the piles of mud and moss cleared from this section had become a problem until we decided to reinstate the former earth embankment first put in by Queens Park FC in 1884. Although this was originally further North in the old Hampden Park, we are now rebuilding it with soil from
the cleared terracing in this section above, marked out on monday before we began adding the soil. This area is currently a muddy bog and an earthen mound will both enclose the ground and draw up a lot of this resting water away from the running track and the pitch, helping with drainage and to improve this north side of the playing surface.
From a small mound this is now building up nicely and our eventual aim is to add to this until it is a fully formed earth bank, which we will grass over in the short term. Once the earth, twigs etc have compacted and dried out, we aim to rebuild a new section of Victorian-style terracing on top of this solid foundation in keeping with our eventual vision for Cathkin Park.
So hopefully we will be able to get this up to a decent height over the next 4 weeks and extend it along the old site of Third Lanark's main stand. Locals may be a bit concerned at this pile of unsightly compost, but if given time this will vastly improve the appearance and atmosphere inside the old ground during matches as well as drying out the much maligned football pitch.
We have also marked out a new pathway for the Jimmy Johnstone Academy to use to erect their goalposts and will add red blaes to this and dry out this pathway next week. We have also started removing the 'Squatter's Den' which had appeared on the south enclosure pitch-side and will re-use the tarpaulins on our new 'Spion Kop' terracing.
In addition we are in discussions with a timber company in England to recreate the original QPFC Pavilion which stood on 1st Hampden across the road from Cathkin. The cost is around £8500 but I think our dear readers would agree that it would be a suitable replacement for the old Thirds pavilion which was pulled down in the 1970s?
We also are costing the erection of a pitch-side picket fence, again in keeping with our vision for an original Victorian football ground, run by a wood-burning heating and lighting system which will allow us to utilise all of the wood from the felled trees around the stadium. The 'new' pavilion will include two dry changing rooms, a small Referee's room and office for the management of the ground and to eventually use as our full-time base. We aim to continue our new earthworks all along this North side of the ground, leaving room only for our new pavilion, with two access points for Council groundsmen, rubbish collection and access from the existing JJFA pavilion to the pitch for their players and staff, as well as keeping the ground open to the general public for their continued use as a public park.
And finally this week we have begun clearing the next section of this SW corner terracing and a MASSIVE task ahead to clear this and all of the other remaining terracing sections at Cathkin. Not bad going however for our little company so far and amazed at how different this part of the ground already looks after just 4 week's work.
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