A new Sports Pitch for the City and for King's

The King’s School, Gloucester, saw an exciting new chapter in its rich sporting history this week as work commenced on a new Multi-Use-Games-Area (MUGA) at its Archdeacon Meadow sports ground. Following several years of planning and liaison with the city authorities, construction of the new sports pitch is now under way.

The million-pound investment in the city’s sports facilities will see a first class astro turf pitch together with warm up area and floodlighting. This will add to the facilities already present at Archdeacon Meadow: a superb Sports Hall, five tennis courts, cricket and rugby pitches, as well as the facilities of the Riverside Sports Centre. It is hoped that the new pitch will be ready by the start of 2019.

Headmaster David Morton explained that the pitch is specifically designed to meet The School’s key aims of increasing public access and enabling other local schools and sports clubs to benefit from King’s resources. ‘We already undertake huge amounts of work with our local community each year, including welcoming local primary children into the school for sports and science activities, raising money for local charitable causes such as the Gloucester Foodbank and Cathedral Breakfast Club. At a time when the health and wellbeing of young people is under such pressure, we are delighted to be able to announce that our new and existing facilities can be shared with local schools and sports clubs. Discussions are already under way with Gloucester Hockey Club to explore their interest and we have drawn up a Community Use Agreement to ensure that the new astro turf is available to external groups for up to 50% of each year.’

King’s has employed the services of companies based in the South West to build the new pitch, including Keyway Excavation, Allstones Aggregates, Verde Recreo and renowned Gloucester Architects Roberts Limbrick.

Sport has thrived at King’s in recent years. Several boys play at Gloucester RFC Academy, many of the girls and boys play for Gloucester County Cricket, girls have played in local netball satellite academies, boys play for Cheltenham FC and Forest Green Rovers Academies and two senior boys have played hockey for England. The senior pupils have just returned from a sports tour to Malaysia and Singapore where they enjoyed netball and hockey fixtures against strong local competition. At an individual level, the school boasts strong sports men and women in disciplines as diverse as archery, equestrian events, quad-biking, gymnastics, athletics and swimming. Director of Sport, Mr Andy Phillips, stated,’This is a very exciting time for Sport at King’s. We have a strong reputation for sport in many areas and our boys and girls compete to a high level, both in and out of school. This new astro turf pitch will allow us to reach the next level of performance in hockey and many other sports besides’.

Any enquiries about the sports facilities at The King’s School should be addressed to the Headmaster at the school.