Cricket's shady deal
2010-07-29
AN exciting thing happened on a rather gloomy Friday at the Pen Basson Sports Field in Wellington recently. The Parks Section of the Municipality under the guidance of Stef Venter conducted a major tree-planting exercise there. As anyone attending matches at the field, be it cricket or hockey, knows, there is a great need for shade in the long, hot summer months. Now, with the addition of 48 young trees, which is a substantial number in anyone’s estimation, there will be more doggy telegraph poles than you can shake a stick at. And there should be plenty of shade for everyone too. A variety of interesting species have been planted. On the north side are 12 Plane trees and on the south side ten River Bushwillow. To the west between the cricket pitch and the Boland stadium 14 White Karee have been added to the existing trees. Finally on the eastern side along the banks of the Spruit River, 12 White Stinkwood will augment the rather scrappy mixture of Poplar and Oak that cling to the banks. It all began when Danie Blom, a member of the Wellington Cricket Club, was chatting to a friend who happens to own one of the largest nurseries in the region, and mentioned that it would be nice if they could donate four or five trees to provide some extra shade around the field. So they went to the nursery and by the time they were done, there were 48 trees in their shopping trolley and the rest, as they say, is history. The trees, already about five years old, are quite well established and two to three metres tall, so there is a pleasant surprise awaiting anyone who hasn’t been to the fields in a while. It appears as though the council is perhaps trying to encourage people to use the fields for recreational purposes as well as watching sports matches, as the presence of trees does seem to attract picnicers and the like. Local residents will hopefully be seen walking their dogs more often as well, which might go some way towards keeping loiterers on the open space, to a minimum.
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