A year ago, the club launched the 'Pitch Perfect' Fundraiser in which supporters could donate money towards improving the playing surface at the Towbar Express Stadium.

A fantastic £15,201.17 has been raised with every single penny going towards vital works on the pitch at the Seasiders' home.

Following on from a challenging 2023/24 season in which eight home matches were postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at the Towbar Express Stadium, the Board of Directors realised that something had to be done to protect the club's future.

It was initially hoped that the off-season of 2025 would bring around the opportunity to completely renovate the pitch from the roots right up to the top surface which is visible to supporters on a match day.

Unfortunately, on the back of a study carried out by the Ground Management Association, it became apparent that a full-scale pitch renovation simply wouldn't be possible as outlined below.

To determine the works required to improve drainage, the Towbar Express Stadium site was assessed with soil samples being taken for analysis.

It was acknowledged that the pitch had drained well over the course of the 2024/25 season, largely due to a dry winter, with the only postponement being January's visit of Hebburn Town which fell victim to a frozen surface rather than a waterlogged one.

Following soil samples being completed, it was realised that work in previous years had been done to create an even surface. This had been done using a variety of materials including subsoil and topsoil, however evidence of stone, coal, clinker and brick were also found within the samples, though not within the upper 200mm of the surface.

Thanks to outstanding work from groundsman, Darren Fowler, throughout 2024/25, Ground Management Association classed the Towbar Express Stadium pitch as one in "reasonable condition", however the sward of the surface is dominated by Annual Meadow Grass with the upper 150 - 200mm being compacted.

A number of drains have been installed at the Towbar Express Stadium over the years, with the most recent addition being the off-season of 2024 when a new drain was installed on the dugout sideline, an area identified as one of huge concern during 2023/24. This addition helped to remove water from a typically problematic area of the playing surface, however it does not deal with issues within the pitch itself.

Typical of Whitby's West Cliff area, the underlying soils are clay dominated and are naturally poorly drained as a result, even more so when compacted due to practices such as pitch rolling.

The topsoil is sandier following top-dressing over previous years and this should drain reasonably well when de-compacted, however the subsoil is only slowly permeable and in very wet periods of weather the topsoil will become saturated above the clay subsoil leading to periods of extended waterlogging.

The report also identified that the soil on site is prone to shrinking and cracking on drying and this will result in any newly installed drains settling as the soil around them dries, subsequently leading to trenches widening and the fill in the trenches dropping.

With this in mind, the possibility of creating a piped drainage system was considered, however this would likely require access to the local sewerage system. Draining the pitch into sewers will increase the risk of the underground drain surcharging, leading to localised flooding which would create pollution and health issues within the community. It is not normally permitted to let clean surface water flow into a foul or combined sewer without specific permission which is very difficult to get.

The club were given the option of installing a system which could effectively separate clean water from foul water which would then allow access into an existing drain, however this would require the pricey installation of a attenuation tank under the south western corner of the pitch to store excess water before releasing in instalments into the existing drain, adding significant cost to the project.

An option to carry out a full pitch renovation including fraise mowing, significant de-compaction and re-seeding was presented to the club. Effectiveness of such works could still not guarantee vast improvement and there was still a high risk that very wet winters could force a high number of postponements due to a waterlogged pitch. The rough indicative cost for such a project was quoted at £32,000 excluding VAT.

A second option was also quoted which would involve draining the pitch using a system of lateral drains supplement by sand groves. The rough estimated cost of this option was £96,000 excluding VAT.

With the quoted figures simply not financially viable for the club, a number of suggestions, which have been and will continue to be acted upon, have been proposed by Ground Management Association including:

• Drainage works being carried out during times of dry soil throughout the summer.
• Drained areas should be sand-top dressed every year to maximise the effective lifespan of the system currently installed.

A breakdown of full costs incurred on pitch improvement works, as part of the club's 'Pitch Perfect' Fundraiser can be found below:

Total raised by supporters: £15,201.17
Total costs for the works carried out to date: £17,985.09
Cost to club to date: £2,784.02

The cost of the pitch study, carried out by Ground Maintenance Association, was £1,887.50.

A sum of £1,478.70 was paid for seed & fertiliser, with an additional fee of £2,043.89 paid to the same supplier for 60 tonnes of sand.

£1,850.00 was paid out for and over-seeding, sand spraying and verti-draining project.

The most significant expense encountered by the club was £10,725.00 towards Ground Maintenance Association recommended machinery which will be put to great use across the course of the 2025/26 season.

The Board of Directors would like to express their sincerest of thanks to all supporters and the wider local community for their donations towards the 'Pitch Perfect' Fundraiser. Without support, the tireless work during the 2025 off-season simply wouldn't have been possible.