Parent’s turf passion a reality

It was at the Collier Trophy national primary schoolgirls hockey tournament in Dunedin about 18 months ago that Bruce Perry first gave serious thought to the installation of a water-based turf at Clareville.
Perry, whose daughter Jessica was part of the Wairarapa squad, got talking to another parent, Mike van Woerkom, on the sidelines about what was needed to progress hockey in this part of the country and the need for a second turf at Clareville, this one water-based, was seen as top of the priority list. "The benefits of a water-based turf seemed very obvious to us and I was pretty keen to promote the idea once I got back home," Perry recalled yesterday. "I did get told by a few people that it had been mentioned before and nothing had happened because the interest didn't seem to be there."
Perry, however, was determined to at least investigate the viability of the idea and so he began to have discussions to see whether land at Clareville was available for a second turf and whether there was enough support from possible funders to continue the process.
"Quite honestly I was surprised how positive most people were," Perry said. "After six months or so we had enough backing to push on, and it went from there."
Even Perry, who is a trustee of the organisation which drove the project, the Wairarapa Sports Artificial Surface Trust, is amazed that within 12 months of them taking up the challenge of installing the new turf it is now a reality.
"You look back at how quickly everything has fallen into place and you can't help but wonder how we managed to do it," he said. "So many individuals and organisations have to be thanked for their help, financially or otherwise. Without them it would still be a dream."
Perry estimates the true value of the water-based turf would be in the region of $1.2m but because of voluntary work and reductions in costs it had been installed for more like $950,000.
"The savings have been huge and have meant everything to us," he said. "It's a real tribute to the generosity of the Wairarapa community, no question of that."
WSAST chairman Lindsay Annear said the initial impetus given the project by Bruce Perry's enthusiasm had played a big part in the construction of the new turf.
" He (Perry) was the driving force in getting various organisations to back the scheme financially and you can't under-estimate how important that was," Annear said.
Reflecting on what the water-based turf will mean to Wairarapa hockey, Annear said the advantages would stretch well beyond the obvious of lessening the headaches for club play, such as allowing for matches to be played over a full duration and for teams to actually go through warm-ups before commencing their games.
"Having only the one turf was a nightmare in organising club games, now we have two a lot of those hassles will disappear," Annear said.
And then there were the spin-offs for Wairarapa representative teams who have had to attend national tourneys in the past with little, or no, experience of playing on water-based turf.
"It does require a different skill level and we've suffered in that respect," Annear said. "Wairarapa have always punched above their weight despite that, imagine what we can do now that we are going to be a lot better prepared."
Cutting both a ribbon and a cake to mark the opening of the new turf at separate ceremonies on Sunday were tasks which fell to Brian Bourke, chairman of the major sponsors, Trust House Charitable Trust whose contribution in money terms was $250,000 and who have been given naming rights of the amenity. Bourke is confident the installation of a second artificial surface at Clareville will mean greater opportunity for hockey tournaments of major importance to be played at Clareville, with consequent benefits for the Wairarapa economy.
"The winter months can be relatively quiet when it comes to attracting big sporting events here and this water turf gives the region a great opportunity to do better in that respect," he said. "And it's not only the hockey fraternity which will gain, it's the community as a whole."