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"ON your marks, get set, go!"

For the first time in 30 years, Lavender Hill High School learners could flex their muscles on their brand new, state of the art sports field during their interhouse sports day yesterday (Monday, 11 January).

A year ago, the same field was a barren sand pit ? a sandy border between the school and the informal settlement, Overcome Heights.

The idea for the project came in 2003.

June Orsmond, the project manager of the sports field's transformation, says the work to reclaim the fields from the bumpy mole-infested territory over the past year has been a battle.

"Wynberg Rotary Club have a project called 'Lend a hand in Lavender Hill'. The idea behind the project was to assist in social change by creating alternatives for the children in the area," says Orsmond.

"A good place to start is sport, because it improves children's ability to learn, and this in turn makes the youngsters more employable."

The project, which cost in the region of R800 000, was primarily funded by the Wynberg Rotary Club through partnerships with the DG Murray Trust and the rotary clubs in the United Kingdom.

Additional funding and support was donated by the Department of Education, Safer Schools Project and the Department of Agriculture. The project started in earnest in July 2007, when the first sods were turned.

Then the battle against the elements began.

"First we had to get rid of the moles. Then the graders were brought in to level the ground."

After the ground was prepared, it was ready for the grass to be laid.

Orsmond describes the giant rolls of grass that arrived to transform the ground.

"The rolls were huge; over 30 m long and 1,1 m wide." Orsmond says the most frustrating time was when the grass had just arrived.

The winter rains had started, soaking the grounds and made it impossible for the turf to be laid. The developers had to wait two months before the grass could be planted.

"It would have been wonderful if the grass had been laid before the rains, because the grass would have been able to knit in winter."

In the spring, work continued and the grass was laid. But the project faced another challenge: the field needed to be watered urgently so the grounds would not scorch in the hot summer weather.

Orsmond says tanks and pumps were installed for the much-needed water to be pumped from underground and sprayed onto the fields.

The groundsman from Bergvliet High School offered his services to the novice groundsman at Lavender Hill High School, to pass on his knowledge of caring for such large grounds.

At a gala event at Lavender Hill High School on Tuesday, 5 January, representatives from the Wynberg Rotary Club and the Department of Education handed over the grounds to the overwhelmed and proud recipient, Lavender Hill High School principal, Faseeg Manie.

"There was such a feeling of excitement and pride on that day," she says.

A newly established organisation, the Lavender Hill High School Friends Association, which is made up mainly of old learners of the school, will manage the sustainability of the project. They will ensure the grounds are maintained to an optimal level.

Orsmond says this is a pilot project and, based on the success and sustainability of the sports field, it will determine the possibility of others ventures of a similar kind.

Lavender Hill High School will have the honour of being the sole users of their sports field for the first year, before the option is discussed to share the sports grounds with the rest of the community in 2009.

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