Thursday 23 August - Day 108 - Match Day

Refurbished walkway in front of the Shed.

Refurbished walkway in front of the East stand.

No, he's not mowing the walkway. The mower has been fitted with brushes to clean the surface of the new tarmac.

New advertising wedges in front of the Western Terrace.

Setting up the laser system before marking out the 5 metre line.

A good old fashioned tape measure is still used from time to time.

Lining the touchline.

Spot the sprinkler cover!

Positioning the Gallagher advertising wedges at the eastern end of the pitch.

Time to put the post protectors and the flags out.

Brushing up the join between the Astroturf and the edge of the pitch in front of the South stand.

View from the TV gantry.

View from mid-way up the South stand.

View from the TV gantry.

View from a hospitality Box in the South stand.

Wide angle view from the back of the South stand.

Just before the start of the new season all the flags are out.

The players finally take to the pitch for their warm-up before the first match on the new pitch.

After three and a half months of preparations carried out during a summer that saw a prolonged dry spell and record high temperatures the first match-day finally arrived.

The new tarmac on the walkways in front of the Shed and the East Stand was complete and the advertising wedges in front of the Western Terrace were in place.

Previously the pitch had been mown twice a day but on match day had been cut once to a height of 35mm. So the next stage was to make the final line markings on the pitch. This was carried out by Fleet Line Markers Ltd. a company, based in Malvern, that has been marking out the Kingsholm pitch for the last 40 plus years. They used a combination of the latest laser technology and the old fashioned tape measure.

The advertising wedges at the eastern end of the pitch were put into position followed by the post protectors and the flags.

A last minute adjustment was made to the Astroturf alongside the whole length of the pitch in front of the South stand. The image shows two members of Gloucester Carpet Outlet, the company that supplied the Astroturf, brushing the join between the Astroturf and the edge of the pitch.

With everything in place the teams ran out onto the new Kingsholm surface. The Gloucester team made their traditional run in front of the Shed and then started their warm-up.

So, a new era was begun. After playing on a traditional soil-based pitch for more than 125 years the current and future generations of Gloucester players will be playing on a surface as good as anywhere in the country. We hope that it will bring them great success.