A pair of generous donations have scored Ottery Football Club a new mower to keep its playing surfaces in pitch-perfect condition.

Cash from county councillor Claire Wright’s locality budget and help from the Otter Valley Rotary Club has meant the club has been able to replace its old and ailing cutting machine.

The Washbrook Meadows pitches are maintained by long-serving groundsman and committee member Monty Perry, who gives up his spare time to cut them.

He was left struggling with a ‘very old’ mower that was costing the club a lot of money.

The committee has now been able to purchase a brand-new, top-of-the-range model

Chairman Sue Harrison said that the mower became a ‘priority’ when she took up the role . “Without a decent mower, there would be no matches,” she said.

“As soon as the mower arrived, it was put to good use and now that the season has started I have personally been told by three ‘opposition’ supporters that the pitch is really looking good.”

Sue added that the club is lucky to have Monty – who cuts the main pitch, the top pitch, the training field and a three-quarter size pitch that is used by the youth section.

It was after consultation with Monty and advice from MNR Mowers Ltd of Honiton that the club purchased the John Deere X165.

On behalf of the club, Sue issued ‘a massive thank-you’ to Councillor Wright, the Rotary club, as well as MNR Mowers and Monty for ‘coming together and making sure that Ottery FC has the most outstanding pitches for the coming season’.

Cllr Wright said: “The football club is an important community facility and the volunteers who run it work so hard, so I was only too pleased to be able to help out

“The pitches take hours to cut every week and I am glad that the new mower will reduce this time.”