Unsung hero: 'Carty' from Dartmouth

Cartwright has a Midas touch when it comes to preparing cricket pitches and the 54-year-old from Sedgley was named Groundsman of The Year at the recent Staffordshire Cricket OSCAs.

That follows on from claiming the best pitch in the Birmingham & District League Premier Division gong two seasons ago.

It's a title he will undoubtedly be pushing for again this year given the continued excellence of the Sandwell Park surface.

He said: "I get a huge amount of pleasure and satisfaction out of what I do and it's nice to hear other people say how nice the ground looks."

'Carty' is well known on the local cricket scene having played a significant role in the rise of Staffs Clubs outfit Beacon, where he not only kept the pitch in order but also kept wicket as well.

But having combined his ground duties with his day job at G & M Dunn Office Supplies in Dudley, he landed his dream job four years ago when he became full-time groundsman at Dartmouth.

He added: "I have only ever had two jobs in my life and I have loved them both. I have been very lucky.

"I started with G&M Dunn Office Supplies when I was 17 on a YTS and I worked there for 30-odd years. Then I took on the full-time job at Dartmouth four years ago.

"It wasn't a difficult decision to go to Dartmouth when the chance came along. It was a dream come true."

It was in his early days as a player at Beacon that Cartwright first took an interest in preparing pitches – and he is still not really sure why.

He said: "I have never been a keen gardener. I don't know why but I was fascinated by it – how the wickets were prepared and the presentation.

"I got involved at Beacon when I went to play there. I started to play regularly and joined the committee as social secretary to start with.

"It just blossomed from there. I didn't get into groundsmanship straight away. Terry Bateman used to do the pitch and I just got interested and got involved.

"Terry changed jobs and had to stop so I took things on, that would be around 1987."

From there the gloveman's love for cutting grass just grew. He said: "I went on a course at Cannock Cricket – spring renovation, autumn renovation and management.

"Tex Whitehouse, who was at Stourbridge for a while and later became the groundsman at the Express & Star, came and gave me a bit of advice.

"The wicket at Beacon was renowned for not being that good but with a lot of hard effort and reading books, watching videos and picking tips up, I managed to improve it.

"Joining the Institute of Groundsmanship was also a massive help."

His workload was then doubled when Beacon installed a second pitch at their Trysull Road base. He continued: "It was hard work but it was a release from my day job.

"I would go down to Beacon straight after work and do work on the ground.

Cartwright takes a huge amount of pride in the Beacon success story and his son Nathan is proving a chip off the old block in more ways that one.

He is in action behind the stumps at weekends and is also helping prepare the pitches.

But Cartwright's main task is to maintain the high standards at Dartmouth – along with his 'Dad's Army' of volunteers.

He said: "Dartmouth has always had a reputation for having a good wicket and that has to be maintained.

"We have hosted some of Staffordshire's Minor Counties games in the last couple of seasons, and it's nice to know your ground is of a high enough standard to stage those sort of games.

Despite a constant battle with his creaking knees, Carty has no plans to declare anytime soon. He said: "It's been a pleasure and I intend to carry on as long as I can."

Do you know an unsung hero who deserves to be featured? Email nick.elwell@expressandstar.co.uk.