DRAINAGE issues affecting South Zeal Recreation Ground have plagued the village's football team this season — but work is due to begin to save the ground and provide a better playing surface for next season.

Over the course of last season — the first season that South Zeal Football Club have been back in the village since their reformation — the club had to cancel four fixtures due to drainage issues affecting the top end of the pitch.

Garry Smith, the manager of South Zeal Football Club, said: 'We have had severe drainage issues at the top end of the field. Our pitch is the recreation field so it's not just used for football but all other sorts of events too like the Dartmoor Folk Festival.

'The pitch is what it is but it has been very disruptive to us this season. We've lost four games due to the weather. It is something of a disaster for the club having to rearrange and juggle it.

'With fundraising targets — how long is a piece of string? However much we manage to raise will be spent on improving the drainage of the top end of the field.

'The club only reformed last year. I took on the manager's role insisting if we were to do it we'd have to be back in the village. Now I've realised what a nightmare that can be! Any rain on the pitch can make it very difficult to use.

'If it gets any worse it will be a problem. Not just for us but for the village as a whole, as other events like the folk festival will be affected.'

The club had been facing a fundraising mountain to climb to fix the problem but has received a huge boost in recent weeks to help sort the drainage.

The WAKE Fund, a trust administered by the Freemasons of Devon in memory of former provinicial grand master William Alexander Kneel, gives donations to local charities and organisations in need of assistance. South Zeal Recreation Ground has been donated £750 to help with the drainage problems.

Since the first donations in 2001 over £550,000 has been given to over 650 organisations in Devon and the WAKE fund continues to welcome applications from lodges recommending support for local organisations and projects.

The nomination for a donation to South Zeal Football Club to assist the recreation ground administrators was made by the Lodge of Devonian Installed Masters and Chaplain, Sticklepath resident the Rev Louis Baycock.

A week earlier, the football club had been happily surprised at being presented with a £500 cheque by Devonshire Freemasons from the Personal Fund of their Grand Superintendent, Simon Rowe, who said he was very happy to contribute to charities and organisations that assist the community, especially those that involve young people.

Combined with £800 raised in recent weeks through a bingo night at the Pretoria Vaults in Okehampton and a race night at the King's Arms in South Zeal, the money will fund work to be carried out in the coming days to try and to resolve some of the drainage issues affecting the pitch.

Despite the issues with the pitch, things have been going well for the club since its reformation. Garry said: 'We have lots of youngsters getting involved, lots of the older guys playing and a lot of local lads playing. It is our first season back and we won promotion so it has been successful in that sense.'