Two and a half years ago I made a paperweight containing a piece of turf from Hampden Park. The small piece of turf was gathered by a Hibernian FC fan, following their momentous Scottish Cup win. You can read about the paperweight that I made for him to preserve the piece of turf here: paperweight containing turf
Recently, I was contacted by a fan of Tonbridge Angels FC who play at Longmead Stadium in Tonbridge, Kent. He stated that Tonbridge Angels FC is installing an artificial pitch over the summer to replace the turf pitch that they have used since the early 1980s. The club invited their fans at the end of their last home match to take sections of the pitch as souvenirs to remember the good times of the club playing on the pitch, which had included several promotions and reaching the First-Round proper of the FA Cup in 2020-21 for the first time in many, many decades!
The Angels fan was able to obtain a small section of the pitch and was looking at how best to preserve it. He had planted a larger section of the turf within his garden, however, was also considering preserving a small piece of turf within a paperweight or something similar.
Knowing how well the turf is preserved within a resin paperweight, I offered to help. The Angels fan sent me a couple of small pieces of the Longmead Stadium turf to be preserved within two paperweights. The following photo is an initial design for the paperweights. The piece of turf would be set within the centre of a square resin paperweight with text 'Tonbridge Angels FC' and 'Tonbridge Angels FC', printed in the Tonbridge Angels FC blue colour above and below the piece of turf.
 |
| Longmead Stadium Turf Paperweight Design |
And here is one of the finished paperweights containing the piece of turf from the club. One benefit of having a square resin paperweight is that it can either be displayed on its flat base or upright.
 |
| Football Ground Turf Paperweight |
With more and more football clubs installing artificial pitches at their grounds, it is really good to see that some of these clubs are offering their fans pieces of turf in this way. After all, there is so much history and memories that have taken place on these pitches. I feel honoured to be able to preserve these memories for the fans.
Many thanks for reading about how I preserved a piece of the Longmead Stadium turf within a resin paperweight.
Mick
