Club submerged by floodwater
Ankle-deep water covers Home Park pitches
Windsor’s Home Park experienced some of its worst flooding in 20 years as vast areas were left completely submerged by floodwater.
Pictures showed ankledeep water covering
Windsor Rugby Club’s pitches following heavy rainfall across the region.
Mike Crawshaw, chairman of Windsor Rugby Club, said he was confronted by a mass of water when he went to check on the club’s pitches on Monday.
He said: “I’ve not seen it like that for 20 years. I just watched it happen over a few days and I couldn’t believe the difference from Sunday to Monday.
“I walked down to the club and just saw a mass of water.
“The one thing about Home Park is it does dissipate quite quickly.
“The problem is going to be how long it takes for the water to go from our pitches. It could become an ice rink like it was 20 years ago.”
The rugby community in Berkshire has pitched in to try and help Windsor fulfil as many of its fixtures as possible with the club’s first team hoping to play this weekend’s home game against Bletchley at
Reading Rugby Club.
Upcoming junior fixtures could also be played at neighbouring clubs including Drifters and Slough Rugby Club.
Mike added: “I’d like to think we’ll get back to rugby next weekend at Home Park.
“Saturday is less of an issue because we don’t have senior games.
“Where our biggest challenge is on Sunday because we have so many junior fixtures.”
The return of pupils to Eton College was also delayed due to Thames Water’s sewer system in Eton ‘overloading’ amid severe flooding in the area.
Eton College pupils had been due to return to lessons on Tuesday but the independent boarding school instead moved to remote learning.
A spokesman for Eton College said: “Following extensive flooding in the region, the Thames Water sewers which serve the town of Eton flooded.
“We are in regular contact with Thames Water as they seek to resolve the situation and we look forward to welcoming boys back as soon as possible.”
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Our engineers are responding to reported sewerage issues at Eton College, Windsor.
“In this instance, the recent heavy rainfall, along with high groundwater levels and river flooding, caused our local sewer system to overload.
“We are sorry to staff and students who have been impacted. Our teams will be carrying out a clean-up in the coming days once the river levels recede.”