St John’s Field, the home ground for Dandy Town Football Club and Western Stars Cricket Club, is expected to be available for use towards the end of this year.

The facility has been unavailable since 2019 after it was deemed not fit for use due to the presence of small rocks in the turf, which made it dangerous for sport to be played on the field.

Work has been ongoing since 2024, when Government allocated $535,000 in funds and Gorham’s, which had already spent $1 million to raise the turf and fix the drainage system, chipped in with a further $200,000 to assist the club’s infrastructure.

Devarr Boyles, the club president, is grateful for the help the club has received in the quest to return home.

“The help of the Bermuda Government, we’re thankful for that,” he said.

“We have help from Gorham’s, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of the club. We also have some people that do not wish to be known that are also assisting us, but we value all those people who are supporting us during this time.”

With work still ongoing, recent projections suggest the field will be viable for Dandy Town to begin hosting football matches at the start of the new season.

“The field should be ready for the start of the 2026-27 football season,” Boyles said.

“That is the forecast that we have been given, that we should be able to use the field in October.

“Unfortunately, the cricket window will not happen this year. The cricket season starts in May and at that time we’ll still be growing and building the turf, but come the end of September or early October, the pitch should be what we want it to be.”

According to Boyles, most of the grass has been planted with the summer sunshine expected to accelerate its growth.

“The field is level now and that’s the most important thing,” he said.

“There are still some spots where new soil was put on that haven't quite settled but all the rain that we’ve had has helped with the compaction of the field.

“We’re happy with that, but there’s going to be certain areas where the top dressing is not quite level and flat and those areas will have to be addressed.

“Horti-Tec is the company responsible for the green top, so their job is to hand over a field that’s fit to play on.

“The winter season is just about ending, so the end of this month will be the start of the first phase of grass growing. Two-thirds of the field has been seeded with the grass that we desire but it hasn’t really caught because we missed the growing season in August.

“This time around, we’ll benefit from the entire growing season, which starts in March and ends in late September.”

Stars have also been given the green light to start construction on a pavilion at the site.

“We recently just got approval for a players’ pavilion,” he said.

“We already had plans passed but we needed to get the structural engineer to come in and do one last dig.

“That was done some time in early January and was successful, so the next phase of development is starting to construct that pavilion.

“Three things that are desirable for any club in Bermuda to have is a green top, a place for the players to change and get out of the weather, and the last one will obviously be for fans and spectators.”

Boyles extended his appreciation to Government and Gorham’s for providing most of the funding for the project.