Sherborne was one of the first schools to lay an all-weather surface, back in 1979. Whilst this made it a market-leader, it also ensured that Sherborne would be one of the first schools to suffer from the dread "wear-out" of such a surface, a situation made worse by the fact that technological advances had made the original surface old-fashioned and unkind to the knees. In addition, the Sherborne pitch had no floodlights which seriously restricted its use and letting potential.

Following the support of two anonymous donors the Foundation has been able to support the development of a new pitch with floodlighting and at their request the pitch was named after Hughie Holmes, their Housemaster and former head of hockey.