GKB Sandspreader for Queen Ethelburga’s

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Thorpe Underwood Estate lies between Harrogate and York and is the home of Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate. Named after the Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, who brought Christianity to the north of England around 625 AD, the school was opened in 1912 and today is co-educational, drawing pupils from over sixty six countries. The campus has been the subject of a huge investment programme in recent years. Seeking to create the best sports facilities for the school, which would also stand to benefit from commercial use, around £20 million has been spent on natural and synthetic sports pitches, courts and the machinery to service them.

Grounds Manager Ben Grigor is building a team to manage the thirty four acres of rugby, football and hockey pitches. He also set out charged with the policy of buying the best equipment for the job, a path which led him to the newly arrived GKB Sandspreader SP230. “We were looking for the best quality sandspreader we could find to maintain the surfaces on both the natural and synthetic rubber crumb and sand pitches,” says Ben, “the standard has to live up to professional use – Leeds Rhinos Rugby League team use the grounds for example and Yorkshire County Cricket Club has a partnership with the school.” Queen Ethelburga’s rugby union first team secured the 2015 and 2016 British Colleges National Cup.

Local dealers Russels Groundcare brought the GKB Sandspreader to the school for a demonstration. The sand spreader is designed to distribute a wide variety of materials, including sand or mulch, which is transported to a mechanically adjustable metering valve on a conveyor belt. The double disc spreader ensures perfect distribution of sand on the pitch. “On the day conditions were fine but the sand was damp and it still worked very well,” says Ben, “we’re using it on the football, rugby and the cricket outpitches as well as on the synthetic surfaces. There’s nothing overly complicated and we like the way the discs are protected but above all we are impressed with the quality, both in the way it’s built and the way it operates.”

For more information visit www.gkbmachines.com

SALTEX 2016 visitors report a Hugely successful show

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The SALTEX 2016 post-show visitor surveys have revealed a fascinating insight into the visitor profile of the show.

SALTEX 2016 featured three exhibition halls at the NEC packed with UK and international visitors. It was therefore encouraging to see that more than 80 per cent of the visitors rated their overall SALTEX experience as being either very good or excellent.

With 292 exhibitors from every sector on the show floor (28 more than 2015), it is no wonder that over 70 per cent of SALTEX 2016 visitors said that the main reason they attended was to source new products, services or suppliers. More than 40 per cent of visitors said that they attended to see the latest industry innovations, while many wanted to make the most of the show’s increased show features. Over 30 per cent of the visitors said that they attended for the Learning LIVE educational seminars and over 25 per cent attended to gain one-to-one turf advice through SALTEX’s ‘Ask the Expert’ feature.

As for the products and services that they were interested in viewing – machinery, power and hand tools led the way but there was plenty of interest in others.

An overwhelming amount of exhibitors reported serious business leads and significant sales, commenting that visitors were high-quality buyers with serious intent. The visitor surveys were certainly testament to this as they revealed that over 80 per cent of SALTEX visitors held purchasing responsibility with over 70 per cent able to sign-off purchases of up to £100,000.

Over 40 per cent of visitors said that they placed orders at the show with either existing or new suppliers while over 45 per cent said that they had registered interest which would lead to demonstrations or further discussions.

As for the type of facilities that they are responsible for, it was great to see such a wide array of visitors whose job role related to one or more of the following.

Finally, over 80 per cent of SALTEX 2016 visitors said that they would absolutely be returning to SALTEX again next year at the NEC on 1 and 2 November 2017 – reaffirming the exhibition as the must attend event of the year.

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com