The Amenity Forum conference and associated exhibition has become a must attend event for all involved or with an interest in weed, pest and disease management. The Forum has announced that in 2017, it will take place on Thursday, October 12th, at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent.

The conference will be entitled ‘Keeping Britain Moving’ and speakers will address the key issues in the sector. Speakers include John Parker, who works for Transport for London, who will address the issue of keeping our cities moving. Colin Mumford from Bayer will speak on the ‘appliance of science’ and Professor Alan Gange will take a specific look at biological control linked to his research programme at Royal Holloway University of London. A leading head groundsman will give his views on the pressures of producing high quality sports surfaces and a session led by two leading sector experts will pose the question ‘What is the future for weed, pest and disease management’.

The full programme will be released at the end of February when bookings will commence.

The Forum is also currently engaged in running its series of half day free Updating Events across the UK. Information on locations is given below and you are asked to pre-register by emailing admin@amenityforum.net

Wherever you live in the UK, there should be an event held not far from you. So whatever your role or interest, register now for these popular free information events. If you are on the Amenity Register, they also carry CPD points.

The dates and locations of the remaining events are as follows:

Cambridgeshire 21st February
Wales 23rd February
Derbyshire 28th February
Yorkshire 2nd March
London 7th March
Northern Ireland 9th March
Cheshire 14th March
Essex 23rd March
Surrey 28th March
Devon 4th April
Edinburgh 11th April
Durham 12th April

Crystal Palace FC has recently purchased six Dennis G860 professional cylinder mowers, taking their total to a fleet of eight – and head of grounds & estates Bruce Elliot couldn’t be happier.

Bruce has been in his current role for just over twelve months and has been in football groundsmanship for a number of years including roles at Reading FC and Fulham FC. With extensive knowledge of the industry, he knew exactly where to look when the time came to purchase a range of mowers.

“I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years and I’ve always used Dennis mowers. They’ve always provided me with great reliability so they were the only machines we looked at.”

As a long-term user of the Dennis G860, Bruce already had two of them at the Selhurst Park Stadium and he explained how they are used as part of his maintenance programme.

“At the stadium we use the G860’s all the time for mowing, for presentation and for the final cut on match days – which we cut at 23mm. They are just perfect for achieving that perfect finish building up towards a match.”

“We’ve got the 8-bladed cutting cassettes, the multi-dense brushes and the verti-cut units – which work in conjunction with one another really well. For example, after a pre-season friendly against Valencia, the manager and players felt that the pitch was a little bit too thick, so we put the verti-cut unit in and thinned the sward out slightly. Combined with the brush which takes the debris and loose grass off after a game, both of these cassettes have really helped to remove debris and allow new growth to come in.”

As Bruce says, the G860 features an interchangeable cassette system which gives the user the option of fitting 11 quick changeover cassettes including scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, spikers, and slitters as well as 6 or 8 bladed cutter cassettes. Featuring a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish, it also weighs in at just 166kg making it perfect for stadium pitch mowing.

Bruce oversees the maintenance of both the stadium and the training ground and based on the success of the G860’s at Selhurst Park, he decided to introduce them at the training ground.

“Previously we had two ride-on mowers at the training ground and they needed replacing as they were becoming less reliable. The club were willing to invest a bit of money into new equipment and we knew what the Dennis G860’s were giving us at the stadium. So that’s what we went for and the training ground has certainly improved since. It allows us to get a far better finish on the pitches, far better presentation and also it gives us the flexibility that we require. On a day to day basis with the G860’s, we’ll be cutting in the morning and then brushing the trained-on areas afterwards.”

Bruce also revealed that it does make life easier with Dennis being a British manufacturer.
“We like to buy British if we can for the availability of spares but we chose to buy the G860’s because we consider them to be the best mowers on the market.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com