Lister Wilder Brings The ‘Mow Factor’

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Lister Wilder Brings The ‘Mow Factor’: Lister Wilder Ltd, a Kubota groundcare and construction dealer, has been announced as this year’s biggest UK ‘MOW-team’ supporting The Movember Foundation, with more than 60 members of staff donning great moustaches to raise funds for the men’s health charity.

Including sales team members, workshop engineers, parts advisers and company directors, the Lister Wilder Movember ‘MOW-team’ has already raised an impressive total of more than £8,000, including a donation of £500 from Kubota UK.  With fundraising continuing throughout the month of November, Lister Wilder are encouraging friends, family and work colleagues to support this worthy cause.

Lister Wilder Brings The ‘Mow Factor’

As part of the ‘MOWvember movement’, Lister Wilder has also lent its support to The Rich Brothers, of BBC Garden Rescue, Movember campaign that has seen them travel around six counties in two days, mowing huge moustaches into fields in a bid to raise much needed funds.

To support the brothers in their task, Lister Wilder has donated Kubota’s popular G23 ride-on-mower, with Harry and David Rich utilising its power, precision, agility and minimal turning radius to groom the perfect moustache.

Phill Hughes, Groundcare Sales Director at Lister Wilder and the company’s Movember Team Captain, commented: “We’re all very excited about being announced as the biggest “MOW-team’ to be supporting The Movember Foundation, as well as assisting the Rich Brothers.

“For many of us this is the first time we’ve entered the risky world of facial hair, but we’re experts at helping our customers achieve a good mow, so we’re hoping some of us can achieve a good mo’ too. It’s all about raising as much money as possible for this fantastic charity supporting men’s health and we are very grateful to all those who have already donated.”

The Movember Foundations annual campaign is focused on bringing the issue of men’s health to the fore, raising awareness of its importance, whilst also generating much needed money to support vital research efforts to fight prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

To donate and keep up to date with Lister Wilder’s Movember ‘MOW-team’ progress, visit its Movember fundraising page here: https://moteam.co/lister-wilder-ltd?mc=1.

You can see The Rich Brothers Movember campaign and the Kubota G23 ride-on mower in action here: https://www.facebook.com/MovemberUK/videos/10154736154056017/.

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Headland and Bayer At Annual STRI Trials Event

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Headland and Bayer At Annual STRI Trials Event: Ongoing and future management of the pathogen Microdochium nivale was one of the hot topics that greenkeepers discussed at the recent STRI annual Trial Event, held in Bingley, West Yorkshire. Having actively researched and trialled products to suppress the disease for over 10 years, Headland Amenity, along with Bayer, were some of the leading contributors on the topic.  David Howells, Northern Area Manager, reports on their findings.

Historically, Iprodione-based products have been the main approach to deal with Microdochium nivale, applied curatively, when the first stages of the disease are seen. Whilst at the time of writing, fungicide products containing Iprodione are still available to use, it has been announced that its withdrawal is now imminent and we will soon be without this valuable tool to control turf disease. So what alternatives are there?

Headland and Bayer At Annual STRI Trials Event

With climate and legislation changes, preventative disease management will have to be the way forward. Headland Amenity predicted these issues many years ago and has over 10 years of independent trialwork to support effective, alternative preventative strategies, incorporating both fungicides and non-fungicidal products.

STRI Trials and feedback from Turf Managers have long shown the beneficial effects of using Headland’s 20-20-30 tank mix to minimise disease levels when applied as part of a preventative programme. This consists of a tank mix of plant hardeners and elicitors, Liquid Turf Hardener, Seamac ProTurf and Turfite. For example, during the autumn of 2016, control trial plots were hit with 75% Microdochium nivale disease pressure. Plots treated with 20-20-30 tank mix alone, prior to disease establishment, showed a 50% reduction in this activity.

As we lose one ‘old chemistry’ active ingredient, a new one, Fluopyram, comes to the UK. From a new chemical group of fungicides known as SDHI’s, Fluopyram is an acropetal penetrant, which means it can enter the plant through roots, shoots or leaves, and moves up through the plant to provide protective activity. It can be found in Bayer’s new Exteris Stressgard product, alongside Trifloxystrobin and the unique ‘Stressgard’ technology which provides plant protection against stress situations resulting in a visibly healthier looking sward. Headland Amenity is a primary supplier of Exteris Stressgard alongside another Bayer product, Dedicate – a systemic fungicide which can be used preventatively at the earliest sign of disease.  Alternating applications of these two products assists in reducing any potential resistance risk.

Moving forwards, whilst Iprodione is still on the shelf as a back-up, now is the perfect time to be putting together an integrated strategy combining good cultural practice, managing sward compositions and implementing a preventative fungicidal programme to ensure your facility is prepared for what lies ahead.

For more information, visit: www.headlandamenity.com

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STIHL Timbersports World Championship heads To UK

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STIHL Timbersports World Championship heads to UK for first time as Liverpool is announced as host city for 2018: The very best logger sports athletes from all over the world will be competing in what is set to be a totally unique, edge-of-your seat, spectator experience.

The 2017 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championships, which took place in Lillehammer on 3 & 4 November, concluded with the exciting announcement that next year‘s Championship will take place at the Echo Arena Liverpool on 19th and 20th October 2018. Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Lord Mayor of Liverpool, was presented with a wooden plaque by Wolfgang Zahn, Head of Research and Development on the STIHL Advisory Board, in the official handover at the finale of this year’s championships.

STIHL Timbersports World Championship heads To UK

The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® World Championship sees the best athletes from across the globe compete in a series of woodchopping challenges utilizing axes and saws. The sport was founded in 1985, and includes six different disciplines – the Underhand Chop, the Stock Saw, the Standing Block Chop, the Single Buck, the Springboard and the Hot Saw. Over 5,500 spectators attended this year’s event in Norway, with millions worldwide tuning in to the action on TV. STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® is in fact recognized as one of the longest running shows on ESPN.

Athletes from over 20 nations will be battling it out in Liverpool next year for the Individual and Team titles. In the team event on Friday 19th October, the national teams will compete against each other in a knockout system, where the disciplines of Stock Saw, Underhand Chop, Single Buck and Standing Block Chop are completed by four athletes in a relay. The world’s top twelve athletes will then compete against one another in all six disciplines as part of the individual competition on Saturday 20th October. In each discipline the competitor is awarded points according to their achieved time, with the athlete achieving the highest number of points declared the Individual World Champion.

2018 will be the first time that the World Championship will be hosted in the UK, with ‘Team GB’ looking to make the most of the home advantage, whilst the 2017 individual winner Jason Wynyard and team competition winners New Zealand will be hoping to retain their titles.

Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Lord Mayor of Liverpool said; “We are delighted to be hosting next year’s Championships at the Echo Arena Liverpool and it is a privilege to showcase a sport that is watched by millions of people worldwide. I have been in Lillehammer all weekend and the atmosphere at both the team and individual events was electric. It is like nothing I have seen before, and is a fantastic sporting spectacle.”

Simon Hewitt, Head of Marketing from STIHL added: “The popularity of the sport in the UK is growing exponentially, therefore the UK is an obvious choice to host the next World Championship event.  We are thrilled that Liverpool will be hosting as they are incredibly passionate about their sport and we know the city will give a warm welcome to the athletes travelling from all over the world to compete. A STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® live event really is a fantastic experience and we look forward to introducing the Original Extreme Sport and these world class athletes to a whole new audience.”

For more information go to http://blog.stihl.co.uk/category/timbersports/

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Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

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Rigby Taylor Has A Very Intelligent – And Award-Winning Way To Mark And Over-Mark Pitches: Intelligent One (iO), the world’s first autonomous robot dedicated to the hands-free, initial marking and over-marking of sports pitches, running tracks and much more, has won the prestigious Innovation Award at the SALTEX 2017 exhibition.

Available from Rigby Taylor – the company at the forefront of supplying innovative products for the successful management and maintenance of turf surfaces – iO combines the very latest technology with the award winning, global-leading Impact ready-to-use paint and is ideally suited for multi-pitches and multi-facilities marking.

Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

It was for these reasons that a panel of expert judges selected iO the winner over a host of other contenders for the award at SALTEX.

Featuring a sophisticated built-in GPS-RTK receiver that links with a portable base station for accurate and reliable global satellite referencing, the iO operating tablet can plot and store multi-use line marking templates.

Once manoeuvred into place by the operator from directions sent by the tablet, the iO will, for example, mark out a football pitch – all the perimeter and playing area straight lines, the ‘D’ areas, centre circle, corner angles and even the penalty spot without the operator having any physical contact with the machine. Even pitches with fixed post sockets can be marked.

The iO can be programmed to mark multiple pitches as, for instance, at a training ground and will move to an adjacent pitch to carry on marking. It can mark all day long because it comes with rechargeable lithium ion batteries and changer.

Impact paint provides the brightest, whitest line that lasts, and as it is a ready-to-use formulation, there is no mixing, no measuring no pouring and no added water. The operator has virtually no contact with the paint since a flow tube is simply inserted into the paint container then the iO can start marking.

The iO is capable of marking the following sports surfaces: football – any length/width and including fixed sockets; rugby (union and league); multi-lane athletic running tracks; tennis courts; and lacrosse, hockey and American football pitches. The iO marking of additional sports surfaces is currently under development.

For a leaflet, demonstration or more information contact your local Rigby Taylor area manager or Freephone 0800 424 919, email sales@rigbytaylor.com or visit rigbytaylor.com

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Makita’s New Factory Service Centre & Academy Has National Role

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Makita’s New Factory Service Centre & Training Academy In Glasgow Has A National Role: Makita UK has opened their first regional Factory Service Centre (FSC) & Training Academy in Glasgow’s Govan commercial district to support the rapidly expanding market penetration of Britain’s number 1 professional power tool range in Scotland and Northern England.  Whilst this new facility is already providing a valuable regional role the FSC has already been awarded the national responsibility for the secure environment of servicing Makita’s comprehensive range of dust extraction machines.

To carry out maintenance or repair functions on an extractor approved for use with Class L, M or H dust particulates, the repair facility must protect both the technician working on the machine as well as the workshop environment from dust contamination should material escape from the extractor.  The FSC facility will now handle all dust extraction servicing for the brand right across the UK.

Makita's New Factory Service Centre & Academy Has National Role

Commercial Photography by Ian Arthur

“The protection of our staff is paramount and that is why we have made this substantial investment,” says Norman Dodds, Manager of Service & Training at the Glasgow FSC.

The Factory Service Centre & Training Academy covers nearly 1000m³ on South Street in the G14 area and delivers technical repairs and maintenance services for the full range of Makita products, including all mains and cordless construction machines, and the rapidly expanding range of grounds care tools, including petrol engine products.

Training is a cornerstone of Makita’s marketing success ensuring that both authorised distributors and operators are fully conversant with the power tools, how to obtain the best performance from the machines and how to maintain them for efficiency and productivity.  Makita offers a full itinerary of training courses covering the extensive product range.  A key course: The Correct and Safe Use of Handheld Power Tools is a City & Guilds accredited course which offers either a user certificate or instructor certificate upon successful completion of the course.

The theory element of courses is held in a lecture theatre, followed by the essential hands-on practical work which is carried out in specially adapted and fully equipped training workshops.  Courses, including Health & Safety related and Correct Use, are of 1 – 2 days duration.  Any CITB certificated courses, which may include a combination of in-house and on-site training, relate to Abrasive Wheel training; an instructor’s course or user course.  Gas Nailer user training, chainsaw cross cutting and service courses, are also available.

“We are receiving a very warm welcome from all sectors of the power tool industry in this part of the world,” reports Norman Dodds. “I foresee that we will need to increase our staff and in particular our training personnel as demand grows from both employers and operators who can now benefit from this convenient location.”

For more news and product information about Makita UK please visit www.makitauk.com.  Follow us on Twitter @MakitaUK, Facebook.com/makitauk and google.com/+makitauk

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