Velvit’s First BTME

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Velvit’s First BTME: This is the first time Velvit Ltd. has exhibited at BTME as the sister company of GreenBest Ltd., We had a great time, met lots of lovely people and it proved to be a great success.

Velvit supplies a complete range of fertilisers, biostimulants and wetting agents for the professional turf care industry. Velvit does not sell direct, it provides a branded range selling through distributors that compliments the bespoke service already provided by GreenBest.

Velvit's First BTME

Velvit was on stand A1, the first thing to be seen as the visitors entered the hall. Looking out on Tuesday and Wednesday morning we could see the constant streams of people entering the exhibition. We appreciated all the passing traffic, handing out hundreds of brochures and discussing what Velvit has to offer. Thanks to everyone who took the time to talk with us, we really enjoyed it!

On the Wednesday morning James Whittick (Sales Director) presented an info packed seminar ‘Fertiliser Choice – Quality, Cost and Performance’ as part of Continue to Learn at BTME 2018. The education opportunities are a huge draw to BTME and James was thrilled to present to a packed auditorium of around 150 people. Thanks to all those who attended and it was great to hear that the presentation was so well received.

GreenBest has been attending BTME for the last 20 years, but as a fertiliser manufacturer specialising in own-brand products it has never exhibited itself, preferring to meet directly with its distributors.

GreenBest launched Velvit to offer customers a consistent branded range, available off-the-shelf, rather than own-brand made to order. The Velvit range has been designed with all of GreenBest’s manufacturing experience in every aspect of the turf nutrition industry to offer the highest quality products at very competitive prices.

The Velvit range covers every nutritional aspect of turf management throughout the year and includes many advanced and innovative products.

Interest at BTME was particularly high for Resolute Wetting Agent which provides long lasting prevention from localised dry patch, and for Onyx Liquid an organic biostimulant that provides extensive benefits for plant and soil health.

Over 50 professional turf products
Over 25 distributors covering the UK
Fertilisers, biostimulants, wetting agents
Quick turnaround from order to delivery

www.velvit.co.uk

Velvit now has more than 25 distributors covering the UK https://www.velvit.co.uk/distributors

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Quick Clean Up With GKB

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Quick Clean Up With GKB: At Harrow School, the boys enjoy afternoon games five times a week, with no fewer than thirty-two different sports on offer to keep them healthy and active. Harrow teams frequently win county and national championships and the school enjoys partnerships with professional bodies such as the Saracens Foundation and Queens Park Rangers Football Club. Founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth 1, Harrow is located on a 300 acre estate.

The school is surrounded by acres of sports fields ranging from Astroturf pitches, 2G hockey and tennis, 3G rubber crumb, sixteen winter pitches and nine cricket through to a 9-hole golf course. That’s plenty for the groundsmen to be looking after, with Grounds Manager Michael Kemmett heading the team of eleven. Maintaining such large areas of synthetic turf takes a special mix of machinery and each pitch demands their own, specific, type of maintenance. Michael chose GKB machines following demonstrations and began with the GKB Quick brush in the summer of 2017, followed by the introduction of a Quick Clean in the November. Quick Brush is a modular brush that can be adjusted to each task, choosing between a rake, double brush and rubber finishing rag. There is a ‘flip over tool’ to enable infill material to be easily added to new fields.

Quick Clean Up With GKB

“We liked the Quick Brush for its ability to carry out the correct synthetic turf maintenance, whatever the requirements. We use it every couple of weeks on the surfaces and after using the Quick Clean,” says Michael, “it’s excellent for the getting pile to stand up and it’s also very good for the cricket outfields and pitches.” The Quick Clean is used on sand and rubber crumb and was chosen for its powerful in-depth cleaning of all types of synthetic turf pitches. With the wide variety of sports surfaces at Harrow School, the extraction of debris needs to be adjusted to suit the technical characteristics of each pitch.

“We first saw the Quick Clean at the Cologne show and it looked the part to fit our criteria,” Michael adds, “we were looking for quality and stand-out of the patterns after cleaning, and it needs to work fast and be reliable. We have all that and you can tell from the quality build the machine is going to last. That makes it very competitive as well as achieving precisely what we need to maintain our surfaces. We’re very pleased with the great results we’re getting from the GKB machines” He says.

For more information, visit: www.gkbmachines.com

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Volunteering Pays Off

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Volunteering Pays Off: Amazing, incredible, life changing… they are just a few of the words used by British and Irish greenkeepers since 2015 to summarise their time on the John Deere TPC Sawgrass Volunteer Programme, arranged annually in partnership with the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland (GCSAI).

Held at the legendary TPC Sawgrass course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, THE PLAYERS Championship is considered by many to be golf’s fifth major. As such it presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for BIGGA and GCSAI members to network, learn and gain a huge amount of invaluable experience.

Volunteering Pays Off

THE PLAYERS is made possible thanks to the hard work and dedication of a course preparation force of over 90 volunteer greenkeepers from 14 different countries, who join the home team in getting and keeping the course in shape. Following the final day’s play, the greenkeepers also get the chance to attempt to hit the 17th hole’s intimidating island green.

For the first time this year, the programme has been expanded with John Deere’s support to allow a seventh member to take part, from BIGGA’s International Region. The six successful BIGGA members who have been selected to join the course preparation team at the 2018 tournament, which takes place from May 10 to 13, are:

  • Scottish Region – Paul Armour, course manager at Dunbar Golf Club, East Lothian;
  • Northern Region – Joe Barnes, deputy head greenkeeper at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lancashire;
  • Central England Region – Nicholas Thorley, greenkeeper at Little Aston Golf Club, West Midlands;
  • South West and South Wales Region – Jamie Blake, head greenkeeper at Broadway Golf Club, Worcestershire;
  • South East Region – Antony Kirwan, deputy course manager at Aldeburgh Golf Club, Suffolk;
  • International – Craig Cameron, superintendent at Golf Club St Leon-Rot, Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

They will be joined by GCSAI member Jonathan Kelly, head greenkeeper at Ballyhaunis Golf Club, Co Mayo in Ireland. This is the fourth such UK & Irish group to travel to the US with the John Deere Limited sponsored programme, which started in 2015.

For more information, visit: www.JohnDeere.co.uk

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