School groundsman talks about role

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School groundsman talks about role: Lewis Pattinson, the head groundsman at Bradford Grammar School, has spoken of his pride at looking after the grounds at the school.

He said: “It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life.”

He tell us what his job is like and how he loves being a groundsman:

“I’ve worked here for five months and I manage the daily work activities of the Estates Department to ensure that the grounds, pitches and gardens are maintained and kept in good condition. I’m an award-winning Groundsman having won the Institute of Groundsmanship Young Groundsman of the Year in 2016. Before joining BGS, I worked as Deputy Head Groundsman at London Stadium for two years which is home to West Ham United Football Club.

“When I first saw the school grounds, I thought ‘what a fantastic challenge!’ They were good, but I wanted the standard to be excellent – just like the ethos of BGS. This value was instilled in me from a young age when I set up my own gardening company at 14 years old. I only got paid £5 a week pocket money, so I wanted to feel more independent.

“I cut everyone’s garden on the street and my next-door neighbour asked if I’d like to go and work for him as an apprentice Greenkeeper on his private golf course. He could see how passionate and interested I was. I suppose I already embodied BGS’s ‘Hoc Age – Get on and do it’ attitude from an early age, an attitude I see reflected everyday in our pupils and staff across 28 beautiful acres.

“One of my biggest achievements so far has been to put in place a new fertiliser programme using feedback from an Agronomist, who’s knowledgeable in turf grasses and their management. They provided useful practical advice as well as an overall assessment of the condition of the current BGS sport grounds. Going back to basics in this way allows us to track, maintain and achieve better results for our outstanding new £4m sport facilities that includes new cricket lanes, netball and tennis courts and astro-turfed hockey pitches as well as our all-weather sports barn.

“The sports barn and hockey pitches are world class, so I’ve invested in new machinery to maintain these and all the new pitches, inside and out. It’s all about continuous, top-level maintenance and care, to provide the best experience for pupils, staff and the wider community. Small details also have a big impact. For example, I’ve changed all the rugby posts. These used to be pulled out of the ground using a lorry, which over time can cause wear and tear on the turf. These have been replaced with new aluminium hinged rugby posts which are much better for long term use and the wider environment.

“I’ve worked professionally on many sports, ranging from Rugby League, Rugby Union, Football, Athletics and Major League Baseball. It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life. Nobody really goes to school and says: ‘I want to be a Groundsman’. People tend to naturally fall into it through other passions, myself included. I’ve spoken to many top Groundsmen who were professional footballers coming through the ranks. When they didn’t get taken on, they realised they still wanted to be involved in the sporting environment and ended up working in stadiums.

“I absolutely love working in a school after a large stadium. The environment is warm, intimate and I feel extremely valued and looked after here. From 14 years of age I knew this was my calling and now I can concentrate all my efforts on this fabulous school.”

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SISIS success at Colliers Park

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SISIS success at Colliers Park: Two SISIS machines are helping to keep the natural grass pitches clean and healthy at Colliers Park according to Dylan Thompson, grounds maintenance manager.

Colliers Park in Gresford, Wales has recently benefitted from a major renovation following the FAW’s acquisition of the site. It has now transformed into an elite training facility which boasts two full-size training pitches and a synthetic pitch.

SISIS success at Colliers Park

Dylan embarked on his new role in March 2019 and found himself with an arsenal of brand-new turf maintenance equipment at his disposal. The new equipment was based on what the grounds staff use at Dragon Park (the FAW’s other football development centre) and there were two machines which particularly caught Dylan’s eye.

“After using them for the first time I could immediately see why both the SISIS Quadraplay and the SISIS Multitiner were high priority,” said Dylan. “They are both superbly built and can carry out a wide range of tasks.”

As Dylan says, the multi-functional SISIS Quadraplay single pass maintenance system is perfect for busy groundsmen as it incorporates a mounted frame for up to four implements such as grooming rakes, spikers, slitters, rollers and brushes. The implements can be fitted to the mainframe in any order and can be independently adjusted to achieve the desired effect. Compact, robust, versatile and with the ability to carry out up to four operations simultaneously – the Quadraplay makes life a lot easier for many groundsmen as Dylan explains.

“We’ve got the four implements and we mainly use it for brushing and raking. When we are brushing, we will have the slitter down and go as low as we can go just to provide a little aeration – it is great at breaking up the surface algae if we have any. The roller is used to give the pitch a light roll, rather than compacting and is perfect for a nice presentation. With regards to raking we will vary the depth depending on how aggressive we want to be. We’ve done a lot of raking this summer because there was a lot of thinning out required. It has kept the pitch nice and clean so that it is not suffocating.

“I would say that we use the Quadraplay at least once a month – it’s nice and easy to use and changing the depth of the implements is incredibly simple. It is one of those machines which you can get on and complete a number of tasks within a short timeframe.

“Likewise, the Multitiner has 3-point linkage, no hydraulics and there is no messing about – it is quick, simple to set-up and effective.”

For further aeration requirements Dylan relies on the SISIS Multitiner 1.8m – a tractor mounted drum-type aerator. It has three drums with independent rotation and its interchangeable tines with a maximum depth of 100mm ensure excellent turf care when the time comes to aerate.

“The amount we use it all depends on the amount of pitch usage and the weather conditions but we have a general rule of trying to use it on a fortnightly basis,” said Dylan. “On the fibresand pitches we try and keep the structure firm so we will use the Multitiner just to give us a bit of surface aeration.

“Ultimately it keeps the turf healthy and clean and that is exactly what I want.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow SISIS on Twitter @SISISMachinery and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery

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GKB Vstrong impresses again

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GKB Vstrong impresses again: Based in Woolpit, Suffolk and with over 35 years of experience and knowledge, Parkers Pitches added a GKB Vstrong to their range of robust and dynamic machinery, through GKB’s distributor Ernest Doe.

Parkers Pitches have a passion for sports pitches and knew the perfect partner to support their passion was the GKB Vstrong. The sports turf management company, run by hands-on Owner Will Parker, have been impressed with the performance of the machine so far, stating: “We pushed the machine very hard this Autumn renovation season with over 40 cricket square scarified in 3 directions.“

GKB Vstrong impresses again

The beating heart of the machine is the CombiRotor, with its generically developed 3mm carbide scarifying blades. “The heavy duty nature of this machine has meant this year we have managed to scarify deeper and with closer blade spacings than in previous years, due to this we have seen great results with superb germination and coverage at all pitches renovated” Will adds. Thanks to the blades being rigidly attached to the rotor, the GKB Vstrong allows you to easily attain an operating depth of 5cm, not to mention it has a working speed of up to 10 kph.

Always completing high-quality work to improve and maintain surfaces and pitches the GKB Vstrong was a perfect match. Will explains “With the great results seen from a machine that is faster and cleaner than any we have previously used, we are in no doubt the Vstrong is the best machine on the market for cricket renovations and many other tasks.”

By scarifying and letting the material fly when you collect afterwards with a vacuum or a cut and collect mower, you are collecting less material. This leaves the soil behind and just takes the green waste off the top.

GKB Vstrong impresses again

Parkers Pitches Vstrong features an optional collection box. This is specially designed for work on golf green and cricket squares.

For more on GKB Machines and their reliable and robust range of machinery for natural, hybrid and synthetic turf, please visit www.gkbmachines.com or contact Tom Shinkins on 07495 883617.

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New SCAG stand-on mower

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New SCAG stand-on mower: The V-Ride is a stand-on mower designed for professional use; the compact machine size, ease of manouevering and clear view for the operator have lead to the V-Ride becoming increasingly popular for intricate mowing areas. 

The Ride-On SCAG machines, because they are purpose-built for grasscutting, place the operator directly above the cutting deck, and one of the main features on the new V-Ride is that the revised configuration of the stand-on deck follows the same concept, placing the operator nearer the centre of the machine. 

New SCAG stand-on mower

The new version of the original V-Ride was announced in 2017 and had revised features that exhibit SCAG’s policy of continuous improvement and response to operator feedback, which combine to make them such a successful machinery manufacturer. 

The latest machine in the range addresses the need for gate-access: the V-Ride 32. 

The full model name is the V-Ride 32A-16FX: 

  • 32” Advantage Deck
  • 16HP Kawasaki FX
  • Electric start
  • Drive wheels: 20x6.5 – 10 
  • Fuel capacity: 4 gallons
  • New style 2020 V-Ride operator pad
  • All other features as on the 36” V-Ride

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Case for the defence

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Case for the defence: The Christmas and New Year festivities are now just a lingering memory but though the days are starting to lengthen, there’s a long way to go before the onset of warmer weather.

With the turf suffering from prolonged periods of wet weather, waterlogged and weakened roots, the grass will be stressed and more open to disease attack. Deciding on which fungicide to defend your turf territory is key to ensuring a successful outcome. For winter applications, the requirement is to identify fungicides that contain ‘actives’ which work well under cool and cold conditions and, where possible, provide added physiological benefits.

Case for the defence

Particularly effective under cool, cold conditions is the broad spectrum turf fungicide Eland and applications now will provide disease protection for up to 50 days.

This long term protection is achieved through the spray deposit being held on the leaf long enough to penetrate and be held within the leaf tissue, which serves as a fungicide reservoir constantly releasing its active ingredient, pyraclostrobin, to provide long term protection.

Eland is specially suited to being applied as a preventative treatment, especially when disease pressure is high. It is very effective against all stages of the fungus within minutes of being applied and can restrain mycelial growth to provide additional curative activity.

Case for the defence

In addition to its proven abilities as a turf fungicide, research has shown Eland to have a number of additional physiological benefits.

Such benefits include improving plant health in the form of stress management under cold conditions and during aerification. This has the effect of helping the plant and root system to endure a stressful event and overcome stress through root system retention.

In addition to combating Microdochium Patch attack, a major benefit during early winter months is that applications of pyraclostrobin allows a plant to recover more quickly from root damage or surface foliar damage caused by ball mark injury.

Of course, prevention is always preferable and more effective than reacting after the event. STRI research trials prove that preventative disease control programmes outperform curative options when analysed for turf quality, colour and presence of Microdochium Patch (right).

The eight months trial compared nine preventative and three curative programmes, as well as one untreated plot. The first three programmes used purely preventative fungicides from Bayer. The rest of the preventative plots used a combination of Rigby Taylor fungicides, together as tank mixes with plant health products to reflect a more realistic approach. See bar chart, below right.

Case for the defence

In general, preventative programmes five to seven (see graph RT prog’s 1, 2 and 3) showed the most consistent results across turf colour, quality and Microdochium Patch presence by using an integrated approach with both fungicides and plant health products. The fungicides within the curative programmes (11 -13) were applied as and when disease developed to an unacceptable level, mimicking traditional control strategies. It is important to note that none of the trial plots had any cultural controls or biological practices applied prior to or during the trial, other than mowing and switching, which was carried out when necessary.

Pre-planning and control are essential requirements as it may be necessary to integrate some of the aforementioned products into the winter programme, which will enable the plant to resist or repel disease attack and be in an ideal state to advance into the spring in a healthy state.