Great Field project for Terrain Aeration

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Great Field project for Terrain Aeration: Poundbury, the urban extension on the outskirts of Dorchester is well-known for reflecting the design principles of HRH The Prince of Wales, on whose land, the Duchy of Cornwall, it is built.

The Great Field, at some 12 ha, is the largest area of green space in Poundbury and work began on it in 2014, with the building of sports pitches, outdoor gym equipment and a multi-use games area. One area which is developing especially well was sown around five years ago and is now a sea of Common Knapweed, with plentiful Ladies’ and Hedge Bedstraw, Quaking Grass, Bird’s-foot Trefoil and other meadow wildflowers.

Great Field project for Terrain Aeration

Great Field project for Terrain Aeration

During 2020, further significant work has been undertaken with the planting of over 400 trees and 26,000 shrubs and hedging plants. The charity People Need Nature has worked with the Duchy of Cornwall and local seed supplier, Heritage Seeds, to sow another wildflower meadow on the Great Field. Exceptionally wet conditions followed by unusually dry periods, led to compaction and waterlogging, resulting in a slow start for the meadow.  Improving the ground conditions to assist establishment of the trees, shrubs and hedging was identified as particularly important.

The services of specialists Terrain Aeration were called upon to relieve the compaction and panning on the top half of the field. They brought in their Terralift machines, which work on the principle of hammering a hollow probe one metre deep into the soil, using a JCB road breaker gun; the soil is compact at depth and requires the hammer to break through. At one metre depth, a hydraulic blast of compressed air is released at up to 20Bar (280psi). This fractures the soil, creating fissures. The process is repeated at two-metre intervals on a grid pattern with the fissures interlinking to create a system of aeration and drainage.  The Terralift is the only machine which uses such high pressure to enable the process to work. On the tail end of the blast, dried seaweed is injected and this sticks to the walls of the fissures, expanding and contracting with the moisture content in the soil. The probe holes are backfilled with aggregate to maintain the aeration process.

The new Great Field meadow sown with wildflower seed collected from existing meadows in Purbeck, should be flourishing within the next two years. The local sourcing helping to protect local populations of native wildflowers. As part of the usable green space area for the local community, the meadow will be cut in July, with the low-growing flowers, such as Red Clover and Bird’s-foot Trefoil, continuing to flower and provide nectar and pollen for insects.

Terrain Aeration 01449 673783

www.terrainaeration.co.uk

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Reesink’s Richard Harris retires

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Reesink’s Richard Harris retires: Richard Harris, managing director of Reesink Turfcare IRE, has announced his retirement from the company. Richard was instrumental in the development of the Lely, Reesink and Toro brands in Ireland and leaves a career which spans 31 years in the turfcare industry.

Richard started his career in 1974 working with a leading supplier to the petrochemical industry, followed by a move to a major distributor within the electrical industry. He started working with the then Toro distributor for Ireland, J C Distribution, in 1989.

Reesink's Richard Harris retires

Reesink’s Richard Harris retires

In 1994 Richard took on the management and development of Lely Ireland (as a sister company of Lely UK) into a combined agriculture and turfcare machinery business. He has played a leading role in helping develop the Toro brand and reputation for quality products that today sees it as a market leader in golf. A past president of the Farm Tractor Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) in 2014, when the agriculture and turfcare divisions separated within Lely, Richard moved with the turfcare side of the business which then joined the Royal Reesink Group in 2016.

The last few years have seen Richard spearhead considerable investment by the Royal Reesink group in both Toro and other brands (such as Trilo and TYM) in Ireland through their base in Nurney, Co Kildare. Focusing on establishing a stand-alone business, the industry-respected Reesink Turfcare sales team has been together for many years moving along with the company changes. This allowed Richard to focus on building up the customer service, parts and technical support areas to enhance Reesink’s support for Toro and Trilo fine turf and grounds customers in Ireland. Richard hands the business over in a strong state to maintain and build customer satisfaction levels on a par with all Toro European distributor operations.

Roon Hylkema, managing director of Reesink Turfcare BV and a colleague of Richard’s since 1991, says: “Richard and I have worked together for a great many years. We were originally from different companies, I was with Jean Heybroek BV and he was with Lely UK, but we had the Toro brand in common. Then in the last four years when Reesink acquired Lely, as Reesink had acquired Jean Heybroek in 2010, much more closely as we worked together to raise the Reesink profile in Ireland. He’s the type of colleague, employee and friend you’d want in your professional life, honest, straight-forward, loyal and reliable, and he’ll be greatly missed for the contribution he has made to the development of the business in that time and throughout his career.”

Richard says: “During my career I have had the privilege of working with so many great teams of people both within our own companies in Ireland, the UK, The Netherlands and Denmark, as well as within The Toro Company and more recently Vanmac/Trilo. I have shared some great experiences and relationships with many colleagues and contacts within these companies and the turfcare and agricultural machinery industry at large over the years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working within this industry.

“While looking forward to now having time to focus on other interests, I will certainly miss it all and will keep an eye with interest on the future development of the business and the turfcare industry. While COVID-19 has affected the whole industry and will bring many challenges and changes to the way we do business in the future, I have no doubt that Reesink, Toro and the turfcare industry will bounce back over the next couple of years and grasp the opportunities that will present themselves.”

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Unicorn Athletic achieve full maintenance programme

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Unicorn Athletic achieve full maintenance programme: In March 2020, after 20-years of vying for control of their main Smiths Field site from Trafford Council, Unicorn Athletic JFC has begun life in charge with equipment from Campey Turf Care Systems.

The club is home to 34 teams and operates at different schools and pitches in the local area, with their main site used by the under-8’s Saturday club, youth teams from 14 years old and upwards and their open age group teams.

Unicorn Athletic achieve full maintenance programme

Unicorn Athletic achieve full maintenance programme

The New Holland Boomer 35, Trimax 190 Striker and SISIS Quadraplay will be vital for the community club as they aim to improve the condition of their site. The story of their pitches over two decades is a sadly familiar one, with budgets cuts in the council leading to less and less maintenance and inconsistent mowing.

For Darren Storey, treasurer, part-time groundsman and operator of the walking football team, finally taking control of the maintenance will allow the club to give children playing in their teams the pitches they deserve.

“It was unbelievable to use the new stuff. To be honest, I felt like I was ten. It was like being a kid in a candy shop,” Darren began. “The whole field was cut in an hour, and it looks the part because it’s been done with proper grounds maintenance machinery, and it looks exactly as our kids deserve.

“In the past when the council hasn’t cut the grass, we’ve begged, stole and borrowed petrol mowers and cut it by hand with a team of volunteers but those days have long gone hopefully.

“We started the process by speaking to one of the subcontractors that works for Trafford Council, Paul Grange, who has worked on our pitches and helped us with stuff in the past. Over the years the pitches have been in shocking condition because Trafford had no money, So, we used to pay extra money out of our own funds to get them upgraded.

“Campey has been ace. From costing, to specifications and the equipment that we needed, and more importantly could afford, they’ve been great. They kept us updated at each stage, and we asked for upgrades like a tracker on the tractor, and although they don’t normally do it, they sorted it. We put a grant application into the Football Foundation which they helped us with, and without that, we wouldn’t have the equipment, so John Campey and his team have been very good.”

With the first cut of many completed on the day of delivery and installation in late July 2020, Darren and the club are already looking at ways they can improve the wider area. Because it is a community field, they want to make it better for everyone, not just the players, and a part of this plan is creating a Friends of Smiths Field group. By doing this they hope to raise funds that will allow them to improve the landscaping, put in nature and fitness trails and complete other projects to make it a more usable area for the wider community.

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Dartfordians RFC upgrade with Campey

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Dartfordians RFC upgrade with Campey: Dartfordians RFC has upgraded their maintenance operation with a Trimax Striker and New Holland Boomer 40 from Campey Turf Care Systems.

Time waits for no machine, and at London based Dartfordians RFC, that meant their old Massey Ferguson tractor and gang mowers needed to be replaced so they could continue to maintain the ground to a high standard. Replacing the machinery was a joint venture between the rugby and cricket club. Both operate the site under the DCSC which manages the building, bar and groundsman, Graham Smith, who was a member of the rugby club before becoming the groundsman four years ago.

Dartfordians RFC upgrade with Campey

Dartfordians RFC upgrade with Campey

As the sole groundsman – along with some volunteers – Graham is responsible for maintaining the three rugby pitches and football pitch in the winter as well as the cricket square and outfield in the summer. Additionally, there is a park adjacent to the ground that is maintained by Graham in an ongoing arrangement between the rugby club and Bexley Council.

With the five-hectare site in constant use throughout the year, having reliable machinery is a must, and after speaking with Campey Product Specialist, Ben Taylor, Graham was confident Campey could provide what they needed.

“I’m really impressed with Ben. He’s very amenable, he talks straight, and he knew what we wanted and put together a deal that was very acceptable with us and we are looking forward to a good long relationship with equipment in the future,” Graham began.

“I think the customer service side of it is very important and it’s a big consideration when we’re buying machines. You could go somewhere else and buy a tractor, and with money constraints we could have ended up buying a second hand one without any warranty. As we bought new we have that and we know if we want to add to it in the future with a bucket or similar things like that we’ll get all the help we need.

“You want it to start, to run and a good amount of power and everything to work. With the period we’d gone through with our old machinery breaking down we’re now in a new zone. It becomes very critical at times [having reliable machinery] and really you should always have a backup and that’s what we needed. Equipment fails and suddenly you’re stuck and if it was in the cricket season and we couldn’t cut the grass then they wouldn’t be able to play and likewise with the rugby. We need to maintain the pitches and keep them cut to the right length to encourage growth.

“It’s going to make my life a lot easier with the new kit. On our particular tractor we’ve got the oversized grass tyres so there is no damage on the pitches. That’ll be especially important in the winter because we’ll still have the ability to drive across a pitch without doing any damage, whereas our old tractor had agricultural tyres and there were times of the year where you wouldn’t drive it onto a pitch.

“Having had the tractor for a few weeks now I’ve found it very good, and it’s proved to be a very good piece of machinery. Because it’s 40hp I’ve found that I can run the mower in the economy mode which cuts down the revs and saves fuel, and the tractor being powerful enough to do that is a really good thing. I think the Trimax and the way it works along with the bearings that are guaranteed for life shows the confidence that Trimax have in their own machine.”

The rugby club brings a lot of value to their local area with men’s, women’s, junior and academy rugby catering for people from U11’s and upwards. Their Dartfordians 1st XV were promoted to London1 South at the end of the 2018-19 season, an impressive feat for a community club, and have consolidated their position in the league.

Providing high quality surfaces for all of the players is the top priority for Graham, and after the initial investment he hopes the club can take advantage of their new tractor and invest in more equipment in the future.

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Turf Tank continue UK expansion

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Turf Tank continue UK expansion: Danish GPS line marking company, Turf Tank, has continued its expansion in the United Kingdom with the appointment of two regional sales managers.

Matt Murray and Alex Robinson will cover the north and south of the UK respectively and play a major role in fulfilling Turf Tank’s commitment to providing a more in-depth service to customers in the UK.

Turf Tank continue UK expansion

Turf Tank continue UK expansion

Before joining Turf Tank, Alex worked for the company’s former UK distributor, ProSport UK Ltd, where he introduced the robot to Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC and Hampton School. His experience with the Turf Tank One is unmatched, and he is now aiming to show more clubs, schools and councils the difference it can make for them.

“The biggest impact I see at the venues using the Turf Tank is the amount of time they are saving,” Alex began. “Marking out football, rugby or hockey pitches from scratch takes a lot of time as do running tracks, so in some cases, we can save people day’s worth of labour, and that is time they can spend doing other jobs on site.

Matt Murray has an extensive experience of over 20 years with equipment and technology companies in the sports and leisure markets. He is now excited to join Turf Tank and help the groundsmen improve their turf management. “A part of saving that time is making sure the lines are marked out perfectly. Even though we are achieving that now, Turf Tank is always looking at ways of improving the robot and software, and that’s what makes them an exciting company to work for. They really want to focus on the UK and make the robot attainable for everyone, and we’re looking forward to announcing how we will do that soon.”

There are currently more than 200 Turf Tank Ones in use in the USA, and it is feedback from those users and customers in Europe that has informed improvements. The recent 1.5 software update has focused on the functionality and reliability of the robot as well as the update process itself, which can now be done straight from the tablet. When a newly updated tablet connects to a robot with an older software version, it can be updated with the push a button.

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to book a demonstration of the robot in the north of the UK; contact matt@turftank.co.uk or for the south of the UK; alex@turftank.co.uk.

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