November 4, 2020 - Turf Matters

Rooted in local communities: Leading Scottish quarrying and construction materials company, Tillicoultry Quarries, supports the development of local environmental development project at Gifford Community Woodland.

With a dedication to local communities since its inception in 1931, family business Tillicoultry Quarries has a long history of community engagement and support for local causes, from charitable donations and individual sponsorship to boosting local employability, using locally sourced labour, materials and goods or encouraging its employees to make positive contributions to the community.

Rooted in local communities

Project Manager at Gifford Community Woodland, Neville Kilkenny, recently contacted Director of Tillicoultry Quarries, Wallace Menzies, with the hope of securing materials to improve the drainage and improve accessibility to the woodland, which is just three miles away from its Longyester Quarry.

Neville explained,

“The Community Woodland at Gifford has become an important resource to the local and broader community for both health and well-being, as well as in terms of it being a fantastic example of a native broad leaf woodland in Scotland.

“Having worked on the project for the last few years, it has been a wonderful experience in terms of bringing together and engaging the local community around this ancient forest. The footfall within the woodland and on East Lothian’s path network has significantly increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as many of our community use it as the main destination for daily recreational walks and outdoor exercise.

“Though it is a fantastic and hugely valuable asset, one of our central paths – an old railway line which is a key link between our woodland and other core path routes – has poor drainage which is causing accessibility challenges for some of our older and less able visitors. We’ve also had challenges with drainage from this area causing localised flooding.

“With Longyester Quarry on our doorstep, enabling us to minimise our environmental impact, and having been a customer of Tillicoultry Quarries myself, I hoped to secure some much-needed local business support to reprofile and maintain the drainage ditches using perforated pipework backfilled with 100 tonnes of gravel. They didn’t disappoint and we were delighted when they said yes.”

Wallace Menzies said,

“As a family business, Tillicoultry Quarries prides itself on giving back to local people, businesses and communities. It’s an important part of who we are as a company, as we know our successes are firmly rooted in the local communities which we work and live in.

“Given the environmental importance of the work being done at Gifford Community Woodland, it’s positive impacts on the local community – especially throughout Covid-19 – and with its proximity to our Longyester Quarry, we were only too pleased to offer our support. We wish Neville and the local community in East Lothian, the very best of luck in their endeavours with the woodland and look forward to seeing the project develop and add value to the local area for many years to come”

Neville went on,

“It’s fantastic to be supported to help solve this crucial drainage issue which is impacting our local communities. Without the support of our dedicated volunteers and local businesses like Tillicoultry Quarries, we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we have done so far at Gifford Community Woodland. We’re really happy with the support we’ve received, and it will have such a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of many in our community. We are delighted to be able to complete this part of the project with the support of Tillicoultry Quarries.”

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Outstanding service brings Jacobsen to Thorpeness: Outstanding after sales and back-up service from two Jacobsen dealers were the clinching factors behind Thorpeness Golf Club and Hotel purchasing a new Jacobsen fleet.

Course Manager, Wallace Wilson, has been plying his trade on the Suffolk coast for eight months having previously been in charge at Milngavie Golf Club in Scotland where he worked closely with Jacobsen dealer, Fairways.

Outstanding service brings Jacobsen to Thorpeness

An ageing fleet which required a lot of maintenance was due to be replaced at Thorpeness, and Wallace’s experience with Fairways and the reliability of the mowers meant Jacobsen was the preferred option.

“Back-up service is off the charts in terms of importance for us,” Wallace explains. “It makes a huge difference to what we’re doing. We’re under pressure all the time, especially early mornings, to get stuff done and we need to have that confidence that’s going to take place.

“Reliability and back-up from Fairways was absolutely impeccable, I can’t say that enough, I’ve said that to everyone down here, and it was such a big factor. Ernest Doe so far has been fantastic with us through the lockdown period, and they helped us out with loads of bits and pieces before the deal was done. So I’m grateful to them for that and that really shaped where we were looking towards.

“The machines also proved themselves to be really capable of what we want to be doing, so it was certainly a big factor and looking towards that here and what Ernest Doe have come up with is a really good package.

“In terms of features, Jacobsen greens-wise for the GP400 in-particular is renowned in terms of quality of cut, so that is obviously a massive factor for us when we’re looking at anything. And having used the GPs before I’ve had great reliability overall, certainly over a five-year period, so that really shaped where we were looking to go with the GPs. In terms of the TR330, it was a newer machine to me, so once we’d had a look at that and demoed it, again it was perfectly suitable for what we are using it for here. The guys absolutely love using that, and it’s one of the most comfortable machines they’ve used.

“Both those points, the quality of cut and comfort of the machine are majorly important, and sometimes people overlook the comfort side. But the guys are sitting there from early freezing cold mornings quite often right throughout the day. So they need to be comfortable, and they work a lot better when they’re comfortable. Again, the ease of set-up in terms of the cutting units is really simple and efficient. You hardly have to set them really, they stay on cut so well, and the quality of cut you get, particularly from the GP400 is second to none in my opinion.”

Thorpeness are one of many clubs who have opted for set monthly payments that include servicing and maintenance from Ernest Doe since the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect businesses in the United Kingdom. By having fixed costs, clubs are avoiding any unexpected payments throughout the year and can operate their course maintenance with confidence.

For more information on the Jacobsen range of machines, visit www.jacobsenbuilt.com or contact your local dealer.