Christmas all year round with Pellenc

Christmas all year round with Pellenc: The battery-powered Pellenc Prunion pruning shears have proved to be instrumental in helping one of the UK’s largest Christmas tree growers.

Tayside Forestry has been producing Christmas trees in the heart of the Angus countryside in Scotland for nearly 60 years. The company produces approximately 80,000 Christmas trees each year on 500 acres of prime land and its clients include large retail businesses, wholesalers and garden centres. It also sells directly to the public from the farm throughout December, turning its farm shed into a Christmas tree forest and light show.

Christmas all year round with Pellenc

Christmas all year round with Pellenc

Adam Robinson is the Farm Manager for Tayside Forestry and oversees the growing and the selling of the Christmas trees. He explained how the centrepiece of every home during the festive period takes a lot of hard work and dedication.

“Nordmann Fir and Fraser Fir are the main crops that we grow, and we have about 1.1 million trees in the ground,” he said. “We will normally take the trees out of the field in their seventh year, but we have to carefully nurture them along the way.

“During the process we let them grow and develop their root system and once they have got to a certain height (approximately thigh level) we will continue shaping the tree to make sure they have that beautiful Christmas tree shape.

“In particular, we carry out bottom handling on the trees,” continued Adam. “The purpose of this is to keep the bottom ten inches of the tree clear of branches so that people can get the Christmas trees into the stands. This is where the Pellenc Prunion comes in.”

The Prunion pruning shears are ideal for growers looking for the most powerful, lightest and most innovative tool on the market. Its grip fits any hand, and its large cutting diameter makes it incredibly comfortable to use. The numerous innovations of this pruning shear make it indispensable for professionals seeking either freedom of movement with the 150P pocket or the possibility to alternate tools with the 250 battery, which allows users to connect two Pellenc tools simultaneously.

Tayside Forestry purchased five Prunions with the 250 batteries from Pellenc distributor Agrovista Amenity and Adam revealed that they have made a huge difference to operations.

“Previously we used to have an air compressor and a lot of hose to do this job, but it was costly and took a very long time – we needed a solution,” he said. “Now, with the Pellenc Prunions we are so much more agile – you don’t have to have an air hose cable following you round or an air compressor.

“The team moves more freely and simply walk around the trees – the job is now completed in a much quicker time. One of the main reasons for purchasing the Prunion is because many of our fields are located on steep hills and it can get to where all the other equipment just cannot.

“There are quite a few settings and operating modes which is really handy. For example, if you are in a field with big branches at the bottom of the tree, you can adjust the settings to open the shears wider; and you can be sensitive on the trigger or aggressive depending on the task. It is a very precise tool.”

Adam estimates that last year the five Pellenc pruning shears were used for somewhere between 167 and 189 hours, and never once did the battery power fail the Tayside Forestry team.

Christmas all year round with Pellenc

Christmas all year round with Pellenc

“The team can be out in the field cutting with them constantly from 7am-5pm,” continued Adam. “Not one set has ever run out of battery on us – you could easily get two days’ work out of them.

“Originally, they were just purchased for bottom handling, but we have found a lot of other uses for them like clearing old fields, bottom handling very old trees, they can be used alongside marking trees, collecting branches and making Christmas wreaths.”

After working hard throughout the year, Adam sent the Prunions for an annual service at the expert Pelllenc technical centre in Edinburgh.

“I was very impressed with the service and it was all part of the warranty agreement,” he said. “I simply dropped them off locally to Agrovista Amenity and all five Prunions were back within a couple of weeks with new blades and in excellent condition ready to be put to work again.

“I’ve used electrics for quite a number of years for pruning and these are the best set I’ve ever come across,” Adam continued. “They are practical, easy to use, cost effective and function very well. They have proved to be an exceptionally good purchase.”

Pellenc products are exclusively distributed in the UK by Etesia UK.

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.pellencuk.com

You can also follow Pellenc on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PellencUK for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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Facing the Future

Facing the Future: The world we all knew certainly has changed greatly. The Pandemic has impacted on every aspect of our lives and we all know that the recovery will be long and extremely challenging.

What has been highlighted during the time since the virus impacted has been the vital and important role of amenity management, seeking to keep amenity and sports surfaces safe and healthy. We would like to think that it has also increased public awareness of the importance of such spaces whether it be their local park, keeping transport networks running or more.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future

Given all this challenge and change, the title for the 2021 Amenity Forum Annual Conference is ‘Facing the Future’. What will the new normal bring? How will amenity organisations need to adapt and change? What will be the impact of proposed policy changes in how the work is undertaken? All these topics and more will be covered. The Amenity Forum conference is now a well-established event with a high reputation for the quality of presentations and opportunity to network and catch up on new innovations and changes. Indeed, it has become a must attend event for all involved in or with an interest in amenity management decision making and activities.

In 2021, the conference will commence with policy updates from a senior UK government representative, the chemicals Regulation Department of HSE and from the Environment Agency. This will be followed by presentations drawn from different aspects of amenity addressing the issue of integrated approaches and how they are applying them in their day-to-day amenity management approaches. Following these will be presentations on the very important area of education and training, talking about opportunities for continuous professional development and how new advances in digital technology can help.

The penultimate section of the programme will comprise two presentations. The first will focus on managing parks safely and sustainably and the second, an expert view on assessing the full life cycle implications of different methods of amenity management, including taking into account effectiveness, economics and carbon foot printing. The conference will conclude with a presentation by the Head Groundsman at Lords Cricket Ground providing his take on the challenges ahead.

During the event the category winners for the 2021 Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Awards will be announced and presented.

The conference is being held at the Kettering Conference Centre in Northampton on October 21st. For those still uncertain about travelling to a physical venue, the conference will also be available on-line as in 2020.

For further information and to book your place, talk to Kate on admin@amenityforum.net Delegate rates are £95 + VAT and there is an early bird discount of £10 on offer for bookings completed before September 1st. The conference remains competitively priced due to the contributions of its valued supporters. We look forward to welcoming you to another great event.

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Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins: DLF Seeds are pleased to announce the recent appointment of Stuart Yarwood MG. Stuarts role as Regional Technical Sales Manager will see him working closely with both customers and distributors across the North West of the UK, providing advice and support on the Masterline and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges.    

After completing his HND in Golf Course Management at Reaseheath College, Stuart spent two years in Golf Course construction before taking up his first greenkeeping role as Deputy Course Manager at Delamere Forest Golf Club. Following this, he spent 17 years as Course Manager at Lymm Golf Club where he specialised in traditional and sustainable turf management. Along with practical experience, Stuart also achieved his Master Greenkeeper certificate in 2010 and is one of only seven people in the world to have gained the R&A Gold Scholar Award for his role in the facilitation of the R&A Scholars programme.

Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

Stuart’s years of practical experience and technical know-how then went on to set him up for a role in sales, where he provided agronomic support to customers across all sporting disciplines, before further developing this with some time spent in sports turf contracting & consulting. He joined DLF in February 2021. Commenting on his appointment, Stuart said, “Joining DLF was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. My late father always said, ‘If I was to be a car mechanic, be a car mechanic for Rolls Royce’. DLF are the Rolls Royce of the seed world, providing the very best range for natural playing surfaces. I am very passionate about sharing my knowledge and am looking forward to being able to do that in my new role, helping others to deliver the best surfaces possible.”

Amenity Sales & Marketing Manager Derek Smith added, “We are very excited to have someone with Stuart’s level of knowledge, experience and passion joining the technical team. Stuart spent the first few weeks in his role working closely with John Hughes to get a thorough understanding of both the product range and the specific needs of accounts in his territory.”

Stuart lives in Cheshire with his fiancée and three children. In his spare time he enjoys DIY, practicing some admittedly hit and miss magic tricks and exploring nature – which he’s hoping to do with a four-legged companion very soon.

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Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

Club chooses Reesink Turfcare: Reesink Turfcare’s ReeAssure maintenance scheme has been worth its weight in gold for course manager Rob Peers at Hever Castle Golf Club in Kent.

Rob knows all too well what a worry it can be when you don’t have maintenance cover when very suddenly a few years ago, his full-time mechanic had to leave his job and the club was left without someone covering the maintenance of its extensive and comprehensive fleet.

Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

Rob says: “We were unexpectedly directionless which was a real worry. We’re a mainly Toro club, so I put a call into Peter Clarke at Reesink’s Sheffield Park branch to see if he could help and he introduced me to the ReeAssure scheme. I signed up and the weight was taken off my shoulders and dealt with. In a nutshell, what Reesink’s maintenance plan has given me is an immediate and ultimate peace of mind.”

Rob chose the Gold plan and couldn’t be more surprised or pleased at the value this offers: “The pastoral care is fantastic and absolutely everything is included from nuts and bolts and cable ties to cylinders and bottom blades,” he says. “I am genuinely gobsmacked at what good value it is and amazed that they can do it all for the price.”

This is the whole idea behind the scheme which also has a Silver and Bronze option as David Jackman, operations manager at Reesink, explains: “We designed these plans to provide an affordable option for everyone with the best support at a fixed price and no hidden surprises. Whether you choose the Bronze, Silver or Gold plan, they are perfect for efficient budgeting and cost control. Reassurance comes from knowing you can be assured your machines will perform to the best of their ability whichever package you have.”

Rob couldn’t agree more as he says: “The cost is ringfenced and I don’t have any hidden surprises which means I have absolute control over my budget.”

Not just that though, regular maintenance helps maintain the optimum retail value for his machines should Rob wish to sell them on. “It’s a real selling point that these machines are kept in the best possible condition, with regular maintenance and everything documented,” he says. “It’s like selling a car, the more detail you can give for its maintenance history the best retail value you’ll get.”

But Rob’s concluding point was undoubtedly the best of all. When asked if there was anything else to add, he said simply: trust. “I trust them to react quickly, keep my machines running and deliver a fantastic service; so much so that they have become such a valued member of the team that they’re now essentially key holders.

“There aren’t many people I’d trust my keys to, but the Reesink team is one of them. If they haven’t finished by the time I need to get off, I am more than happy to give them the keys and leave them to finish, lock up and turn the alarms on.”

With Reesink’s ReeAssure plans there’s the option for warranty programmes and the guarantee that buying Toro comes with buying into a support network like no other. The parts backup is second-to-none and as a Toro customer you are never more than a maximum 72-hours away from the part you need, for minimum downtime and maximum productivity.

“My advice to anyone would be, do it, you won’t regret it,” finishes Rob.

Call 01480 226800 or go online at reesinkturfcare.co.uk to find out more.

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