Pleasant Point Pitch Vandalism Leaves Coaches Frustrated

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Pleasant Point Pitch Vandalism Leaves Coaches Frustrated. Vandals have torn up several sports fields and cricket pitches in the South Canterbury town of Pleasant Point, New Zealand – leaving teams upset and furious.

Police are investigating Monday’s incident, which one coach described as the worst damage he had ever seen.

Pleasant Point Cricket Club captain Cameron Lundie said a lot of people would be upset by what had happened.

“It’s just very gutting, especially the amount of work that’s gone into this new pitch, it’s had over $22,000 spent on it less than a year ago, a lot of work,” Lundie said.

The number one pitches for both the town’s football and cricket clubs, as well as the number two pitch and training pitches of the rugby club were all left with deep ruts dug into them.

Pleasant Point Constable Kris Howes said in addition to the fields being damaged part of one of the football goals was driven into, ripping netting off its fastenings.

Howes said a local resident reported hearing a vehicle between 2.45am and 3am “revving and carrying on”.

“They could see the lights coming on and off… they probably turned them on to see if they had collided with the posts.”

Howes said the football pitch had previously suffered damage on a “minor scale”.

“Even on the golf course next door they have never done this sort of damage. They might come in and do a couple of skids and then go, they have probably been here for a good half an hour.”

Howes said it could “possibly” be someone local, given the person had known to avoid the barrier of wooden logs placed around the pitches, and the car was seen heading in the direction of Pleasant Point.

The vehicle was “going to have some damage and it’s going to be filthy”.

Howes said it was “idiotic” behaviour. “It’s just brainless. The guys at the cricket field have spent weeks and months getting it sorted and up to standard.”

A piece of the vehicle was left behind at the scene. A Timaru District Council spokesman said while the vandalism was “very disappointing”, contractors had started working on fixing the sports fields.

He said the majority of the damage should not stop teams from playing sport there this week.

Pleasant Point Cricket Club groundsman Chris Murphy said the worst thing about it the damage is because it was winter the club can’t do anything about it. “We can’t touch the cricket pitch now until spring.”

Pleasant Point cricket and football coach Mike Otley decried the “absolutely senseless damage”.

“It does happen occasionally but it’s been a while since it’s happened,” Otley said.

“It’s probably the worst damage I have seen.”

To read the original article from Stuff, click here

STRI Group Strengthens Ecology And Environment Team

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STRI Group strengthens ecology and environment team. STRI Group has expanded its UK regional ecology and environment operation by bringing in two new consultants.

STRI Group Strengthens Ecology And Environment Team

Teneille Barwick joins STRI after moving to the UK from Melbourne, Australia. She has a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and started her career at an environmental consultancy in the energy sector in Canada. She was a wetland specialist for two years and spent a lot of her time avoiding bears.

She has also worked as a project officer for Conservation Volunteers in New Zealand. Teneille spent the last two years working as an environmental consultant specialising in contaminated land.

Nicole Beckett has recently completed her degree in Physical Geography. Nicole has a passion for sustainability and environmental management and will bring a new and much needed service to STRI.

Bob Taylor, head of ecology and environment at STRI, said: “I’m delighted to welcome both Teneille and Nicole to the growing ecology and environment team. These appointments will add considerably to the scope and diversity of the services we can offer. Teneille brings significant ecological and environmental skills having worked extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

“Nicole is a graduate who will increasingly develop her skills in sustainability and environment. This is a much-needed area of expertise particularly given the loss of chemicals within the turf sector. Her role will cover legislative issues, compliance and how golf and other sports fit within a rapidly changing environment.”

Over the past five years, STRI has bolstered its position as a market leader in the sports surface industry. Recently joining forces with Auburn University in the USA, as well as setting up a joint venture in China. This is in addition to recent significant investments made at its facilities in the UK, Australia and Qatar.

National Golf Month Reaches Record Number Of People

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National Golf Month reaches record number of people on social media. National Golf Month, the annual campaign aimed at increasing participation in golf, has achieved record levels of success on social media.

National Golf Month Reaches Record Number Of People On Social Media

With the help of celebrity ambassadors, which include Georgie Bingham, Denise van Outen, Dan Walker and Charley Hull, the #GirlsGetGolfing hashtag has reached nearly 3 million people across various social media platforms – smashing last year’s performance of 1.5 million.

The marketing initiative, coordinated by the British Golf Industry Association, has also been supported with radio and print media advertising from over the duration of the month, with the total reach for the campaign exceeding 10 million.

The campaign was kick-started with a social media ‘thunderclap’ on 28 April, which attracted simultaneous support from Ryder Cup winning golfer Paul McGinley, England Golf (the sport’s governing body) and government funding agency Sport England. Golf clubs, pros and centres up and down the country have since used the hashtag to help recruit more participants to the sport.

Doug Poole, the BGIA’s project director for National Golf Month said, ‘The reaction to this year’s campaign has been overwhelming. The Thunderclap helped us reach new heights and gave us the boost we needed right from the get-go. To have such an eclectic range of supporters, from new participants, to celebrities, to golf clubs, really helped put #GirlsGetGolfing on the social media map.’

Mel Reid, the English Ladies’ European Tour golfer who has achieved success so far in 2017, talked to Talksport’s Georgie Bingham and Tony Cascarino on the Weekend Breakfast show about opportunities to get involved in golf via the nationalgolfmonth.com website.

Further highlights from the first 10 days of the campaign include:

  • The BBC’s Dan Walker and former Westlife band member Brian McFadden have pledged their support towards the campaign.
  • 35 national and regional radio stations have featured adverts promoting National Golf Month in the lead up to and during May.
  • Adverts and editorial features in female lifestyle publications focusing on the health benefits of golf, including Yours and Top Santé.
  • An online advertising campaign with ads featured on websites including GolfShake, GolfALot and Golf Empire.

Poole continued, ‘We hope our marketing campaign, which is free for clubs and pros to take part in to grow their businesses, will go some way to helping increase female participation. There’s still bags of time for the industry to get behind this initiative and upload taster sessions via nationalgolfmonth.com.’

Kubota Expands Partnership With Mitchell Powersystems

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Kubota Engines expands partnership with Mitchell Powersystems. Kubota U.K Engine Division is pleased to announce it has strengthened its strategic partnership with Mitchell Powersystems (MPS) after extending the distribution of Kubota’s full range of engine solutions into two new territories.

Kubota Engines expands partnership with Mitchell Powersystems

This latest announcement now means that MPS will distribute Kubota’s complete range of oil and water cooled diesel and dual fuel engines in the North West of England and Northern Wales from its Sutton-in-Ashfield depot, as well as supply the South and South East of England from its Romsey depot.  Each branch will also deliver full support services and spare parts to dealers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) across a range of industry sectors.

Daniel Grant, Business Development Manager for Kubota UK’s Engines Division, commented: “This is an exciting relationship that brings together two leading players in the industrial diesel engine market.

“The first phase of this investment programme saw MPS’ Glasgow depot become the national distributor in Scotland for Kubota Engines last year.  Based on the success of this partnership in a short space of time, we are now absolutely delighted to be rolling this out into two new territories to further strengthen our service offering and open up new opportunities for growth.”

Kubota’s latest announcement means that the company has terminated its relationships with Phoenix Power Services and Woodleigh Power Equipment, who were previously responsible for the North West and South respectively.  MPS Sutton-in-Ashfield and MPS Romsey will resume responsibility of these former Kubota U.K Engine dealer territories with immediate effect.

Daniel continued: “The introduction of MPS Sutton-in-Ashfield and MPS Romsey is all about strengthening Kubota’s proposition to the market and driving brand growth further.  By joining forces with MPS in these two new territories, we believe that we can deliver on this promise.  I’d like to wish Woodleigh Power Equipment and Phoenix Power Services all the best in the future.”

Commenting on this latest announcement, Darren Hill, Sales Director at MPS, said: “Following the appointment of our Glasgow Depot as the national distributor for Scotland, we are delighted to expand the Kubota engine business into our Head Office in Sutton-in-Ashfield and our location in Romsey.

“Sutton-in-Ashfield controls all our Field Service Engineers covering the north of England (13 in total). Sutton is also the home of our Parts Distribution Centre, Engine Sales, Parts Sales and Finance teams. Our Romsey location is ideally located to cover the south and south east of England with 6 engineers working from Romsey, complimented with local service stock tailored for local demand. We look forward to working with Kubota to deliver operational excellence in these areas and deliver further growth.”

For more information on Kubota call 01844 268000 or visit www.kubota.co.uk.

EIGCA Announces Three New Partners

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EIGCA announces three new Partners. The European Institute of Golf Course Architects announced the addition of three new Bronze partners during their Annual Meeting in the Costa del Sol.

EIGCA Announces Three New Partners

The three companies, Atlantic Golf Construction, EcoBunker and Progolf join six other companies that have joined the EIGCA’s Partner Programme in the last 12 months.

Commenting on the addition of the new Partners incoming President Ross McMurray said “We extremely pleased to welcome so many new Partners with such a diverse area of expertise. We have seen a dramatic growth in our Partner programme over the last year as companies are increasingly recognising the value of being associated with the EIGCA. Our Partners gain unrivalled direct access to Europe’s foremost golf course architects and our members profit from the Partners involvement with our annual conference, CPD and other educational events”

Atlantic Golf Construction is a golf course construction company offering turn-key construction and grow-in services that pride themselves on their attention to detail. Based in Ballybunion, Ireland they have worked extensively throughout the country but have also completed projects in the UK and continental Europe.

Ecobunker specialises in producing bunker edging product that are designed to be more resilient that traditional methods of bunker construction. Designed to replicate traditional revetted turf edges the bunker edging product has been installed on nearly 100 golf courses in 16 countries.

Progolf is a golf course construction company that have completed both new and renovation projects in Europe, the Middle East and most recently in Brazil. With offices in both Portugal and Brasil Progolf also offers golf course grow-in and maintenance services along with the ability to provide irrigation and drainage design and has delivered a range of infrastructure projects.

he meeting also saw awards made to long-term Partners Rain Bird, John Deere and Tanto International Golf for their 15 years’ of support. The three Partners join previous recipients The Toro Company, Ransomes Jacobsen, John Greasley Ltd and MJ Abbott Ltd in receiving the long standing partnership award.

Following the presentation EIGCA President Tom Mackenzie said, “I am absolutely delighted that we are able to recognise the long term support and commitment of these three Industry Partners. I hope that these awards go some way to demonstrating the gratitude of our membership and how much we value their ongoing partnership with the EIGCA”.

Responding Rain Bird International Sales Manager Mohan Subramanian said, “Rain Bird is proud to be associated with EIGCA and to participate in their various educational and sustainability programs. The architects are a critical part of the Golf Course Industry and we at Rain Bird are committed to work closely with this community to ensure the best courses are built around the world. We look forward to many more years of a fruitful partnership with EIGCA”.