Capillary Concrete Hire Three

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Capillary Concrete Hire Three: Rapid sales growth across the US market has forced Capillary Concrete, the global leader in bunker and turf management, to boost its team of representatives serving American clients. Three new hires have significantly increased the company’s ability to support clients across the United States.

Greg Nichols is Capillary Concrete’s new Sales and Installation Manager for the Northeast of America, and also covers Florida. Nichols, originally from upstate New York, graduated from SUNY Canton and has been in the golf course construction industry working with architects, contractors and superintendents specializing in bunker maintenance products since 2007. He is based in Tequestra, Florida.

Capillary Concrete Hire Three

Mark Patterson, Sales and Installation Manager for the Southeast, lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, just north of Atlanta. He is a thirty year veteran of the golf industry, working as a superintendent and a director of golf and grounds at many different clubs. Patterson holds a BS degree in plant and soil sciences from Mississippi State University andhas built several high profile clubs in the southeast including Champions Retreat GC in Augusta where he was director of construction and superintendent.

With more than 24 years in the turf industry, Scott Grego’s love for golf began when he worked for his uncle on Dundee golf course in Michigan as a teen. This led him to his turfgrass management degree at Michigan State. His internship led him to Dominion Country Club in San Antonio and eventually he became superintendant of the golf course. After seven years, he transitioned into the sales industry selling chemicals, fertilizers and equipment, leading to his recent appointment at Capillary Concrete’s Sales and Installation Manager for the Central US.

“Our growth and future projections have provided us the opportunity to hire a leading sales staff to match our leading bunker liner and turfgrass management applications. We are excited to bring the team together to make another huge impact for us in the near future,” said operations manager Travis Chivers.

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Ransomes’ Nigel Church Retires

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Ransomes’ Nigel Church Retires: One of the UK’s most respected and valued members in the turf industry, Nigel Church, is retiring at the end of June after almost 50 years in the sector. We had the pleasure of working closely with Nigel for decades and his knowledge, technical ability, eloquence and downright likeability shone through in everything he did.

Nigel joined Ransomes Sims & Jeffries as an apprentice back in the 1970s along with other industry notables such as Bob Buckingham, Bob Bevan, Paul Watson, Richard Bishop, Richard Walne, Graham Dale, Jeff Anguige and Barry Beckitt.

Nigel Church Retires From Ransomes

Readers of a similar age will recognise many of these names demonstrating that this generation of apprentices were the base for the new Toro European distribution – all built on the Ransomes skills they had been taught by John Wilson, Ken Buckledee & Guy Catchpole. In its day, Ransomes was considered the ‘university’ for the UK turf industry.

Nigel fulfilled many roles within the Ransomes business and the industry in general. In his time, he has been a demonstrator, technical rep and area rep; had responsibility for export sales, national accounts, regional sales management and training.

Included in his impressive CV is an eight-year sojourn, when he left Ransomes to work for one of their dealers, Kingston House Mowers in a sales role. He was back at the company in 1998, when it was purchased by Textron, became Ransomes Jacobsen and played a significant part in providing continuity as the two businesses merged together.

Later in his career he joined the new Cutting Edge Training division at Ransomes Jacobsen with a remit to pass on his extensive knowledge and experience to the next generation of sales and technical professionals within the dealer network. This was another area where Nigel excelled and the quality of training delivered by him and his colleagues was arguably the most concise, detailed and effective across the entire industry.

In the past few years he has continued to expand this role travelling to all points of the globe delivering training in his enthusiastic, effervescent manner and has recently returned from his final visit to the Far East. Many of us will never forget the long days and short nights at exhibitions and shows, where we enjoyed the camaraderie of a close-knit team in which Churchy was often the pivotal point … with a beer or gin and tonic in hand.

Nigel has forgotten more than many people in this industry will ever know and he will be sorely missed as he rides off into the sunset (probably on a Ransomes Highway 3). It has been an absolute pleasure to work with a man of this calibre – kind, knowledgeable, dedicated, humorous, affable –  and who is instantly recognised across the industry. Just try walking with him across the halls at SALTEX, BTME, GIS and any other international event and see how long it takes to get from A to B!

The global turf industry’s sincere best wishes go out to you Nigel, to Sylvia, your family and grandchildren, for a very long and happy retirement. It is well deserved.

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Karl Wiedenmann Retires

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Karl Wiedenmann Retires: BTME and Saltex regular for the last 24 years, Karl Wiedenmann has retired.  Even though his remit was heading up worldwide sales for Wiedenmann Gmbh, Karl made it his business to make as many UK trade shows as possible.

For the last two and a half decades Karl has helped expand the Wiedenmann fleet beyond Terra Spike aerators into other areas such as  collecting,  sweeping, seeding  and artificial turf maintenance.

Karl Wiedenmann Retires

At a special farewell at Wiedenmann UK’s HQ, David Rae, Wiedenmann UK’s managing director said that Karl’s influence was everywhere in the Wiedenmann brand.  “Not only is he expert in logistic and technical matters, Karl’s dependability to ‘do the right thing’ shines through. Dealers and customers up and down the UK got to know him and valued his opinion. Every business needs a Karl.”

Even Karl’s legendary reliability at client functions came in for special praise.  David Rae quipped “Karl could be last to leave the bar and put the lights off at 04.00 am yet be first up, fresh and ready for breakfast at  06.00am.  We, his colleagues, loved him for that alone. He was great to have on the team.”

Karl Wiedenmann Retires

After accepting a presentation of an engraved quaich and Scotch whisky, Karl acknowledged the UK has become like a second home.  However he reserved his warmest tribute to Wiedenmann UK chairman, Alistair Rae, crediting him for generously passing on the education that enabled Karl’s smooth transition from agriculture to sports turf in the 1990s, saying it was on Alistair’s solid foundation he built his Wiedenmann career.

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John Deere Awards Apprentices

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John Deere Awards Apprentices: A total of 31 young service technicians have formally graduated from the latest John Deere Ag Tech and Turf Tech advanced apprenticeship programmes, which are run in partnership with national training provider ProVQ at the purpose-built John Deere Apprentice Training Centre in Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.

Apprentice of the Year for 2018 was Henry Smith of Cornthwaite Agricultural Ltd in Ormskirk, who received a crystal plaque, winner’s certificate and a John Deere tool kit worth £500. The runners-up were Martyn Burnett of HRN Tractors Ltd, Insch and William Storr of Rea Valley Tractors, Sudbury, who each received a certificate and high street vouchers worth £250.

John Deere Awards Apprentices

The annual apprentice graduation ceremony was held at the East Midlands Conference Centre on the University of Nottingham campus for the first time, with the students’ parents and dealer representatives also invited to celebrate the occasion. John Deere Limited managing director Jonathan Henry presented the apprentices with their graduation certificates, while after-dinner guest speaker and TV presenter Guy Martin, together with ProVQ chairman Julian Lloyd, handed over the three apprentice of the year awards.

These awards are based on the trainees’ consistently high standards of work, both at their dealerships and at the training centre, over the three years of the apprenticeship. In addition, all central government approved apprenticeships in England now require an end-point assessment, over and above the log of work progress that was kept for each apprentice before last year. The majority of the 2018 graduates were therefore the first John Deere technicians to qualify under the new EPA rules.

“With the new EPA tests, which were held at Langar in April, both John Deere and our dealers are now able to quantify more effectively the skills of the apprentices we are training,” says John Deere Limited training centre manager Allan Cochran. “An EPA pass mark of above 90 per cent was required to earn a distinction and well over half the apprentices we tested achieved this, which was well above our initial expectations, so we have got off to a great start with these new assessments.”

John Deere’s three-year Ag Tech and Turf Tech and two-year Parts Tech apprenticeships involve students being trained in engineering, electronics, hydraulics, diagnostics, communication skills, computing, sales and marketing. The programmes lead to IMI Level 2 & 3 Diplomas in Landbased Engineering and Vehicle Parts Competence, and registration at LTA Intermediate level in the industry’s Landbased Training Accreditation scheme.

In subsequent years qualified technicians undergo further education and adult training within the John Deere University programme, on a career path that can ultimately lead to the highest possible LTA Master Technician accreditation.

New student intakes are in September each year; apprentices need to be resident in the UK, sponsored by a John Deere dealer and aged 16 or over. The standard programmes include on-the-job training and assessment as well as eight weeks each year at the John Deere Apprentice Training Centre. Further details can be found at http://apprenticeshipfinder.co.uk/john-deere.

Now in its 27th year, Ag Tech was the first such scheme to be introduced in the UK and won a National Training Award at the end of 1997, the only one ever made to an agricultural machinery apprenticeship programme. Since the first programme started in 1992, over 750 apprentices have graduated through the three main schemes and are now working in the company’s nationwide dealer network.

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Kubota’s New Dealer Managers

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Kubota’s New Dealer Managers: Kubota (U.K) Ltd is delighted to announce the appointment of two new dealer managers in the Groundcare and Parts business units. The new appointments demonstrate Kubota’s continued commitment and investment to its dealer development aspirations and will provide additional support to the existing dealer and distributor network.

The new Groundcare Dealer Manager, Phil Catley, joins in the role of Dealer Manager – Southern region for the Tractor and Groundcare division. Phil joins the company from Stiga Ltd, one of the largest European manufacturers of garden and groundcare machinery, where he was previously Area Sales manager.

Kubota's New Dealer Managers

Phil brings with him an impressive wealth of experience, particularly in building and maintaining large dealer networks extending throughout the South West, South Wales, Mid Wales and the West Midlands as well as skills in building strong relationships and maintaining excellent profit margins. Ahead of joining Kubota, Phil has also previously worked for Etesia, a European manufacturer of Groundcare machinery and Sharnford Horticultural, a garden machinery and Groundcare dealer in Leicestershire.

On his appointment, Phil commented “Kubota has a prominent reputation as a market-leading manufacturer of Groundcare, Agricultural and Construction Equipment solutions and I am looking forward to putting my experience to good use at the company. I am excited to finally be a part of the team and look forward to using my knowledge and experience to further develop Kubota’s dealer network.”

In a new role for Kubota, Rob Williams has joined the company as Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland Dealer Manager, for Parts. His prime responsibilities will be to support the Kubota dealer and distributor network specifically covering the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Rob has an extensive amount of experience and industry knowledge after holding previous roles at Ifor Williams Trailers, Saville Tractors and Landmec. Over the past five years, Rob has been working for the international agriculture equipment manufacturing company, Kverneland UK, developing a successful parts business for the company. His past experience also includes working for Morris Lubricants in the North of England, where Rob played a pivotal role in supporting and developing their oil and lubricant business.

Speaking about his new appointment Rob said: “I am looking forward to starting my new position at global manufacturer Kubota UK. My role will be to continue to support and develop the Parts dealer and distributor network, where my previous experience and established connections will be invaluable.”

David Hart, Managing Director of Kubota UK commented: “We are delighted to welcome both new Dealer Managers to the business. Their expertise and industry knowledge will be instrumental to Kubota’s commitment to continuing to invest and expand our existing dealer and distributor network and we are excited to have them on board”.

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