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NEWS ARTICLES

Dealer Helps Air Ambulance

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Dealer Helps Air Ambulance: Nigel Rafferty Groundcare of Redruth, Cornwall were more than happy to loan one of their Iseki demonstration tractors at short notice to the Cornwall Air Ambulance for the launch of the Charity’s £2.5m New Heli Appeal on Tuesday 24 April.

The tractor was used to tow and position the next generation AW169 helicopter flown in especially for the launch between the helipad and the hanger.

Dealer Helps Cornwall Air Ambulance

Nigel Rafferty says, “We are very pleased to have been asked to help with the launch of this appeal – even in this small way. We were in no doubt that our Iseki TL3400 tractor would cope well with towing the new helicopter to and from the hanger to the helipad.”

Cornwall Air Ambulance are now embarking on a two-year fundraising campaign, the New Heli Appeal, to urgently raise £2.5m to bring this next generation air ambulance helicopter to Cornwall by April 2020, the date the lease runs out on its current aircraft.

To donate visit Cornwall Air Ambulance website.

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Nominations Open For IOG Awards

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Nominations Open For IOG Awards: Nominations are now open for the 2018 Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) Industry Awards, with 21 categories of entry recognising the passion, dedication and challenges faced by grounds staff in both grassroots and professional sports at clubs of every size and from all areas of the UK.

This year’s awards – the 10th in the series and being held on October 31 at the Hilton Metropole hotel at the Birmingham NEC, on the evening of the first day of SALTEX – includes the introduction of new awards and enhancements to existing categories.

Nominations Open For IOG Awards

To celebrate the anniversary, the IOG is planning some exciting changes to the awards event which has continually grown in status for acknowledging the achievements of volunteer and professional grounds teams, as well as community clubs and national stadia.

Commenting, IOG chief executive Geoff Webb says: “We are planning some exciting developments for the awards presentations to mark the 10th anniversary. We have added new categories and enhanced the entry criteria – opening up the awards to more potential winners from all sectors of society – at all levels of the sporting spectrum.

“The awards continue to provide the only national stage for the achievements of everyone involved in groundscare across all levels of sport – whether professional teams at stadia or, indeed, the lone volunteer groundsman at a small village club.

“Importantly, applications to every category are encouraged from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, as well as England.”

He adds: “These are the only awards for groundsmen that are judged by groundsmen, and we are lucky to have a dedicated group of volunteer judges with a range of backgrounds that encompass the diversity of the industry and profession today.

“Please take the time to nominate as you must know many deserving candidates and great examples of sports turf management at every level.”

The 2018 IOG Industry Award categories are:

  •  IOG Toro Most Promising Sports Turf Student of the Year
  • IOG Rigby Taylor/Top Green Young Grounds Person of the Year
  • IOG Redexim Charterhouse/AMS Volunteer Sports Grounds Person/Team of the Year
  • IOG National Governing Bodies’ Community Sports Club Grounds Team/Individual of the Year
  • IOG Public Sector Sports Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG Bowling Greenkeeper/Team of the Year
  • IOG Best Managed Artificial Surface Award
  • IOG Ransomes Environmental and Ecology Strategy Award
  • IOG National Governing Bodies’ Professional Multi- Sports Ground/Facility
  • IOG Headland Amenity Professional Cricket Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG Professional Tennis Courts Grounds Team/Individual of the Year
  • IOG John Deere Professional Horse Racing Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG Professional Rugby Football League Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG Kubota Professional Rugby Football Union Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG SISGrass Professional Football Grounds Team of the Year – for English Leagues 1 & 2, National League, National League North/South, Scottish Championship & Leagues 1 & 2, Ireland & Wales Professional Leagues
  • IOG SGL Professional Football Grounds Team of the Year – for the Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premier League
  • IOG University/College Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG Growth Products Independent School Grounds Team of the Year
  • IOG International Ambassador of the Year
  • The IOG Ransomes/DLF Johnsons Alex R Millar Award – to the person chosen as the outstanding winner across all award categories
  • IOG GrassMaster Solutions Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement Award.

To make nominations, visit www.iog.org/awards where you can also find full details of entry criteria for each award.

For information on how to sponsor an award, please contact Karen Maxwell on 0908 552 987 or email: kmaxwell@iog.org

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Increased Efficiency With Först XR8

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Increased Efficiency With Först XR8: Total Tree Solutions UK Ltd is reaping the benefits of enhanced efficiencies through its use of a fleet of Först XR8 woodchipper’s, where the machines innovative Traxion Embankment System allows the arboriculture specialists to complete rail trackside and highway vegetation management with increased efficiency.

Total Tree Solutions UK started out as a one-man operation in 2005 and the business has since continued to grow year-on-year. Now employing 15 staff, Total Tree Solutions UK has positioned itself as one of the leading arboriculture contractors, specialising in rail, highways, utilites, construction, commercial, industrial and forestry sectors.

Increased Efficiency With Först XR8

Richard Sanders, Managing Director and founder of Total Tree Solutions UK Ltd, said: “Over the years, we have become very effective at providing trackside tree and vegetation clearance services, so much so that we carry out work on the UK Rail Infrastructure for an extensive range of clients. In addition, a lot of our work consists of vegetation clearances for Highways England and Leicester County Council.

“Due to this nature of work, my experienced team of arborists spend a significant proportion of their working day operating adjacent to railway lines and motorways, so it’s vitally important that we utilise equipment that not only allows us to complete jobs to the high standards our customers expect, but also allows my team to work safely and effectively in high risk environments.

“This is where the Först XR8 woodchipper comes into its own. The XR8 has been designed specifically with rail contractors and arborists in mind that need to tackle embankments and difficult terrains. The machine can travel along steep slopes with ease, which allows my operators to overcome the daily challenges of accessing hard to reach areas of railway or motorway sites.

“In addition to the Traxion Embankment System, the Först XR8 is an extremely powerful and robust woodchipper that chips volumes of wood fast and hardly gives us any maintenance issues, allowing my team to just concentrate on the job at hand and saving the business valuable time and money.”

The XR8 Traxion is a fast, powerful and exceptionally versatile 8” x 10” capacity woodchipper that has been designed to traverse banks and slopes up to 35 degrees with ease.  It features a parallel linkage leg system that allows users to expand and retract legs independently for safe and stable tracking on the bankside, as well as class leading ground clearance (height of 695mm when fully expanded) to negotiate difficult obstacles.

Richard concluded: “We have utilised Först’s XR8’s since 2015 and I can see us expanding this fleet as our business continues to grow. The versatile XR8 is a pivotal part of our business operations and allows us to complete railway and motorway jobs to the highest level.”

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Junior Football Club Picks Campey

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Junior Football Club Picks Campey: Moss Bank Juniors Football Club have taken control of their own pitch maintenance for the first time and have chosen Campey Turf Care Systems machines to help improve pitch quality for the future.

The Bolton based junior football club was founded by current club secretary, Marcus Howarth, in April 2006 with just 25 players, and 12-years later the club has grown into a community hub with 350 children playing in 27-teams – including boys, girls and mixed teams – while also offering cricket, rounders, and kids clubs.

Junior Football Club Picks Campey

“Around two years ago we signed a lease on the land, this process was a first for Bolton council because they handed the pitches and maintenance over to us,” Marcus explained.

“Three to four years ago the FA, through their Pitch Maintenance Programme, carried out a survey on the land because it’s very flat and it holds water. This survey highlighted that the surface was compacted. The grassroots are only growing down to around three-inches and are then growing horizontally rather than vertically and that’s because of the compaction.”

For Moss Bank Juniors the pitches are their revenue and improving their condition was paramount to further growth within the community. Recognising compaction to be their main issue, the club sought funding to purchase equipment to rectify the problem.

Investing in the future of the club he founded was a step in a new direction for Marcus who sought expert advice through the FA before consulting Campey’s UK & Ireland sales manager, Ian Campbell, who recommended a New Holland Boomer 40, Trimax Striker 190, Sisis Quadraplay and Sisis Multislit to solve the turf issues.

Marcus has been impressed with the company from the moment he visited the factory whilst obtaining quotes and is full of praise for Ian and Campey for their continued support from purchasing through to installation.

“The drainage is completely fine on the pitches, so the work to be done is reducing the compaction. The council don’t have the time or the manpower to spend working on the pitches. That’s why we’ve bought a Sisis Multislit and the other machines because the experts have told us that by getting air into the ground the roots should start to grow down to ten-inches rather than the three-inches they are at just now.

“The contract started two-years ago and for the first 12-months we marked the pitches for match days while we got the funding through the FA, Football Foundation and the Premier League, but now we have the equipment we can have a very concentrated two-years of intense maintenance on them that will completely resolve the issue, and the pitches will be near perfect within that two-years.

“The pitches are our bread and butter. Even though we are a community asset we charge for using them so it’s our revenue. We are hoping to get deals with local schools and Educational bodies, so they can use them during the day because currently they aren’t being utilised.

“We have also got one local primary school, which is only 300-yards away with no grass facilities, so we are hoping they can also use them throughout the school year.”

Improving the quality of the pitches and increasing the revenue of Moss Bank Juniors will allow them to continue their work in the community and build on what they can offer with other projects, such as becoming Ofsted accredited to host a youth club, also ongoing for this ambitious club.

For more information, visit: www.campeyturfcare.com

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Syngenta Appoint Glenn Kirby

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Syngenta Appoint Glenn Kirby: Glenn Kirby has been appointed by Syngenta as the company’s new dedicated Technical Manager for the UK Turf & Landscape business.

Glenn brings 25 years’ experience of practical turf management skills from both downland and parkland environments, along with experience from both corporate and members’ golf clubs. He has held the Course Manager’s role at Hockley Golf Club in Hampshire and, prior to that, as Head Greenkeeper on the Heritage course at The London Club in Kent. He has also been through the Ohio State University programme in the US, including championship preparation at the prestigious Oak Hill Country Club, along with a wide range of other tournament experience.

Syngenta Appoint Glenn Kirby

Throughout his career to date, Glenn highlighted his commitment has been to deliver great playing surfaces, alongside an environmentally sustainable and economically viable business. “The ethos has been to use innovation to achieve results, and to get the most out of the available budget.

“Syngenta has been at the forefront of helping me to achieve that on the golf course. This exciting new role gives me the opportunity to support more greenkeepers and to help the industry to adapt to the changing picture of products, pressures and integrating technical innovation on a wider scale.”

Glenn will be working alongside Syngenta UK Business Manager, Daniel Lightfoot, to give an unrivalled understanding of issues facing the UK turf industry, and together utilising the company’s immense R&D capability to develop practical solutions for an effective Integrated Turf Management approach.

A renowned champion of the Syngenta Operation Pollinator initiative and an advocate of improving the accuracy spray application techniques on his own course, Glenn will be looking to use his Technical Manager role to enhance the industry’s position and to further develop young greenkeepers’ skills in these areas.

Daniel Lightfoot added: “The new Syngenta role of a Technical Manager dedicated to the UK continues the company’s commitment and investment in the turf industry. Glenn will have an important role to launch several new products and science based innovations over the coming months and years, including a programme to provide information and support for their best use and to achieve the optimum results in practice.”

The Syngenta Turf & Landscape Technical Manager role covers the company’s range of products and services for all golf and sports turf surfaces, landscape management, professional horticulture and professional pest management.

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