Cousins’ 70 Years Of Service

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Cousins’ 70 Years Of Service: Two cousins have celebrated 70 years of service to the same golf club.

Bobby Hay retired earlier this month after 45 years with Gullane Golf Club, while cousin Paul Hay toasted 25 years of long service.

Bobby, who was irrigation and drainage technician, and Paul, who is head greenkeeper at Gullane No. 1, were invited to a special presentation at the main clubhouse of the club, which is closing in on its 140th anniversary.

Bobby, 65, was presented with a camera and voucher, while Paul received a green jacket and voucher for The Bonnie Badger restaurant in Gullane.

Bobby thanked the golf club committee for their gifts and revealed what made the job so enjoyable.

He said: “It was the people I worked with and being outside.

“Previous to that, I worked in a bakehouse for five years. I was breathing in flour dust and at Gullane I did not have to work Friday nights!”

The Gullane resident, who recalls course visits by stars such as Sir Sean Connery, Harold Sakata – who played Oddjob in Goldfinger – and Sir Bruce Forsyth, has plenty of hobbies to enjoy in his retirement.

He said: “I don’t know yet [what I’m going to do with my spare time]. I am that busy with that many things I want to do.

“I look over the course and it is a funny feeling knowing I am not there now after 40-odd years.

“I do archery, wood carving, wood turning, photography and I look after the archery range at Archerfield.”

Gullane Golf Club has attracted plenty of international golfing stars in recent years – holding the Scottish Open twice in the last four years, with Brandon Stone winning last year and Rickie Fowler lifting the top prize in 2015, as well as the Ladies Scottish Open last year, with Ariya Jutanugarn crowned champion.

Bobby described the club as “the most superior course in the Central Belt of Scotland”.

Meanwhile Paul, 42, explained why, despite not considering himself a golfer, he loved his job.

He said: “One, it is local, and two, every day is different.

“There have never been two days that are the same. We have got a good team and it has been good to work for Gullane Golf Club so far. It does not feel like 25 years for sure!”

Paul, who lives in the village, said changes in machinery, staffing levels and the number of visitors to the golf club meant the job had changed since he started.

He added: “We’ve got to make sure the course is looking tip-top.

“There is an added pressure – if the course is not looking at its best, it is going to be picked up on.

“You definitely have to make sure everything is looking its best at all times and present it every day as if it is [for] a competition.”

Ward councillor Jeremy Findlay, who lives in the village, works as a tour operations manager for a golf tour company and is a member of the golf club, congratulated the duo on the achievement.

He said: “The golfing fraternity and golf club members really appreciate all the effort and time that they have put in over the years and I’m sure the many thousands of visitors to the club also appreciate their great work.”

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Toro A Hit At Radley College

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Toro A Hit At Radley College: Four years ago, Radley College welcomed a new Toro fleet of Groundsmaster and Reelmaster mowers to the independent boys’ school in Oxfordshire. As the facilities continue to grow we hear how Toro has performed during its tenure.

There’s a lot of pressure on Radley College’s grounds team. Not only does it have the upkeep of some of the most extensive and finest public school sporting facilities in the country on its hands, but with the school increasing the number of bursaries and scholarships for the first time in its 172-year history, the sports facilities are expanding too.

Toro A Hit At Radley College

Luckily, grounds manager Adam King and the 19-strong team in the estates department, including groundsmen, greenkeepers and gardeners, have the benefit of a Toro fleet of Groundsmaster and Reelmaster mowers working across the 14 rugby pitches, 10 cricket squares and football pitches, three astroturf hockey pitches, tennis courts and a nine-hole, par 34 golf course.

The College’s latest fleet joined four years ago in a significant lease agreement with Reesink,

Adam says: “With more to do, the biggest benefit from our Toro fleet in the last four years is how it’s saved us time, allowing us to be more efficient and productive. Having two Reelmaster 3100-D mowers for the weekend cutting of the cricket outfields and aprons has been particularly beneficial.”

As the school gears up for a new boarding house opening in 2020 and the expansion of the sporting facilities to accommodate, the reliability of the fleet as well as its time-saving aspects has not gone unnoticed by Adam.

“We chose this combination of machines with specific work in mind and they’ve not only delivered on that but more. We’ve built more natural and artificial sports surfaces into the equation and got them into play. Plus, there have been no problems running the fleet, no breakdowns or issues.

“The lease agreement with Reesink allowed us to have new machines straight away, while also covering winter service, and all at a fixed cost. We were able to manage our budget and benefit from new and upgraded equipment at an important time in the College’s history.”

So, what’s next for Adam and the team? “We were at BTME to take in the new technology and product development on offer, and I was most interested in seeing lightweight three-wheel fairway mowers and greens mowers which we haven’t specifically had before. Plus, there’s been developments in engine size and I’ll be interested in seeing the effect of that on our surfaces here.”

Since then, Adam and the team have trialled the Toro Reelmaster 3555 and 3575 mowers across the School, based on which Adam concluded they are the “best bits of new kit I’ve seen in a long time and versatile enough to be multi-sports mowers”.

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Andrew Rodwell – Obituary

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Andrew Rodwell – Obituary: SCH (Supplies) Ltd founder and former managing director Andrew Rodwell has died age 80. Many will know Andrew from the companies’ 33 years of extensive attendance at garden machinery shows across the country, where SCH have displayed their product range to potential customers and machinery dealers.

In 1986, Andrew recognised that the ordinary lawn mower tractor was capable of a lot more than merely mowing grass. With the help and encouragement of Malcolm Vandenburgh at Wests Engineering Ltd, the pair set about designing and manufacturing a range of grass care machinery. Before long, SCH (Supplies) Ltd was created and began selling products to a handful of local dealers.

Andrew Rodwell - Obituary

Through sheer hard work and determination the business flourished and expanded, and now has a catalogue of over 200 products, and a vast network containing hundreds of machinery dealers across the country. Andrew spent countless hours thinking of every possible need for the keen gardener, groundsman and game keeper, with the popular product range constantly evolving.

From the early days of SCH, Andrew was an advocate of training local aspiring engineers. He nurtured and mentored his young apprentices, some of whom have remained with SCH for over twenty years. The business now employs 25 people who design, manufacture and deliver the machinery.

In December 2018, Andrew and his family decided to hand over the running of SCH to two of his long term employees John Free and Ian Holder. SCH had been Andrew’s passion for over thirty years, and his hard work has put the company’s future on a successful trajectory. SCH will continue to trade as normal, so that his legacy is maintained.

Andrew has been described as a larger than life character, he was gregarious, often hilarious and a great British eccentric. He had a passion for anything mechanical from vintage tractors to classic cars. He will be sorely missed by SCH and all who knew him.

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Fleet Launch Eco Friendly Marker

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Fleet Launch Eco Friendly Marker: Fleet Line Markers Ltd recently unveiled its latest development – the COG Aline Marker – at the Innovations event held at Malvern RFC.

The event attracted a large array of guests from line marking industry leaders to the smaller clubs, all eager to assess the benefits and capabilities of Fleet’s latest revolutionary Eco Friendly Marker.

Fleet Launch Eco Friendly Marker

The COG Aline Marker is the next step in line marking. It has been designed to be environmentally friendly and also eliminate paint wastage. The COG Aline Marking System’s bespoke drums can be used repeatedly, saving money and helping the environment by preventing waste. When the COG drums do eventually reach the end of their re-usable life, Fleet will recycle the COG drums.

Their unique shape and design also means that, during shipping, the COG drums are completely stable – with no more than one strap to hold them, this eliminates single use wrapping and/or plastic pallet covers. In addition to the huge saving on all one-way plastic substituted by the reusable COG drums, Fleet will eliminate 40 to 50 tonnes of packaging per year.

Once fitted on the COG Aline Machine, a single COG drum is enough to mark up to six soccer pitches. When the COG drums are empty, Fleet will arrange collection, at no further charge, and the re-using cycle begins again.

As well as being environmentally friendly, the COG Line Marking System is an extremely clean and convenient system to use. The COG drum is attached to the COG Aline with ease, making spillages a thing of the past.

Fleet’s Managing Director, Iain McGuffie, comments:

“Here at Fleet we strive to reduce our carbon footprint, the COG System eliminates single use plastics – and each single use plastic drum can contribute up to 6kg of carbon dioxide per drum.”

“In keeping with Fleet’s commitment to the environment our target is to eliminate more than 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next five years … Not all investments are financially driven.”

The Innovations event was hosted by Iain McGuffie, the Managing Director of Fleet, and International Sales Director, Iain Courage.

Fleet Launch Eco Friendly Marker

The hype at Fleet is not solely about the COG Aline Marker. The MAQA GNSS System continues to smash targets. An innovation in itself, which has transformed the traditional methods of line marking.

The MAQA Marking System enables the marking out of sports pitches to be carried out in a fraction of the time currently taken, when using string lines and 3, 4, 5, triangles. For example, marking a football pitch would usually take approximately

2.5hrs for two people, a total of 5hrs labour. The MAQA Marking System can reduce the time taken by 90% on this one task, marking a football pitch in just 20 minutes and only requiring one person.

The MAQA GNSS Marking System is supplied with Fleet’s unique Flozle Nozzle System, which is a spray head that automatically cleans the nozzle after every line marked. This System has been made even more appealing due to the interest free offers that are now available.

During the event guests enjoyed a day of line marking activities including the launch of the COG System. A factory tour and the opportunity to get hands on experience with all of our new, and classic markers, with the added benefit of expert guidance from the specialist team at Fleet, made the day a huge success. This included a chance to experience the BeamRider, which continues to hold it’s own across the world and remains highly regarded from grass roots to professional Stadia.

For further information or to book a demonstration please contact sales at sales@flmuk.com or alternatively call 01684 573535.

For further information about Fleet Line Markers and Fleet Line Marking Paint, please visit www.fleetlinemarkers.co.uk

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Toro The Choice At Bridgnorth

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Toro The Choice At Bridgnorth: Bridgnorth Golf Club in Shropshire recently signed their fourth renewal agreement with Toro despite competitive offers from other brands because “nothing matched up” says head greenkeeper, Martin Jones.

When it came to the end of the club’s third renewal agreement with Toro, Martin chose to consider all the options to find the best possible machinery for the parkland course situated alongside the River Severn.

Toro Beats Competition At Bridgnorth

“One company even brought a whole fleet for us to trial,” says Martin. “But at the end of the day, myself and the whole team agreed that nothing matched up to Toro.

“Since our first agreement, we’ve been impressed with the quality of machines, service and the improvement to the course, and it’s continued to get better through the tenure of two more agreements. In fact, in the last five years, I can count on one hand the number of issues we’ve had! That’s an incredible track record that’s hard to beat.”

Martin also credits the service from local dealer Oakley’s Groundcare and Reesink Turfcare, an official Toro UK distributor, as largely influencing the decision to renew for a fourth time.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Oakley’s. On the rare occasion we have a problem, I know I can pick up the phone and they’ll get a mechanic out to us in an hour and a replacement machine within a day. Similarly, Reesink’s area manager John Pike has been really helpful, from general advice to the training; it’s all been great.”

Having been at the club for 42 years and head greenkeeper for over 20, Martin knows quality when he sees it, which he says is exactly what Toro provides.

“The quality of Toro machines is second to none and every single machine does exactly what it says on the tin. That’s why we’ve renewed like for like as well as purchasing a couple machines from our previous fleet.”

The new fleet consists of a Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, Groundsmaster 5610, GM4000-D, GM3500-D and Reelmaster 3100-D alongside a purchased Workman HDX-D and GR3250-D. “The quick release unit of the Greensmaster TriFlex 3400 in particular is fantastic,” says Martin. “It’s a real time saver and the standard of cut is outstanding.”

“With every new renewal the course has improved, particularly the fairways and the tees,” Martin concludes. “With Toro things just keep getting better!”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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