AEA Appoint New President

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AEA Appoint New President: Newly elected President of the AEA, Mr Adrian Winnett, speaks of the need to retain and attract young talent into agriculture and engineering.

The UK agricultural engineering industry needs to continue finding ways to retain and attract young talent, not just from within but also from outside the industry, according to the newly-elected President of the AEA.

AEA Appoint New President

Adrian Winnett, Managing Director of Argo Tractors operations in the UK and Ireland, said: “It is a terrible shame that beyond our own circle neither of the words ‘agriculture’ and ‘engineering’ resonate in terms of a career choice with the majority of young people.

“Yet we all know what challenging, fulfilling and rewarding opportunities there are in agriculture generally and in the agricultural and groundscare machinery sectors in particular.”

Speaking at the annual conference of AEA, the organisation for machinery manufacturers and importers, Mr Winnett suggested that from the outside, agriculture is often thought of as being another world, of being insular and open only to those already in it with personal experience of farming or at least of rural life.

“We must do our bit to help change those perceptions if we are to capitalise on the wealth of talent that, at present, is attracted to other industries and commercial sectors.”

After two years as Chairman of the AEA’s Farm Equipment Council, Adrian Winnett was elected President by fellow members of the AEA’s management board.

“It’s an honour I couldn’t have imagined when I left school and started repairing tractors at my father’s equipment dealership in Towcester,” he said. “And, frankly, it wasn’t something I could foresee at any other time during my career in tractor and farm equipment sales.”

In September 2018, after around 10 years running the Amazone farm equipment business in the UK, Adrian Winnett was appointed Managing Director for the UK and Irish markets by Argo Tractors, the Italian manufacturer of Landini and McCormick products, with plans to recruit a larger team to support an expanded dealer network as a driver for increased sales.

“Dealer networks are restructuring as more manufacturers go ‘full line’ in the hope of securing more business from their dealerships,” he points out. “Argo remains focused on its core products – tractors from 43-310hp – while emphasising its support for dealer independence, which enables them to decide on the other products they sell.”

As President of the AEA, his role will be to lead the management board while the farm equipment and outdoor power equipment councils and specialist groups on manufacturing, training and education, chemical applications, sprayer testing, service management and all-terrain vehicles focus on current issues and initiatives.

“Consultation on proposed legislation as it impacts machinery and helping members interpret and implement new rules when they are introduced remain key functions of the AEA, along with the statistics and export services,” says,” Mr Winnett. “As our relationship with the rest of Europe and the world evolves, I think membership of the AEA by agricultural and outdoor power equipment companies has never been more important.”

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Tributes Paid To Bob Black

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Tributes Paid To Bob Black: Tributes have been paid to a community stalwart who supported football clubs in his area for more than 40 years.

Bob Black, of Evenwood, was a passionate fan of Evenwood Town Football Club and became well known for helping out with everything from fixing stands to painting on the white lines.

Mr Black, a factory worker, was established as the voluntary groundsman and never missed a game or training session if he could help it.

When the club disbanded in the early noughties, he offered his skills to Spennymoor Town Football Club before settling at Bishop Auckland Football Club at their Heritage Park site where his grandson Harry plays for the St Mary’s team.

Mr Black met his wife Anne in 1972 and the couple were married in 1974.

They had two children, Michael and Andrea as well as five grandchildren and a happy marriage which often involved trips to the football.

Mr Black retired in August 2016 before being told he had lung cancer in February 2017.

He underwent an operation to remove the cancer and was back to his positive self before being told it had returned about six weeks ago.

“The worst part of him being ill was not being able to go to the football – he was in hospital with a chest infection but was always planning on coming back out,” Mrs Black said.

“He was always so positive and did not give in to it.”

Mrs Black added: “He was easy going and nothing was a trouble. He would help anybody and would not see anybody troubling anyone.”

The couple celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in hospital this year before Mr Black’s death.

However, the family say they have been overwhelmed by the support and good wishes from not just family and friends but football supporters from all over the country who encountered Mr Black at games.

Mr Black was previously named Supporter of the Year at the club.

Mrs Black said: “We are just amazed at the amount of support we have had from everyone.

“We have had messages from those in North Shields, Spennymoor and Darlington and lots of away teams have messaged us on Facebook saying what a lovely man he was.

“We also had cards and flowers from the St Mary’s team.”

A statement on the Bishop Auckland Football Club’s Facebook page also paid tribute to their “programme seller, groundsman, steward, odd job man and very good friend to all of us”.

A spokesman said: “I have personally known Bob for over 40 years from my Evenwood Town FC playing days where he did everything up there and I enjoyed many an hour with him at football games, at St Marys Juniors – for which his grandson plays – and he liked nothing more than chatting about the ex players, showing me photos, sitting with the players after a match and me sneaking a chocolate roll out to him after half time refreshments.”

The club added: “Rest in peace Bob you were, are and always will be a top top man and gentleman to all.”

Mr Black, who was also a keen gardener and stamp collector, died on Saturday, April 20, aged 67.

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An Update From Scott MacCallum

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An Update From Scott MacCallum: How many of you were caught up in the Extinction Rebellion protests around the country? I must admit living on a pretty remote Scottish island it’s not something me or the other 2,999 islanders were ever likely to face. Let’s face it, my carbon footprint is pretty small although to get anywhere does involve either a ferry or a plane.

When it comes to the overall picture I do think our industry is more than doing its bit when it comes to fine environmental stewardship. Golf Course Managers have been maintaining patches of land, which often haven’t changed markedly in over 100 years, long after housing developments have swallowed up other patches of green and pleasant land.

An Update From Scott MacCallum

Whenever you ever visit a golf club you usually find someone who is so dedicated to the environmental custodianship of the golf course and its surrounds that it is more a vocation than a job. However, the game does get a bad rap from those who only ever imagine chemical and water overuse when they think about golf.

Let’s face it when it comes to golf, or any other fine turf maintenance, people don’t throw around expensive commodities like chemicals, or a valuable commodity like water, willy nilly. Overuse is a myth or, at the very least, something which occurred during the 70s and 80s when overfeeding was a little more prevalent.

Huge credit must be given to Aquatrols and their Fairways Foundation will be another way of ensuring that the many wonderful ideas that emanate from the greenkeepers’ mess room are given the financial impetus to make them a reality. Thanks to Matt Foster, of Aquatrols, for launching the Foundation as not only will it be allowing some wonderful work to happen, it will allow the industry to be seen to be doing that wonderful work.

Keep up the good work and let’s hope we don’t hit the headlines when someone superglues their breasts to the top of your sprayer!

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400 Mile Mower Journey

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400 Mile Mower Journey: Five former students who drove a Ransomes Matador mower non-stop from Edinburgh to London’s Hyde Park back in 1959, were reunited recently to commemorate their epic journey. The University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield hosted a celebratory lunch and tour of the current Engineering faculty to celebrate their remarkable achievement.

Back in 1959, Tom Hudson, Mike Smith, Mike Savage, Hugh Tansley and John Wilson, who were all apprentices at the De Havilland Aircraft Company and day-release students at Hatfield Technical College, decided they wanted to test the reliability of small petrol engines, so they hatched a plot which became known as Operation Matador, to see if they could drive a mower from Edinburgh to London.

400 Mile Mower Journey

They contacted the management at Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries, the forerunner of today’s Ransomes Jacobsen company, who quickly agreed to help them out. Ransomes provided a standard Matador walk-behind mower, slightly modified with a larger sump added to the 288cc Villiers engine to provide enough lubrication for the non-stop 400-mile trip. A team of four apprentices tested a couple of prototypes, running them around Ipswich for 90 hours, which was the estimated time it would take to travel at 3 mph down the A68 and A1.

With the trials successfully completed, the date for Operation Matador was set for Easter 1959. The five students left Edinburgh Castle with Tom Hudson driving the first leg and the others crammed into a Bedford Dormobile, which was to be their mobile home for the next four days. A gift of a haggis was placed in the grass box of the mower to be presented to the Keeper of the Royal Parks in London – a Scotsman – at the end of the journey.

Four days and three nights after leaving the appropriately named Lawnmarket in Edinburgh, the students rode into Hyde Park to be greeted by a high-powered reception committee of Royal Park’s staff, Ransomes top management and dealer representatives, a BBC television crew and the press. The haggis was handed over to the Keeper of the Royal Parks and a ceremonial strip of Hyde Park grass was mown to Ransomes perfection.

Back in 2009 Ransomes Jacobsen helped the team celebrate their 50th anniversary by organising a two-day visit to their head office in Ipswich, which included a replica of the

Ransomes Matador mower complete with the number plate and signage from 1959.

Ten years on the mower, now in the safe hands of the Ipswich Transport Museum, was parked on the lawn at the university to greet the intrepid Operation Matador team as they arrived.

Professor Quintin McKellar CBE, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Hertfordshire, welcomed the illustrious alumni saying,

“I am delighted to welcome you all to this amazing celebration, some 60 years on from that epic Easter weekend back in 1959. It was an incredible feat and a credit to yourselves, Hatfield Technical College as it was then, and the Ransomes company. You have entered the annals of the history of the University and it’s a pleasure to welcome you and your wives on this historic occasion, and to get a shot driving the lawn mower!”

Mike Smith, one of the ‘masterminds’ behind the ride added,

“We keep in touch with each other, but it has been 10 years since we were all together. What’s really amazing is that we are all still here to celebrate again a decade later and we are truly grateful to the Vice-Chancellor and his staff for this generous recognition.”

The celebrations concluded with a tour of the university’s Engineering department to see the recently installed driving simulator in the Automotive laboratory, various flight simulators and the latest Student Formula racing car being designed and built by the engineering students.

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Toro Technology Impresses

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Toro Technology Impresses: Leading the way with the latest technology in turfcare, Toro’s myTurf Pro fleet management software program is proving to be a popular addition at UK golf clubs across the country.

Word is spreading about the software which automatically logs information about all machines in operation at the club meaning greenkeepers can track data for their Toro or non-Toro equipment, order parts, schedule services, and gain access to information such as parts and service manuals. And so far, it has not failed to impress.

Toro Technology Impresses

Neil Mcloughlin, course manager at Deeside Golf Club, says that having myTurf Pro has made a “real difference” at the club: “We have a full fleet of Toro machines at Deeside. Being able to log everything from scheduled maintenance to our inventory, all in the same place, is incredibly useful. Plus with service and parts manuals accessible as well, all the information that I might need is just a click away.”

Designed to make a difficult job easier, having everything at your fingertips has shown to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of greenkeeping fleet management. Something Andrew Airlie, mechanic at The Royal Automobile Club, wholeheartedly agrees with.

“It gives you easy access to everything you need, which has made a huge difference,” he says. “For example, we used to spend endless amounts of time logging the hours on machines manually, but with myTurf Pro, it submits the data in real-time via wireless internet connection. Now we spend less time logging data and more time focusing on maintaining the machines to a high standard.”

As well as providing information and logging data automatically, myTurf Pro also sends notifications when a machine needs servicing, which has been a “huge help”, says Neil Corley, head mechanic at The Grove Golf Club.

“We used to do all of our servicing at the end of the year. But with myTurf Pro, it notifies you when machines in your fleet need to be serviced,” explains Neil. “Now, our servicing is spaced out across the year which is great. It means we can take preventative measures, rather than trying to fix bigger problems which is often harder to do and more expensive. We can spread out our budget throughout the year, which helps us financially.”

He continues: “The software is so simple to use, and it’s made it easier to stay on top of everything. Now that we have myTurf Pro, I don’t think we can manage without it.”

With its many features created to help with the maintenance of greenkeeping machinery, regardless of brand, the myTurf Pro software is becoming a fast favourite for UK greenkeepers.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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