Colour Splash Wows At Burnham

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Colour Splash Wows At Burnham: Lee Bishop, Course Manager at Burnham Beeches Golf Club in South Buckinghamshire, has said that Limagrain UK’s range of Colour Splash flower mixtures have helped him to transform an unsightly area into a stunning display of vibrant flowers – much to the delight of the members.

Situated in the Thames Valley in South Buckinghamshire, Burnham Beeches measures 6,458 yards, has a Par 70 and offers a true and challenging test of golf. Founded in 1891, it is the oldest club in Buckinghamshire after it was founded by a group of locals who called a public meeting in the village school.

Colour Splash Wows At Burnham

Over the years the course has gained a great reputation and has been graced with players such as James Braid, J H Taylor and Harry Vardon who, between them, won the British Open no less than 16 times, as well as other golfing legends such as Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer.

Lee has been working at Burnham Beeches for an impressive 20 years and has been the Course Manager for the last 10. Along with six other members of staff Lee tends to the course, which is located in a beautiful setting on the edge of the historic Burnham Beeches woodland and is framed by a large number of mature trees.

Surrounded, mostly, by natural beauty there was however one particular area of the course which Lee felt needed improving.

“There was a bit of a wasteland area around our nets and the clubhouse directly overlooked it,” he says. “To be honest it was very scruffy and it wasn’t a great view for our members. It definitely needed a makeover and that is why we thought we would try the Colour Splash mixtures from Limagrain.”

Limagrain UK’s range of Colour Splash flower mixtures are used in a broad range of landscape and amenity areas throughout the UK. The much loved brand was first established over ten years ago where the development of the mixtures were created in the beautiful county of Loir-et-Cher, in the centre of France. With nine mixtures in the Colour Splash range there is a floral arrangement for every requirement – whether it be a golf course, a local authority green space or any other establishment that has an area which needs brightening up.

For Burnham Beeches, Lee initially chose Aurora – a medium height mixture which grows to around a half-metre tall. It contains Sunbow Zinnia and Trianon Cosmos which provide more effective and long-lasting flowering. After using this mixture for two years running and receiving huge praise from club members, Lee decided to add the Festival mixture this year.

“The Aurora mixture was really successful and I wanted to enhance the area with another mixture. I used the Festival seed this year because it will add a bit more height and can be seen even more so from a distance. The area is visible from quite a few areas on the golf course so it will be there for everybody to see.

Colour Splash Wows At Burnham

“The members absolutely love it and have been really supportive. Once they saw the stunning array of flowers, and the potential it had, they started pushing for us to do more areas – hence why we are going to do even more areas with the Colour Splash next year.”

The Colour Splash range of mixtures are extremely easy to sow and the resulting vigorous plants are more than capable of competing with weeds. Their vigour is equally matched by robustness; resisting long periods of drought. According to Lee they are also a low cost option for those wanting an abundance of colour in fairly quick time.

“It is such a simple process. All I do is hire a rotorvator, use a small bit of weed killer and that is it. The seed mixtures are not expensive whatsoever – you get good, quick germination and I would encourage people to do it.

“I’ve also introduced bees to the area and have installed a couple of hives. There is a lot of press about bees and how scarce they are now so I think it is a great thing to do. We’ve got information boards about the bees on how we need to look after them and how the Colour Splash mixtures will help protect and make them flourish.

“My decision in choosing the Colour Splash was both because of the environmental benefits and the great aesthetics they provide – so if we can give something back to nature at the same time as the course looking great, then I think that is a job well done.”

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm

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Agronomic Services A Success At Wolves

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Agronomic Services A Success At Wolves: Following on from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC’s incredible season, being promoted to the Premier League,  Agronomic Services Ltd are delighted to announce their continued working partnership with Wayne Lumbard and his team.

David Snowden of Agronomic Services Ltd said “We are thrilled for Wayne, his team and the club, it has been fantastic to follow this season and the quality of the pitch has been superb. We have been particularly pleased with feedback from industry colleagues and Groundsman, it is a testament to Wayne and his team.”

Agronomic Services A Success At Wolves

The combination of Eon Bio, which gives rapid establishment and mass rooting, in particular during renovations, combined with Floratine foliar nutrition and excellent Groundsmanship has been the recipe for success at the Molineux and Training Grounds.

Wayne Lumbard commented that the most difficult part of his job in the last season had been the installation and the renovation of the pitch and by September the pitch “just got better and better.”

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Auto Rotorake Amazes Shrewsbury School

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Auto Rotorake Amazes Shrewsbury School: Andy Richards, Grounds Manager at Shrewsbury School, has claimed that he is amazed at the amount of material the SISIS Auto Rotorake MK5 removes from the School’s cricket wickets.

Set over 120 acres with approximately 800 pupils, Shrewsbury School is one of the most prestigious independent schools in the land. Boasting academic excellence, the School also has some of the finest sporting facilities in the UK. In fact over three quarters of the School’s land is occupied by sports pitches. There is wide variety of sports on offer at Shrewsbury School and in summer all eyes turn to cricket.

Auto Rotorake Amazes Shrewsbury School

Cricket-writer Sir Neville Cardus once described the School’s cricket facilities as “the most beautiful playing fields in the world, spreading and imperceptibly mingling with the pasture land of Shropshire”. However, these facilities don’t come easily.

Andy and his team work tirelessly throughout the year to provide sports pitches of the highest quality, and when it comes to his cricket wickets he puts his faith in the SISIS Auto Rotorake MK5

“We use the Auto Rotorake specifically for cricket because it does such a good job,” says Andy. “Previously, we had an older Rotorake in our armoury and because we were so impressed with it there was absolutely no reason to try something else. I had a demonstration of the new Auto Rotorake last year, decided to purchase one and it is a definite upgrade. The amount of material you can take out of a wicket with the brush reel and the verticutting reel sometimes needs to be seen to be believed.”

The SISIS Auto Rotorake MK5 is a powerful self-propelled heavy duty scarifier designed for the removal and control of thatch on fine turf.

Key features include:

  • Contra-rotating reel with specially designed tipped blades for clean, consistent cut and maximum thatch removal
  • A selection of 7 different interchangeable reels enables the machine to carry out a variety of maintenance tasks
  • Depth of cut adjustment control is mounted on the handle to enable depth to be set whilst moving forwards
  • User-friendly, operator presence controls designed for maximum operator safety
  • Easy-fit collector box
  • 6.5hp petrol engine with independent drive to wheels and reel
  • Careful weight distribution, slick tyres and full differential ensure ease of turning and minimal surface marking

“We use it all the way through the cricket season,” continues Andy. “In Summer we do 30 match wickets a week and it will be part of the preparation for every one of those match wickets. From the middle of April through to the last cricket match in August we play host to approximately 250 matches and the Auto Rotorake is used on every one of those.

“For me, SISIS signals simplicity and reliability. It may be a cliché but it does what it says on the tin and that’s what I expect. The machines are built to last and I’ve never had any problems with SISIS equipment.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

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Rugby Club Devastated By Pitch Fire

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Rugby Club Devastated By Pitch Fire: A Swansea rugby club’s bosses are “devastated” after one of their pitches was set alight in a suspected arson.

The second pitch belonging to Vardre RFC, based in Clydach, was badly burnt during the fire on Sunday.

South Wales Police are investigating the fire after Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue service were called at about 13:30 BST.

The club spends up to £5,000 a year over the summer to fertilise and reseed the pitches.

“We are worried that it will affect our season and prevent players from all ages enjoying the sports they love,” the committee said.

By the time fire crews arrived, the committee said the pitch was “completely burnt.”

“We are extremely proud of the quality of our pitches,” a spokesman said.

“These facilities are used by the mini, junior, youth and senior section of not only Vardre RFC, but Clydach FC as well.

“The second team pitch is also our only floodlit pitch so is vitally important in the season when the evenings are darker, and we require the floodlighting to train.

“It’s completely heartbreaking and frustrating when so many good people volunteer their time and effort to improve facilities and provisions for the local community and a mindless, selfish few continually vandalise the Vardre RFC playing facilities.

“Currently, we are unsure how long and how much it will cost to get the pitch back to its original state.”

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Reesink Reliability Seals The Deal

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Reesink Reliability Seals The Deal: Orsett Golf Club in Essex has long been a Toro customer and plans on keeping it that way for the next four years as it signs its third lease deal with Reesink Turfcare. This is thanks to Toro putting in the hours and keeping its residual value, as well as having Reesink supporting it with back-up.

Set over 112 acres of undulating heathland, the par 72 Championship course has a demanding layout of over 6,600 yards, and as a result the machines are expected to work hard, as course manager Perry Lowe explains: “This is a really big course and the machines are used heavily. Toro gives us a good amount of hours yet keeps its residual value, which is an important factor in our four-year machinery replacement programme. In the last four years, we’ve had hardly any issues, but the peace of mind we get from having Reesink for backup should we need it is really important.

Reesink Reliability Seals The Deal

“We’re almost 100 percent Toro here. We feel it has the edge with having Reesink as distributor. When Reesink took over as distributor for Toro three years ago, we wondered if things were going to change and if it would affect how things work. But we’re more than happy with the customer service, the speed with which any problems are dealt with is incredible – the next day and it’s sorted.”

This latest four-year deal includes the Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420, Reelmaster 3575-D, Groundsmaster 3500-D, Groundsmaster 4000-D, two Reelmaster 3100-D mowers, a Multi Pro 5800-D, GreensPro 1260 and a ProCore SR72 aerator.

Perry concludes: “It’s important we maintain course standards for our members. The results we get from Toro and Reesink have grown better every year and that is why we stick with them time after time.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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