Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour

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Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour: As part of Course Manager Matt Aplin’s plan to enhance the ecological footprint of the Goring and Streatley Golf Club, the “amazingly colourful results” of sowing Euroflor wildflowers “attracted as many complimentary comments about the outstanding display of colour as about the quality and performance of our greens”, he says.

“That was in a year when the course was magnificent – it was looking immaculate and was playing very well – so the display of wildflowers obviously made a massive impression on everyone who saw them,” he adds.

Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour

“The news travelled fast about the swathe of colours and we even had non-playing visitors coming to see the display!”

Since Matt was appointed Course Manager at the Berkshire club in 2015 – after joining the greenkeeping team as an apprentice 20 years ago – he has constantly been looking for opportunities to improve the course’s ecological footprint and last year identified a rough area adjacent to the 14th hole that he wanted to improve.

“I was bouncing my thoughts about the possible use of wildflowers off Gareth Acteson, Rigby Taylor’s area sales director, and he suggested that the Euroflor mix (rather than native species) might work better in that spot.

“The Sarah Bouquet mix of annuals was chosen on the advice of club member Joyce Gustard, who is renowned among the membership for the quality of the floral display in her own garden, and that was definitely a wise move because a few months after sowing the area was awash with colour.”

Sarah Bouquet is a mix of 30 different species, including Anethum Graveolens, Borago Officinalis, Callistephus Chinensis, Helianthus Annuus, Helichrysum Bracteatum, Lobularia Maritima, Lupinus Nanus and Rudbeckia Gloriosa, and has a flowering height of 70-90 cms.

Adding that he uses a lot of Rigby Taylor products on the 18-hole, par 71 course, not least the R9 100% ultra-fine rye seed mix – “R9 has outstanding wear qualities, for example, and is the best seed on the market”, as well as the Propel-R wetting agent and a range of conventional and controlled-release fertilisers – Matt confirms:

“We didn’t do too much preparation for sowing the wildflower seeds and we undoubtedly over-sowed in terms of seed ratio, but the impact was tremendous from June right through to October.

“That success, and the number of favourable comments we received, has spurred us to double the overall amount of space sown with Euroflor wildflowers this year and because we have used less seed (perhaps just 65% of what we sowed last year on a similar-sized plot), we will effectively have double the amount of colour for a relatively low additional cost.”

Another way in which Matt recovered some of the cost of the outlay on seed was to re-sell small Discovery packs (also supplied by Rigby Taylor) of the wildflower seeds. “After seeing the flowers a number of members wanted the seeds for their own gardens,” says Matt.

The cost savings to the club have also been aided by the fact that at the end of last season Matt cut down the plants and left them where they fell, to encourage natural seeding. “Already now [in May] some of last year’s seeds are 45 cms high”, he adds, “and that is as a result of using an annuals mix. That equates to real value for money.”

For more information, visit: www.rigbytaylor.com

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Wolves Install New Pitches

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Wolves Install New Pitches: Two brand new state-of-the-art football pitches are being laid at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ training ground to help Nuno Espirito Santo improve his players’ passing game.

The head coach wants his side to train on the same surface that was laid at Molineux last year as he continues to stamp his tactical approach on the club ahead of their return to the Premier League.

And head groundsman Wayne Lumbard revealed the project should be completed by July, in time for when the players return from their summer break.

Asked if the project would help the players, Lumbard said: “Yes, exactly the surface for the type of players that we have got that play passing football and like a good surface, a good level surface.

“That obviously helps with their style of football and helps us rather than the away team.

“Nuno obviously wants the best playing surface that we can possibly get.

“The only way forward with that was to do what we did at Molineux because that has been so good, and what they have got at Molineux, they want down the training ground. So what they train on, they play on. So the only way was to invest in the new pitches, which will hopefully be as good as Molineux.”

The project was kick-started after talks were held with the club’s senior management and spearheaded by Nuno.

The plans were first mooted last year but work only begun several months ago so the pitches could be ready in time for summer.

Lumbard said: “We have been talking about it for the last six, seven months. Obviously it is not something you can decide overnight. There is a lot of planning that goes ahead.

“We started about four or five weeks ago purely so we could have pitch one back for when they come back in July.

“Everything was geared up really to have an early start so we could have one pitch back for them to train on as soon as they came back after the close season.”

The new training pitches will be state-of-the-art Desso GrassMaster surfaces.

They are the same ones which were laid at Molineux last summer as part of a six-figure investment.

Lumbard added: “They will be maintained and constructed exactly the same as Molineux.”

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Kubota Helps Transform Pitches

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Kubota Helps Transform Pitches: Kubota, the market leading manufacturer of high performance groundcare solutions, has assisted a team of dedicated volunteers to transform the sporting facilities in one of the country’s most deprived areas.

72-year-old Philip Swann and his team of six volunteers have given up their time to dedicate countless hours to make huge improvements to the state of the grounds for Handsworth Old Boys FC and Handsworth Old Boys Cricket Club in Birmingham.

Kubota Helps Transform Pitches

Philip has been a Handsworth Old Boy member for over 55 years, started volunteering at the ground following his retirement as a sales director for a hardware manufacturer.  He said: “When I volunteered to be groundsman, I had absolutely no experience, it was more because I had a passion for the club and wanted to help in anyway I could.  However, I soon realised the magnitude of the issues I faced, which even experienced groundsman might have seen as a challenge!

“The main issue at the site is access.  The grounds are enclosed by railway lines on all sides, with only one access point over the tracks that also has a very steep and dangerous incline.  This makes it almost impossible for any larger machines to be able to access the site safely.  To compound this, the driveway down to the facilities is only 7ft in width, which means the maximum size of a vehicle that can fit down the drive is a transit van.  For bulk deliveries, HGVs or 3.5t trucks have to park over 250m away at the entrance to the grounds, adding serious workload to an already demanding job!”

“What’s more, when I first started, everything was done on the seven-and-a-half-acre site by hand, the cricket square was in terrible condition and too many football matches were being cancelled because of water logged pitches as a slitter was needed.”

Philip knew that he needed the right machine to help him start tackling these issues.  Due to budget restrictions of this amateur club, it needed to offer excellent value for money, be versatile and durable, but also be easy to operate for the volunteers that would be using it with limited to no machinery experience.  The final requirement was to ensure all the retired volunteers could carry out their work comfortably.

Kubota’s STa-30 (which has more recently been superceded by the STW30 model) was the ideal choice, with the ability to handle a range of tasks with quick and powerful performance, a large hydraulic pump capacity to operate a wide range of attachments and excellent comfort for operators.

Philip continued: “The Kubota machine has been invaluable in helping us carry out a wide range of jobs with ease.  During the summer months, the grass is cut twice a week (which takes roughly four and a half hours to complete each time) and it also allows us to use other key attachments for aeration and scarifying.  The tractor also enables us to move and transport all sorts of materials around the site, as well as load up the trailer when we are tending to the 160 trees around the perimeter.

“So much of the work on the playing fields is carried out by the tractor, that in the event of it breaking down, all work on the grounds would come to a standstill.  But it never does, it’s an absolute workhorse, clocking thousands of hours and it’s still going strong, a real testament to the reliability and durability of Kubota machinery.”

The result of all this hard work, commitment, and hours and hours of volunteering time by Philip and his friends – success on the pitch for Handsworth Old Boys.  This season, three out of the five football teams are top of their respective divisions and the cricket team has been promoted in three of the last four seasons.  The grounds are also now a valuable asset for the local community, with many local football and cricket teams using the facilities, providing vital additional funding for Handsworth Old Boys.

Philip concluded: “My aim over the years has been to gradually improve the sports pitches.  I’ve taken advice from turf specialists and also had advice from the groundsman Ian Allmark at Handsworth Grammar School for Girls to help us achieve this.  Today, the satisfaction the volunteers get seeing a beautiful sports ground being maximised to its potential makes me extremely proud and is a validation of all the hard work and effort that has been put in over the years.”

Following its partnership with Kubota, Philip is now looking to invest further in his machinery, with Kubota’s experts recommending its new L1361 compact tractor as the best model to suit the demands of the sporting facility.

For more information on Kubota and its extensive range of solutions for the groundcare sector, or to find your local dealer, visit www.kubota.co.uk or call 01844 268000.

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Rugby Players Suffer 3G Burns

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Rugby Players Suffer 3G Burns: The Scarlets have seen their training plans hindered ahead of Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 final against Leinster as a number of their players are nursing nasty burns and blisters after the semi-final victory over Glasgow on Scotstoun’s artificial surface.

Head coach Wayne Pivac has revealed he had to cancel training yesterday and a number of his players won’t be risked today because of the wounds they suffered during the 28-13 victory.

“There are a lot of bad burns,” said Pivac.

“No-one trained yesterday in terms of any rugby work on the field and there will be some who won’t train today which is unfortunate, but we will have a full training session on Thursday.

“It’s things that won’t stop them playing, but it’s not ideal.”

Pivac added: “We would always do a bit of a flush (training run) on a Monday, especially after a Friday game; but the main thing is to make the burns heals up. To run around and knock the skin off again is not the ideal situation.”

It is not the first time that artificial surfaces have come under the spotlight.

Pontypridd’s Sardis Road surface was investigated last season after Merthyr players complained of burns and cuts.

Pivac himself has also raised concerns about injuries suffered by his players at the Arms Park.

Asked to comment specifically on the Scotstoun pitch, he said: “It was very bad on the weekend. It was very dry.

“I am not sure what other teams have had, we had got a lot of burns, a lot of bad grazing and blisters. It was very firm.

“These things will heal up, but it is just frustrating at the early part of the week.

“It is what it is, you have got to play on them and you have got to accept, it but I am not a fan.”

Both Wales international Steff Evans and Kiwi full-back Johnny McNicholl spoke to the media at today’s press conference at Parc y Scarlets and both had nasty cuts and grazes to their arms and legs.

McNicholl said: “I have got a dozen of them. It has not been a couple of nice nights sticking to the sheets.

“It is not a nice pitch to play on.

“Under foot it is good when you are doing footwork. As soon as you hit the deck it affects your joints as well.

“I would prefer not to play on them. I remember going down on the deck for the ball and I got this massive grass burn on my backside.

“It was like a carpet burn. I said to the trainer straight after with a few swear words that I felt this pitch should be illegal.

“I don’t like playing on them because they are high risk for injury.

“I could not train yesterday because of the burns and my feet were numb.

“This is the only surface I have played on so I can’t judge anyone.

“I think they would be pretty similar especially on a dry day. It heats up and it is like carpet.

“You are not meant to slide and I did a few times. It was horrible.”

Evans added: “Obviously we didn’t train yesterday because a lot of players had burns and it is going to be tough one today again.

“These are going to be stuck with me for a while, it is a tough field that 4G.

“It was just really dry.

“It wasn’t soft, it was a hard ground, compared to the Arms Park and Saracens it was totally different.

“The weather didn’t help, it was like playing on carpet, it was shocking.

“It’s blisters with a bit of pus coming out. You are waking up in bed and the sheets are stuck to your leg about seven times a night. It is not great, you have just got to crack on.

“But you can’t concentrate on the burns, there is something more important to look forward to this weekend.”

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Kubota’s New Field Service Manager

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Kubota’s New Field Service Manager: Kubota UK has announced the appointment of Martin Tyler as its Field Service Manager. This is a new management role created within the organisation to offer more support to its extensive independent dealer network and end-user customers.

Martin will take full responsibility and control of all Kubota UK field service activities. This will include field product quality reporting, Kubota’s Customer Satisfaction Survey, Dealer Service Excellence, the development of service business activities and the resolution of any customer or dealer warranty enquiries.

Kubota's New Field Service Manager

Keith Miller, Service & Training Manager at Kubota UK, said: “At Kubota, we are constantly investing in new and innovative ways in which we can enhance the service we provide to both our dealer network and end-user customers. The creation of this new role will provide a more focused approach to Kubota UK’s service provision, and is yet another example of our continued commitment to provide service excellence.”

Bringing more than 20 years industry experience to his new role, Martin joined Kubota in 2014 as a Regional Service Manager for the East of England, before being promoted to Service Supervisor for Agricultural Tractors. Previous to this, Martin spent the majority of his career at a New Holland dealer. He started as an apprentice and quickly rose through the ranks of Senior Service Technician, Warranty Administrator and finally to Service Manager.

Martin commented: “Our dealer network plays a pivotal role in sustaining our position as a first-class machinery provider, so ensuring we can provide them the highest levels of service and support is paramount.

“The creation of this new role will enable Kubota to enhance its close working relationships with its dealers. It will ensure they have dedicated support and access to all the necessary tools and advice needed, to enhance their business operations. This in turn will lead to better service levels provided to our end-user customers.”

For more information on Kubota UK visit www.kubota.co.uk or call 01844 268000.

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