Reading Switch To Johnsons

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Reading Switch To Johnsons: Switching to a brand new grass seed after 10 years of using the same mixture is a big step, but one that Grounds Manager Adam Grantham made at both the Madejski Stadium and Reading FC’s training ground, Hogwood Park. Now into his second season, the switch to Johnsons Sports Seed J Premier Pitch is paying off, with the mixture delivering all of the qualities Adam looks for in creating top-rate surfaces.

“When I first took over the management of the stadium, as well as the training facilities, 4 years ago Johnsons was the seed of choice” explains Adam who has been with Reading Football Club for 14 years. “Although I could see what the Johnsons mixture was capable of, I kept with my head and stuck with the mixtures I was familiar with.” However, after hearing lots about the J Premier Pitch mixture Adam decided to trial it on one of the nine pitches at the training ground and were very happy with the results.

Reading Switch To Johnsons

“The response we got, compared to what we were using, was far superior in terms of the colour, wear and disease resistance – the key qualities – I was looking for. I also checked out the cultivars in the STRI book and when you see them all towards the top, you know you’re getting a good mixture.” Following the successful trial, Adam was happy to make the switch seeding all nine training pitches, as well as the Stadium pitch, with Johnsons Premier Pitch.

With proven performance at many of Europe’s leading stadia, J Premier Pitch contains top-rated cultivars including Eurodiamond, to deliver a sward with exceptional wear tolerance, density and rapid recovery. In addition, the rapid establishment means it can be ready to mow in as little as three weeks. It is also now available with DLF’s ProNitro seed coat technology.

Reading Switch To Johnsons

“We’ve kept all other elements the same, the seed is fed the same, but we’ve seen a great improvement in the quality of the pitches.” Content with his switch, Adam now has the consistency that is required throughout the year thanks to the Johnsons mix.

For further information visit www.johnsonssportsseed.co.uk

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Berkshire GC Upgrades With HSBC

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Berkshire GC Upgrades With HSBC: Berkshire’s Goring and Streatley Golf Club has upgraded its grounds with a new state-of-the-art Rain Bird irrigation system, using a £660,000 funding package from HSBC.

Brand new pipework and sprinklers have been installed beneath its greens, tees, approaches and fairways using the ‘mole ploughing’ technique, as opposed to trenching, in order to minimise damage to the ground.

Berkshire GC Upgrades With HSBC

Putting Goring and Streatley on par with other prestigious golf clubs such as Sunningdale Golf Club in Ascot and The London Club in Kent, the irrigation system is fully computerised, allowing the sprinklers to be controlled remotely by a smartphone, tablet or computer. This functionality also enables the Club to efficiently manage its water use.

While members have still been able to play the course without disruption, it has been a major project and has just been completed after six months of work.

Commenting on the investment, Ian Nash, Area Director for Business Banking in the Thames Valley, said: “Upgrading the Golf Club’s irrigation system was crucial to the business. The Club has a strong local reputation and this new system will ensure members experience a course of the best quality for years to come.”

Martin Hucklesby, General Manager at Goring and Streatley Golf Club, added: “The most vital feature that defines a golf club is the irrigation system – as grass has a high moisture content. Our investment in this new system, which has been made possible by HSBC, secures the future of our historical golf course and will hopefully attract even more golfers to our course.”

Goring and Streatley Golf Club was established in 1895 as a nine-hole course and designed by renowned golf course architect Harry Colt. Located in the idyllic North Wessex Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, golfers are provided with a brilliant backdrop of the Thames Valley, the Ridgeway and the River Thames whilst teeing off.

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Expansion of Greenfields UK

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Expansion of Greenfields UK: GreenFields, specialist sports turf manufacturer and installer has expanded their team in the UK and is delighted to confirm the arrival of two new colleagues, Andy Lovell and Stephanie Jones.

Andy Lovell, National Sales Manager at GreenFields UK joins the team with over thirty years’ experience in sales; five of which have been within the sports turf market. His previous role as UK Sales Director at TigerTurf UK Ltd saw him leading the sales function in sports, landscape and education as well as for the UK National Framework sector.

Expansion of Greenfields UK

Since 2013, he has worked with a number of sports pitch contractors in the UK delivering many successful projects. Andy’s new role at GreenFields UK will expand upon this and will see him working on a national basis to increase links and sales opportunities with contracting partners. Andy is passionate about developing a sustainable solution for recycling old, end of life pitches, something which GreenFields is also keen to develop further in the future as part of our eco philosophy.

Andy is looking forward to starting his new role just after the May bank holiday, he commented: “I feel really privileged to be joining the team at GreenFields. It’s an exciting time to be in the synthetic sports pitch market and coming to a company that is synonymous with providing the highest quality, and for delivering systems designed to maximise performance, is a real honour. I look forward to renewing old partnerships – and hopefully building a few new ones.”

Stephanie Jones joins the GreenFields team in the role as Estimator bringing with her five years’ experience in estimating. Stephanie’s role is focused on preparing accurate and competitive cost estimates for a wide range of projects. At the heart of her role is working alongside the client to ensure they get their exact requirements and the best value for money, which means close liaison with suppliers to ensure competitive quoting. Hitting the ground running at GreenFields, Stephanie has already successfully passed a CAD course whilst in post along with undertaking site visits for potential and new clients, something which she is keen to get heavily involved in to ensure a greater more accurate understanding of each project she is pricing.

Paul Milton, Commercial Director at GreenFields UK commented on the new additions to the GreenFields Team: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome both Andy and Stephanie to the team. Andy is bringing with him a wealth of knowledge; his experience has seen him work with all the sport governing bodies and our own trade body- SAPCA. He will be an integral part of sales activity and development in the UK. New in post, Stephanie has professionalised even further our estimating approach and has an extremely organised, accurate way of working which is perfect for her role.”

GreenFields would like to wish their new team members good luck in their new roles!

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Rigby Taylor’s New Euroflor Brochure

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Rigby Taylor’s New Euroflor Brochure: Rigby Taylor has confirmed the launch of its 2018 Euroflor urban meadow flowers brochure.

This 56-page, fully-illustrated booklet has an ‘at-a-glance’ feature, site selector and details of the complete range including showing their colours, in-situ examples and individual characteristics such as timings for sowing and flowering, as well as sowing rates and pack coverage, height and species mix.

Rigby Taylor's New Euroflor Brochure

Included are both the commemorate mixtures, those selected for Rigby Taylor’s Project Pollin-8 and others recommended for BREEAM projects.

The brochure also details recommend site preparation, installation and maintenance, together with a helpful troubleshooting section and five ‘Identiflower’ pages showing common and Latin names as well as individual colour illustrations of all the flowers contained in the mixtures.

Included also are many customer testimonials from throughout the UK, from the north of Scotland to Cornwall.

Euroflor is available in 50 gram and 1 kilo foil sachets.

Rigby Taylor's New Euroflor Brochure

For your copy of this free, full-colour brochure, contact a Rigby Taylor area representative or Freephone 0800 424919.

For more information, visit: www.rigbytaylor.com

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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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