It’s more than products with ICL

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It’s more than products with ICL: Warren Scott, Grounds Manager at Liverpool Football Club, has revealed why he chooses to work so closely with ICL.

Warren has been working for Liverpool FC for an incredible twenty-three years. He joined as an apprentice, worked his way up and now oversees the twenty-five members of grounds staff across four of the club’s sites including the legendary Anfield Stadium.

It’s more than products with ICL

It’s more than products with ICL

Warren admits to avoiding the limelight but his whole philosophy to grounds management is somewhat pioneering. His innovative methods could well be the blueprint for years to come according to Phil Collinson, North West Key Accounts Manager for ICL.

“I like coming in here because I always learn something new,” said Phil. “What Warren is trying to do is absolutely ground-breaking and in years’ to come his work should be influencing the whole industry.”

It goes without saying that Warren selects his turf maintenance products very carefully.

“I decided to test a range of ICL fertilisers against others we have previously used,” he said. “We collected data from our soil probes, took leaf tissue and soil samples and we found that a lot of the ICL products stood out in terms of longevity, performance, and also price.”

After Warren’s trials, he began speaking to Phil, and it became evident to him that ICL offers a whole lot more than just products.

“Phil started to go through how I work as a groundsman, how I look at growing grass, how I like to maintain the football pitches here – he wanted to learn about what I do and what I want, rather than just sell me products.

“I also wanted to work with a company that could help me to prove certain things I believe in,” he continued. “Personally, I think that as an industry we overuse fertilisers and so I was therefore surprised that a fertiliser company was willing to share their research and work with me on this – especially as I want to use less. For the past year that is what we have been doing together.”

Phil commented on this approach: “It is great to work closely with Warren on this. At ICL we only ever recommend applying exactly what is needed – we are very efficient with what we do. Fortunately, I work for a company that allows this technical approach, rather than being solely sales led. It is essential to have knowledge of what the customer is trying to do, otherwise you can’t have that relationship or help provide the correct solutions.”

Warren uses a wide range of ICL and Syngenta products across all the club’s sites and he offered a snapshot into how two of the products have performed.

“I think if you can keep the rootzone moisture even throughout the profile, then you will get a more uniformed growth pattern – and this is why we use Qualibra wetting agent.

We generally apply this product every three weeks and have had very good results.

“I also like the mix of Qualibra used with Vitalnova Links (a biostimulant formulation). This mix really impressed me last year and we saw better germination on the pitches where this was applied.”

Aside from the products, Warren was also quick to praise ICL’s commitment to education.

“A big factor in choosing to work with ICL is that you can get great education along with the products that we use,” he said. “I would never put a product down without knowing exactly what the product is, but many skilled grounds persons, not always by choice, don’t know this. Quite often they don’t get the chance or the time to do this kind of research. In this respect ICL frequently hold seminars and education days – they give people the opportunity to learn why they are applying certain products.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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Summer garden trends

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Summer garden trends: Red is the new Green when it comes to the quiet revolution taking place in Britain’s gardens!  Gardeners all over the UK may be shouting about the new trend in cordless gardening tools, but the products will be whispering as they work away at cutting your hedges, trimming your grass and sucking up all the leaves left on your patio.

Mountfield customers have really taken to the battery powered gardening tools in the Freedom100 and Freedom500 ranges, due to the quietness, cleanliness and ease with which they can be handled and used.  But not only that, all of the products in each range have batteries which have a Smart Tool Recognition System. This battery management microchip optimises the performance of the battery to each tool by analysing the electrical resistance. It then adjusts the power output and current levels accordingly to  maximise the battery’s storage ability, longevity and run-time.  The Freedom100 products all use 20V battery and the Freedom500 range is powered by 48v lithium-ion batteries.

Summer garden trends

Summer garden trends

 

Freedom100 Cordless Garden Tool Examples

New for 2022 the MVS 20 Li battery blower/Vac shredder is the ultimate garden tidy tool. Lightweight, easy to use and energy efficient it not only blows leaves and debris away but can also simply vacuum and shred them into tiny pieces which collect in the 45-litre collector. You can blow, suck or shred to your hearts content with the MVS 20 Li, because it is powered by Mountfield’s superstar STIGA 20V Lithium-Ion batteries giving an impressive air speed of 55m/s.

The MMT 20 Li battery multi-tool (seen above) comes with pole pruner and hedge trimmer attachments.  Powered by  a 4Ah 20V lithium battery, it is lightweight and versatile. This easy to use cordless multi-tool is the perfect nifty partner for any small garden!

Freedom500 Cordless Garden Tool Examples

The lightweight, cordless MTR 50 Li grass trimmer (and Telegraph Best Buy 2022) makes tidying up the garden so easy and effortless thanks to its high-performance cutting device.  The telescopic shaft allows the user to adjust the shaft to suit along with the adjustable front handle for a comfortable working position.

The recently launched last year MCS 50 Li top handled chainsaw is a powerful, high performance tool.  Equipped with a powerful 1000W brushless motor and 12” cutting bar with high performance chain the MCS 50 Li cordless chainsaw is lightweight and efficient and makes easy work of woodcutting jobs around your garden.

You can see all Mountfield cordless gardening tools  on the website: www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk

Easy mows, cuts it, blows it…with Mountfield!

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Fantastic 2 days at SAGE 2022

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Fantastic 2 days at SAGE 2022: The UK’s largest outdoor sports and grounds maintenance tradeshow took place on 6th & 7th July at The Three Counties Showground, and it was stunning turnout. Over 55 exhibitors from across the industry headed to the expo to provide live demos to visitors in attendance over the two-day event.

One of the highlights of the event was the first sustainability summit in partnership with Bio-Circle. With sustainability becoming a hot priority, SAGE has provided a vital launchpad for collaboration across the groundcare and similar industries on sustainability projects.

Fantastic 2 days at SAGE 2022

Fantastic 2 days at SAGE 2022

The new forum GRASS (Groundcare, Resources and Sustainable Suppliers) has been formed with industry experts and manufacturing personnel joining force to provide free advice and guidance on sustainable practices across the industry.

Head of Environmental and Sustainability Stadia Projects at Bio-Circle, Mark Tomlinson led discussions to give valuable insights regarding the future of sustainability solutions and products. GRASS now provides a point of contact for everyone in the industry to ask questions and get support for their sustainability projects, and we are excited to see it grow over the next year.

A networking event to remember

On Wednesday afternoon everyone made a beeline for the networking event, where drinks were flowing from the open bar. Entertained by some amazingly talented music artists, people had the chance to let their hair down and meet their industry colleagues in a fun atmosphere, within the luxury facilities of The Three Counties Showground.

Perks and prizes

The free event was so beneficial for everyone in attendance, with free training courses taking place, as well as competitions and free perks and product discounts.

Following the success of the event, planning has already started for SAGE 2023 and next year’s event should be even bigger and better with support growing annually the future for SAGE is massive.

This year’s exhibitors have benefitted greatly from being able to meet prospective customers face-to-face and build relationships with people in an outdoor environment. Two days of live demos, has enabled exhibitors to boost their marketing strategies, we look forward to welcoming them back in 2023, as well as many more.

Businesses that are interested in exhibiting at SAGE 2023 can sign up for the early bird offer which will be released shortly, Click here to register your interest today.

Make sure you are following us for all upcoming news there is exciting plans to be released.

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Prestwick restores original layout

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Prestwick restores original layout: To celebrate the 150th Open, Prestwick Golf Club has revived the original 12-hole course that held the first Open Championship 162 years ago. The resurrected layout will be in play for just two weeks during October to mark the moment the Open Championship commenced in 1860.

Based on historical records and detailed maps, the club has recreated the ancient course by reinstating five greens and creating special teeing areas to replicate the routing originally created by Old Tom Morris. Some areas of long grasses have been tempered to facilitate play and specially commissioned wicker flag poles – originally used by the club following its formation in 1851 – will be in situ to complete the look.

Prestwick restores original layout

Prestwick restores original layout

The club, which is often referred to as the Birthplace of The Open, hosted the tournament 24 times. The first was contested by eight Scottish professionals and consisted of three rounds of the famed 12-hole course. Willie Park from Musselburgh prevailed beating his rival Old Tom Morris by two shots. The events on that October day lay the foundations for the grandest Major in golf and a sporting spectacle that generates over £100 million in local economic benefits.

“The club is extremely proud of its association with The Open,” explained Ken Goodwin, Secretary of Prestwick Golf Club. “This is where the magic of The Open began one fateful October day in 1860. There had to be a first, and it happened here at Prestwick. To commemorate this historic milestone, it was decided the club should bring back the original routing for a limited time.”

Although this isn’t the first time the club has reinstated the inaugural Open course, it is the most detailed and extensive project of its kind ever undertaken. “Part of the Prestwick experience is walking through history,” says Goodwin. “In the past, the club has endeavoured to bring back the original on only a handful of occasions. This year, however, to mark the 150th, the club was fortunate to have the necessary equipment required to deliver the 12-hole course to a much higher degree of accuracy than ever before. Together with the wicker basket flags, this has been the most thorough revisit and certainly the most eagerly anticipated.”

As well as the heritage surrounding the antique course, the revised layout also forms a remarkable collection of holes that defy logic. Blind tee shots, double greens, crossing fairways and enormous undulations add up to a course quite unlike anything that would be permitted today. Add in the fine links turf and Ayrshire breeze for which Prestwick is famed and the original Open course is as much a conundrum as it is a piece of sporting antiquity.

For golf course photographer Mark Alexander, who was commissioned by the club to create a gallery of images of the historic course, the layout’s idiosyncrasies were as compelling as they were challenging to shoot.

“I have photographed Prestwick before, but this was completely different,” noted Alexander. “Although I was working on the same stretch of Ayrshire coastline in that amazing west coast light, it might as well have been an entirely new course. For instance, working out the green positions and the direction from which each would be played was tricky, but it also opened up new angles that just aren’t relevant on the current layout. It was exhilarating and demanding all at the same time.”

In 2014, Alexander became the first professional photographer to be commissioned by Prestwick Golf Club to capture the spirit of the historic links. For this year’s special commemoratory event, the club once again called on the award-winning specialist.

“When Mark photographed the course back in 2014, that was the first and only time the club specifically commissioned photography of the course,” explained Goodwin, “With the reintroduction of the 12-hole layout, we wanted to record the occasion and so we asked Mark back, which he has done to great effect.”

With only a few remaining places left for the public to play Prestwick in its original form on 18–19 October, this special event is expected to be a sold-out affair. The advice for those interested in journeying back to the origins of The Open is to contact the club directly.

There are few golfing venues more revered than Prestwick Golf Club. After all, Old Tom’s unique 12-hole design was so successful it hosted the first Open Championship within 10 years of its completion. The last Open Championship at Prestwick was held 65 years later in 1925. Ninety seven years on, it became the starting point for an epic 150-mile fundraising march for Prostate Cancer UK completed by Rick Shiels, one of the world’s most watched golf social media stars.

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STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

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STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity: STIHL Group has unveiled plans for a new €125 million state-of-the-art manufacturing site for electric and cordless power tools, significantly enhancing its battery-powered product manufacturing capacity.

Set for completion in 2024, the new 147,000m2 facility in Oradea, Romania will not only create 500 new jobs in the local area but also expand STIHL Group’s international manufacturing network, strengthening the flexibility and resilience of its supply chains.

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

STIHL to enhance cordless manufacturing capacity

The new manufacturing facility has been designed with lean production in mind and will utilise the latest technology to maximise the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the plant in line with STIHL Group’s climate and carbon footprint targets. In addition to the production halls, the site will also comprise offices, a cafeteria, and break rooms for employees.

Martin Schwarz, STIHL Executive Board Member for Manufacturing & Materials, said: “Battery-powered products represent the fastest-growing market for STIHL at the present time. We expect demand for these products to continue rising faster than any other category in the years ahead.

“This means that our Tirol plant, which currently manufactures a large portion of our battery-powered range, will one day reach the limits of its space and capacities. The new location in Romania will add to our global manufacturing network and keep us in the best possible position to continue supplying our customers with battery-operated products in the future.”

Today, the STIHL Group has production plants in a total of seven countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the United States, Brazil, China, and the Philippines, with facilities opening soon in China.

For more information, please visit www.stihl.co.uk.

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