Applications open for Bernhard BIGGA Delegation experience

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Applications open for Bernhard BIGGA Delegation experience: Industry-leader in sports turf technologies, Bernhard and Company, has today announced that the application process is officially open for the 2023 BIGGA Delegation trip.

Open to all full BIGGA members, the Bernhard and Company BIGGA Delegation is one of the most highly regarded and sought-after personal development opportunities for greenkeepers and turf professionals in the UK.

Applications open for Bernhard BIGGA Delegation experience

Applications open for Bernhard BIGGA Delegation experience

The 10 successful applicants will embark on a week-long trip with BIGGA and Bernhard and Company to the coveted GCSAA Trade Show and Conference in Orlando, USA, in February 2023. During the trip, delegates will participate in numerous specialist educational experiences, and benefit from site visits to leading golf facilities.

In its 20 years of running, the delegation has adapted and evolved to continue offering the very best experience for British greenkeepers. All seminars and educational classes are carefully selected to deliver the very best and most relevant material that will enable delegates to enhance their skillset and elevate their careers.

Whilst on the trip, the chosen BIGGA members will represent the UK’s greenkeeping industry, as they strive to develop their network with likeminded turf professionals from around the globe. They will also have full access to the largest turf management exhibition in the world, where they can navigate the exhibition floor, and enjoy time with the Bernhard and Company team on the stand.

Lucy Sellick, Head Greenkeeper at Wenvoe Castle, and a member of the 2020 delegation party to Orlando, commented: “Whether it is improving yourself, or deepening your knowledge of the turf industry and the people in it, Bernhard and Company has you covered. Take some time to apply for this amazing opportunity – you really won’t regret it.”

Steven Nixon, Managing Director of Bernhard and Company, added: “We are once again excited to take the successful applicants on this incredible educational experience. We are passionate about giving back to the industry we love so much and, in collaboration with BIGGA, we are able to offer 10 of its members a potentially career-defining opportunity.

“You don’t have to be an Assistant or Head Greenkeeper to be accepted onto the trip. Turf professionals with varying levels of experience will benefit hugely from the delegation – it really can offer something for everybody.”

The GCSAA educational conference takes place from the 6th – 9th February 2023, in Orlando, and the deadline for applications is Sunday 18th September 2022 at 5pm BST.

To apply, head online to: https://bernhard.co.uk/delegation/

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No boundaries for Baroness

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No boundaries for Baroness: It’s a recognised fact in cricket that a good groundsman wins matches and is as much a part of the side as a pacy seam bowler or a gifted spinner. After more than 20 years in the game and winning a good few awards along the way, Simon Lee, for the past two years Head Groundsman at the Ageas Bowl home of Hampshire CC, knows his craft supremely well.

He also knows a thing or two about the equipment he needs to keep his wickets and wider grounds up to international standard. The arrival of Baroness mowers in the Ageas fleet on the outskirts of Southampton is, therefore, a significant accolade for a brand that has become a favourite on many golf courses across the UK.

No boundaries for Baroness

No boundaries for Baroness

Now regarded as one of the best cricket grounds in the country, the Ageas Bowl has taken delivery of three Baroness machines from Lister Wilder in recent months. Simon and his team have a five-unit mid-weight LM551B for outfields and an LM56GC pedestrian cylinder mower for pitch preparation. Meanwhile, the Boundary Lakes golf course that is another key element of the wider Ageas leisure offering has a three-unit LM315 greens mower.

The decision to opt for Baroness against other big-name competition was one that Simon did not take lightly. “I spoke to other top-level groundsmen and it came highly recommended by others who have had experience of using them,” he says. “You can read all you like about grass cutting machinery but when the verdict comes from someone you trust then you know you are making a good decision.

“When we demoed the machines, we found the Baroness mowers were cutting tighter and neater than the competition and giving us better presentation at the same level of cut.”

The reality of living with the new machines has matched up to the promise from the demo. “It isn’t just the quality of the cut that everyone talks about and how long the cut lasts,” says Simon. “I really like the way the Baroness machines are engineered – the fact that they are very user-friendly puts a big tick in the box for me given that they are being operated and maintained by staff at different skill levels. That makes life a lot easier for me in managing the whole process.”

Common to all the Baroness machines is the approach to the cutting cylinders, which are individually balanced before being installed and with a heat treatment process ensuring that the cutting edges of both cutting cylinders and bed-knives stay sharp and true.

The LM551B with its 45hp Kubota engine is equipped with a 22-inch standard reel along with optional mower units and accessories, allowing users to create the best configuration to meet their own turf conditions. The forward and backward slide function of the rear cutting units increase contour following whilst minimising uncut turf.

The pedestrian LM56GC is amongst the lightest in its class, but is very solidly built, with high manoeuvrability and a solid 5-year warranty as standard. Like other Baroness mowers, it is completely gear-driven and hence much easer to maintain and more durable than competitors driven by belts or chains. Equipped with bi-directional front grooming reel, de-thatching reel or brush (all of which are changeable in five minutes), you effectively get a complete turf maintenance system for the price of one mower.

The LM315GC is available in 7, 9 or 11-blade reel options, with bed-knives from 1.5mm to 5mm thickness. Cable drive to the cutting units eliminates potential hydraulic oil leaks where they are most likely to occur.

Particularly important to Simon is the back-up he gets to ensure that each of his machines performs at is best and that any problems are quickly dealt with. He has been very impressed by the support he has received to date from Lister Wilder’s Area Sales Manager Graham Merritt and from his Baroness Area Manager Luke Collins.

“They have been fantastic and have helped us every step of the way,” says Simon. “If you call them with the very tiniest issue they are there straight away. It’s the first thing you want with a dealer that is new to you because it means you can build a relationship that works.”

To view the complete Baroness range and to find your local dealer please visit www.baronessuk.com

#lessstresswithbaroness

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Three of a kind for Reesink

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Three of a kind for Reesink: Continuing with its firm focus on sales, servicing, training and parts for all brands with a locally-focused team, Reesink UK has opened its third branch in Burwell, Cambridgeshire.

The branch which serves the areas of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, joins Reesink Scotland and Reesink South East and opens up direct access to local turf machinery specialists in an extensive new area.

Three of a kind for Reesink

Three of a kind for Reesink

The brief for branch manager, Trevor Chard, was to set up a dealership that builds relationships on a local level, deals directly with customers and responds to specific customer needs for the area. Not only has that been achieved but surpassed, as he explains: “The pleasure of managing a branch is that the autonomy to make decisions in terms of what we stock, distribute and deliver is, to a degree, for us to determine based on the specific needs of customers in the area.”

Customers will be familiar with the brands Reesink UK distributes: Toro fine turf and groundscare machinery, STAR EV utility vehicles and golf buggies, Farmtrac tractors and TYM tractors which are all available through the branch, about which Trevor comments: “These brands, in particular STAR EV, are doing very well in this area, but breaking it down even further customers are particularly interested in the sustainable options offered by each brand. The all-electric Greensmaster eTriFlex 3370 riding greens mower, Workman GTX Lithium Ion utility vehicle and the Reelmaster 5010-H hybrid from Toro, and the FT25G all-electric compact tractor from Farmtrac for example.

“As a result, we’ve been able to fine-tune the range we offer our customers, we’ve taken on board new brands specific to what the market here is responding to and that’s proving to be a winning formula.”

The wide-spread interest in reducing CO2 emissions by businesses in the area led to Reesink Burwell widening its offering since opening to include Cramer, the biggest amperage available for battery-driven power tools, and Biocircle for sustainable cleaning of turfcare machinery.

Alongside the brands it offers its customers, a large part of the branch’s business is servicing maintenance contracts. The ReeAssure scheme has three plans available for machines and what particularly appeals to customers is that you can put certain machines on different plans.

Trevor continues: “This is a key part of the business – we have 77 ReeAssure Maintenance contracts of which 21 percent are Gold. As the customer puts individual machines on a plan and not necessarily the whole fleet, we have many customers with machines in all three plans. That takes some managing and it’s why we’ve staffed the division up with three really experienced mobile technicians. These guys can do everything from routine maintenance to scheduled servicing on mowers, sprayers, aerators, you name it. Our customers need to know that with their machines on plan with us, downtime becomes a thing of the past, especially with our parts distribution running as the head office’s does, on 24 hours delivery.”

Completing the offering available through the branch is training, with space on site to accommodate practical training in the workshops and forecourt and theory in meeting rooms. Trevors explains: “Again, we have the autonomy to produce and provide training specific to what our customers want and need, stepping away from the general plans available through head office. We can design our own packages, making training even easier for customers.”

What is next for the branch, which thanks to remodelling an office in COVID restricted times, is a little later than planned? Trevor says: “We just want people to know we’re here. That through us they can get access to the best international brands available on the UK market, but with the benefit of working with local turf machinery specialists. We’re independent, we don’t funnel into a system, we can respond instantly to local market changes and design our business to offer the right products for the local industry as it moves forward in new directions.”

To speak to Reesink Burwell about what brands, services and expertise it can offer, call 01638 594 340.

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Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC

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Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC: Bromley Cricket Club recently raised enough funds to purchase a much-needed new Hunter Irrigation system from KAR UK.

Founded in 1820, Bromley Cricket Club is one of the leading cricket clubs in Kent, with a long, successful, and proud tradition. As well as boasting four senior sides, the club is focused on promoting youth cricket and has approximately 500 youth players ranging from 4 – 18 years old.

Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC

Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC

As you can imagine, a lot of cricket is played at the club’s ground and David Wilson, cricket committee member and director of the main sports club, explained exactly why an irrigation system was needed.

“We have a very low, shallow, subbase of soil and the consequence of that, from our point of view is that in particularly hot periods in the height of summer, without any rain, the pitch would turn into a desert. It would turn to straw, become very hard and any undulations would become quite dangerous.

“Rainfall is becoming less and less reliable,” continued David. “We felt that we were getting to a point where a period of say 6 weeks, would make the outfield non-playable.”

Bromley Cricket club commissioned a topographical survey and a feasibility study, which stressed the importance of an irrigation system. The board began to raise funds in various ways, and it eventually reached its target at Bromley Cricket Club’s bi-centenary dinner celebrations which took place at The Oval.

The project went to tender, and Prime Irrigation was selected as the chosen contractor to install a Hunter Irrigation system from KAR UK. The system included 25 of the most technologically advanced commercial rotors on the market – the I-80’s.

Engineered for sports turf, the I-80 is built with a robust, dirt-tolerant gear drive that offers the highest torque output of any rotor in the commercial sphere, and extends a radius range from 11.3 to 29.6 meters. The I-80 features a wide range of highly efficient, dual-trajectory, wind-fighting nozzles for highly efficient performance in a range of applications. It also provides total top serviceability (TTS) via its integrated, surface-mounted snap-ring for no-dig easy maintenance.

The I-80’s were installed strategically around the outfield while 6 TTS-885’s were installed on the square.

The Hunter TTS-800 rotors provide maximum uniformity and longevity as they use the same gear drive and nozzles as the I-80’s. The high-torque gear drives are the strongest in the industry, so the challenges of reclaimed water use or poor water quality are mitigated. An extra-large, fast-access flange compartment comfortably accommodates wire connections and other components.

Bromley Cricket Club also purchased the Roam remote which means operators never have to walk back and forth to stop and start irrigation. Furthermore, the club will soon be benefiting from the mobile-friendly Centralus irrigation management platform. This provides highly secure, comprehensive cloud-based control and monitoring features which allows users to view a controller’s status, change settings, view forecasts, save water, and receive instant notification of important system alarms — all without costly and time-consuming travel and site visits.

Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC

Hunter is first-class for Bromley CC

“I like the fact that Trevor, our Groundsman, will soon be able to wake up in the morning, if needed, and operate the system from his phone all the way from his house in Whitstable!” added David.

“I have been around the club cricket world for about 45 years, and I can’t think of another club that has a system like this, certainly not to this scale,” he continued. “We have a lot of competitors in this area, so we want the best possible surface for people to play on. I’m very impressed with this irrigation kit and now that we have water, I am confident that this pitch will soon be of a first-class standard.”

Commenting on the project, Alan Williams, Sales Director for Prime Irrigation, said: “It has been great to be a part of this project and the system is going to make a big difference. The Roam remote is incredibly easy to use, and the operator can select various programmes; they now have the flexibility to water certain areas and can have different run times.

“We’ve got a very good relationship with KAR UK,” he continued. “They are a good group to work with, very knowledgeable, always helpful in the office and we get a lot a lot of our products from them.”

For more information, please visit www.karuk.com

You can also follow KAR UK on Twitter @KARUK_LTD for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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Jon Lewis joins Price Turfcare

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Jon Lewis joins Price Turfcare: Jon Lewis, one of the premier groundscare equipment salesman in the West Midlands, has joined Price Turfcare, in a regional sales management role. Price Turfcare are the UK distributor of the Ventrac all-terrain compact tractor and associated attachments.

Jon has enjoyed a successful 22-year career in the groundscare industry, starting as an operator mowing grass for grounds maintenance contractor Smart Cut, before moving into his first sales role with Parks & Grounds Machinery. He later joined TH White, operating out of their Redditch depot, where he spent five years as area sales manager before joining Lely (now Reesink). After a successful nine years selling Toro products, he moved on to John Deere dealer Farols, again in an area sales management role, before making his latest move to join Rupert Price and the UK Ventrac operation.

Jon Lewis joins Price Turfcare

Jon Lewis joins Price Turfcare

“I have nothing but praise and respect for Rupert for the way in which in he has bought the Ventrac product to market here in the UK. I have supported him since he launched the business because of his integrity; he simply does right by the customer, they always come first.

“He leads a small but flexible group of people and thoroughly deserves the success he has achieved. To have sold a significant number of machines in the UK from a standing start in 2017 is some achievement, especially when you take into account two years of Covid.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge, but also to the opportunities it brings; this is an incredibly versatile machine with a range of attachments that work brilliantly and has so many applications across multiple sectors of the outdoor industry.”

Rupert Price added,

“I’m delighted to have secured Jon’s services and welcome him aboard; he is very well known, not only across the West Midlands, but also throughout the industry. He’s a larger-than-life character and a shrewd businessman who knows this industry inside out! We recently returned from the SAGE event where he slotted into the team perfectly. I have no doubt that he will be a great asset as we grow the business.”

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