GGM Group’s charity cycle challenge

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GGM Group’s charity cycle challenge: This year Lancashire based business The GGM Group have pledged to fulfil 12 months of fundraising for their chosen charity the North West Air Ambulance, and have set an ambitious target of £10,000.

Having kicked off this year’s fundraising with a 96km bike ride across the North West from the depot in Haydock back to the Head Office in Colne via the Leeds and Liverpool canal.

GGM Group's charity cycle challenge

GGM Group’s charity cycle challenge

19 team members, came together from across all departments ranging in age between 18 – 62, and took on the 95 kilometre route, despite sweltering heat, and a number of punctures the team finished the route together and enjoyed a well-deserved team BBQ to celebrate.

To date the cycle ride has raised over £2,600.00 and is continuing to rise, for this year’s chosen company charity partner The North West Air Ambulance, which are much needed funds during these difficult times. The business will be running further initiative over the coming months with their aim to raise £10,000 for the charity over the year. Since the launch of the charity in 1999, it has continued to operate 365 days a year and has responded to over 24,500 missions across the Northwest. The charity receives no government or NHS funding and must raise over £9.5m each year to remain operational.

GGM Group operates across the North West, is following hot on the heels of previous year’s highly successful charitable efforts, where the organisation raised over £10,000 for charities across the North West, and is keen to build on this success and keep the momentum running.

Managing Director Chris Gibson explains more:

“Every year we carry out a physical challenge to raise funds for our chosen company charity and it’s a huge highlight in our calendar. Previously we have completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks and in 2020 we didn’t let lockdown dampen our spirits, carrying out a charity walk and cycle ride in socially distanced stints.”

“I am hugely proud of what our staff have done in this year’s charity cycle and it is teamwork in the truest sense. Not everyone regularly cycles, yet they have committed to taking part in this challenge for our charity. As a family business, it’s fantastic for us all to come together.

“It’s a key part of our ethos at The GGM Group to give something back to the local community and North West Air Ambulance provide an essential service. Amazingly they receive no government or NHS funding so every penny we and others raise for the charity makes such a lifesaving difference.”

About GGM Group

The GGM Group operates two businesses across two sites. GGM Groundscare is a specialist supplier of tractors and high-quality professional land-based equipment for commercial and domestic use, servicing the North West and Yorkshire, it supplies a range of products from leading franchises including Kubota, Baroness and Amazone. PSD Groundscare is the national distributor of specialist landscaping equipment, including AS Motor, Eliet, Koppl and TS Industries.

To support the team and make a donation visit the Justgiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/the-ggm-group

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Henton & Chattell to make its mark at SALTEX

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Henton & Chattell to make its mark at SALTEX: Henton & Chattell will be attending this year’s Saltex event in Birmingham, the leading and largest turf management exhibition in Europe, between 2nd – 3rd November 2022.

The supplier of turf and garden machinery brands will be attending the exhibition to showcase four of its leading ranges – Cobra, Woodbay Turf Technologies, Billy Goat and Hansa Products.

Henton & Chattell to make its mark at SALTEX

Henton & Chattell to make its mark at SALTEX

Highlighting an impressive array of brands, the Henton & Chattell exhibit will span two large stands. This will allow visitors to explore and learn about all of the impressive innovations of each brand while showcasing a selection of products that takes turf maintenance to the next level. Cobra and Woodbay Turf Technologies will be found on stand G090, while Billy Goat and Hansa Products will be located nearby on stand G070.

Cobra proudly boasts the largest powered lawnmower brand in the UK and each piece of garden machinery in the range has been expertly designed in the UK to cater specifically for the changing conditions of the British garden. With a comprehensive line-up of quality and innovative products to tackle any gardening task, Cobra brings continuous evolution to the garden machinery sector. Its other products include hedgetrimmers, grass trimmers, leaf blowers and shredders – all of which are available in petrol, battery and electric models and help gardeners create luscious green spaces.

Having acquired the exclusive UK distribution rights earlier this year, Wood Bay Turf Technologies is one of Henton & Chattell’s newest brands and is the manufacturer of golf, lawn bowling greens and other sports turf maintenance equipment. The company has been creating world-class turf maintenance equipment since 1987, with leading products in the range being the greensIRON 3900 and greensIRON 6200  turf rollers; the fds9200 multipurpose turf dethatcher and the famous tungsten carbide tipped vertical cutting blade, dynaBLADE.

Hansa Products specialises in the design and manufacture of high-quality wood chippers. The family-run business, established in the 1980s, has a strong heritage combined with constant evolution and innovation. It prides itself on the ethos of ‘providing the best chipping experience’, whether being used in a garden at home, by a landscaper, professional arborist or other commercial users. A range of Hansa products will be displayed at the show, each providing a vigorous tool for professional landscapers and gardeners to make maintenance easy and effortless. Every Hansa product is engineered and manufactured using the highest quality components to last a lifetime, including steel and durable powder coated finish with zinc shield rust protection to guarantee longevity.

Similarly, Billy Goat offers a complete line-up of product solutions for commercial, residential and municipal needs. The family-run business has designed and manufactured property clean up products with a reputation for innovation, productivity and quality. It boasts an impressive product selection, including aerators, overseeders, sod cutters, chipper-vacs, brushcutters and leaf blowers so users can pick the most appropriate machine for the right clean up application, property and season.

Members of the Henton & Chattell team will also be on hand throughout the exhibition to discuss products and arrange demonstrations of any products.

For more information please visit https://www.hcuk.co/

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Terrain Aeration relief for housebuilders

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Terrain Aeration relief for housebuilders: One problem facing housebuilders both before and after development is ground compaction. Open spaces designated for building may suffer years of neglect, constant foot traffic or use of wheeled machinery resulting in panning deep below the surface.

Similarly, during the building process bulldozers, diggers, dumper trucks and concrete mixer lorries flatten the air out of the soil in areas that will eventually become gardens and shared grassed areas. Often the land itself may have had previous buildings, and the subsoil contains old bricks, rubble and landfill. All these factors contribute to waterlogging which normal aeration cannot relieve.

Terrain Aeration relief for housebuilders

Terrain Aeration relief for housebuilders

Terrain Aeration’s Housebuilder’s Division has developed the specialist machinery and a full service needed for deep penetration aeration to relieve the problem of heavy compaction and waterlogging. Designed to access tight areas, their Terralift tracked aerator can enter small gardens through a gateway or garage and provide unique one-metre-deep aeration. At this depth, compressed air is released via a probe to fracture the soil and create fissures, allowing drainage and letting oxygen reach deep into the soil. Such work has been carried out for many years by Terrain Aeration for the UK’s leading housebuilders including Taylor-Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon. A typical recent contract saw them treating ten small gardens and a small open flower meadow for Barratt David Wilson Homes in East Anglia while a project for Taylor-Wimpey was treating an open space so the housing development could be signed off with the council as ‘decompacted’. In this instance, the full-size Terralift machines were used, driving the JCB road breaker probe into the ground. At one metre depth the compressed air, up to 20Bar/280psi, was released from the probe which, on the tail-end of the blast, injects dried seaweed. This sticks to the fissures created as the Terralift process is repeated at two-metre centre spacing on a staggered grid. The seaweed expands and contracts with the soil’s moisture content to allow drainage and aeration.

The Terrain Aeration process has been in operation for over thirty years, providing compaction relief for new-build gardens, sports grounds, golf courses, amenity areas and public spaces. The Terrain Aeration Tree Division provides the specialist treatment for Royal Parks and arboriculturalists throughout the UK.  Terrain Aeration 01449 673783 www.terrainaeration.co.uk

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Topdressing transformed at Arscott GC

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Topdressing transformed at Arscott GC: The arrival of a Rink and Speedbrush from Redexim has transformed topdressing for the team at Arscott Golf Club – turning a task that would have previously taken 14 hours into one that’s complete in just four!

The labour-savings and convenience brought about by their new DS800 now means that Head Greenkeeper Andrew Lewis can topdress more frequently and in more areas around the site, bringing further benefit to the condition of the Shropshire course.

Topdressing transformed at Arscott GC

Topdressing transformed at Arscott GC

Andrew has been at Arscott since it opened in 1992 and was part of the original team that converted the agricultural land into an 18-hole golf course. Together with changes to the course, Andrew has seen changes in trends and maintenance techniques over the years – topdressing included. “Where we would have previously been putting two ton’s down on a green and working it in, now it’s all about little and often dressings that work down in just a couple of days.”

To keep pace with the requirement for more frequent topdressing, the club purchased a Rink DS800 delivered by Charlies Groundcare, in the spring of 2022. The DS800 features a 0.8m3 hopper capacity, variable spreading widths of between 2m and 12m, and spreading thicknesses of 0.5 to 15mm for optimal versatility and effectiveness. “Previously, we were using a fertiliser spinner which did the job but was very small and meant repeated trips backwards and forwards to the shed to collect material which was ¾ of a mile away from the furthest green! We looked at a couple of different models of disc spreader and opted for the Rink because of its size, reliability and the fantastic back-up support from the team at Charlies.”

“The time it now takes us to get around all 18 greens has more than halved, and as a small team of just three, it frees up all-important labour to be working on other tasks. It’s already completed one pass in April and where we would normally do just one more in September, we’ve actually decided to do an additional dressing on all 18 greens mid-summer as well as some work on the tees and surrounds which would just not have been feasible before.”

To complement the Rink, Ascott also purchased a Redexim Speedbrush which Andrew says is proving to be a brilliant piece of equipment – not just for working in dressing. “We’re finding more and more things to do with the Speedbrush, from dispersing clippings to clearing moisture and standing the plant up on the surrounds to improve the quality of cut. All of this, together with the increase in topdressing are already making a huge difference to the course.”

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Troon promotes Simon Doyle

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Troon promotes Simon Doyle: Troon®, the leader in club management, development, and marketing is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Doyle as the organisation’s new Vice President of Agronomy for the international division, effective immediately, following his promotion from Director of Agronomy, Troon International Europe Region. 

Troon International is passionate about sustainable golf course maintenance and committed to collaborating with its clients to achieve these objectives. Simon’s longstanding career of 20 years with Troon and his ongoing and strong client relationships were a key reason for his promotion along with his demonstrable impact in helping Troon International develop and improve its assets in Europe, particularly in Germany and Switzerland. As the new Vice President of Agronomy within Troon International, Simon will be tasked with ensuring that the organisation is aligned with as many golf courses as possible whom share similar beliefs and objectives, joining forces to create more great golfing environments that are not only fantastic to play on but are also sustainable using the best practices available today.

Troon promotes Simon Doyle

Troon promotes Simon Doyle

Simon has a rich history in the golf industry and agronomy. Prior to joining Troon, Doyle was educated at the highly regarded Reaseheath College, where he received a Higher National Diploma in Golf Course Management, progressing to Ohio State University in the US. Following his education he took up posts at Major, Ryder Cup and PGA Tour venues, Westchester CC and Oak Hill CC in New York. In 2000, Doyle moved to Japan where he worked as a consulting Agronomist for US based firm Environmental Turfgrass Systems.

In 2002 he joined Troon where he was seconded to Goldman Sachs in Japan as part of a team to oversee the management of Goldman’s golf company, Accordia Golf. This then led to the position of Asset Manager for the same group of courses and subsequent acquisitions by Goldman. Doyle, who prior to his promotion has been operating as Director of Agronomy for Troon in Europe, where he has been overseeing the expanding portfolio of courses that Troon International has on its books.

Looking ahead to his new role within Troon International, Doyle said: “I am delighted to work for such a great company and alongside a talented group of individuals. I joined Troon 20 years ago because I knew their reputation for agronomy and wanted to be part of that. There is nothing more satisfying than being part of creating great golf course conditions.”

Commenting on his day-to-day role, Doyle said: “I spend the majority of my time at our partner facilities, where I review  golf course conditions with each superintendent and support the team to ensure good planning and continued or even improved playing surfaces. Each golf course is unique. I enjoy having dynamic conversations with colleagues on the ground to help map out the road to success for that particular facility. Having the Troon toolbox and it’s agronomic best practices at my fingertips is a key factor to maximizing course conditioning. My work not only involves  diagnosing and resolving turfgrass problems but also helping to overcome management issues.”

Speaking about Simon Doyle’s promotion was Dave Nicholls, Senior VP of Science and Agronomy, who said: “I’m proud to support Simon and his promotion to the position of Vice President Science & Agronomy, of Troon’s International Division.  Simon’s 20 years of service in Asia and Europe helped Troon develop an industry leading set of proprietary agronomic standards that are now applied all-over the world.  His personality and work ethic, make him a critical part of Troon’s global success, and I look forward to watching Simon grow in his recently expanded role.”

One of the pillars of Troon International’s success is the superior playing surfaces of its courses. This commitment to agronomic superiority and environmental sustainability is a focus of Troon International’s proprietary Agronomy Standards. Troon International’s Agronomy Standards are the most exacting and detailed standards in the golf industry. These programmes are based on a philosophy drawing upon complex scientific principles and a deep respect and understanding of the natural environment.

To find out more about Troon International, please visit: www.Troon.com/troon-international

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