10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

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10 STAR EV machines for Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has chosen 10 electric STAR EV Capella Work Machines for use at its Training Centre in North London.

The Training Centre plays host to all of its teams, from the U8s through to the U23s plus both Men’s and Women’s First Teams. In addition, the Club regularly hosts international teams including England on numerous occasions. Head of Playing Surfaces and Estates, Darren Baldwin knew he needed a capable and versatile range of utility vehicles to rely on. All while being electric.

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

He says: “We were looking for a brand that could rival the highly productive ‘mules’ in the utility vehicles category that are petrol and diesel. It would have been a hard hit to sacrifice productivity for being electric, but with STAR EV we haven’t had to.

“These machines have brought everything we need and more to the role of what a utility vehicle support fleet should do. We have an 80-acre site and a wide range of jobs that need doing, so these machines need to perform. We haven’t had a case when they haven’t.”

The combination of a 48V 5kW AC motor, a 210Ah Lithium-Ion battery and a carry capacity of 670kg have particularly impressed Darren: “They are market-leading when it comes to towing capacity, and the amount of payload they can handle competes with all the others we’ve ever used.

“Whether it’s lugging mannequins, balls and airbed walls for training around the campus, fulfilling housekeeping duties for the 46-bedroom lodge or supporting the grounds and gardens maintenance team, these workhorses have proved they can do all we need them to. They’re easy and comfortable to use, and quick too.”

But what about the practicalities of using an electric fleet? Darren confirms there’s no need for concern about using battery-powered machinery across such a large site with the app they all have access to: “It’s really easy to tell via the app what the battery life is so there’s no chance of ever getting caught out, but to be honest the charge time is so good I highly doubt that could ever happen despite the size of the venue.

“The buggies give an easy 50 miles per charge and it’s a real selling point for us that they only need one charge per week on average. The fact that charge can be done by a three-prong 13-amp plug, with 10 buggies across three charging stations, really puts them apart from the competition.”

In fact, Darren is so impressed with the performance he and the team has experienced so far, he’s planning on placing another order to make the club’s entire buggy fleet STAR EV. He says: “We started with 10 machines, but we’re already talking about adding to that and making the whole fleet STAR.”

To talk to Reesink e-Vehicles about the STAR EV range, call 01480 226800 or go online at reesink-evehicles.co.uk

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Newquay Natives Prevail

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Newquay Natives Prevail: A bespoke wildflower mixture consisting of native Cornish flowers has helped Newquay Golf Club scoop Syngenta’s annual Operation Pollinator Award.

The aim of the Golf Environment Awards (GEAs) is to recognise, reward and promote outstanding individuals and golf courses, no matter how big or small, for the time and effort they have put into protecting and preserving their unique surroundings.

Newquay Natives Prevail

Newquay Natives Prevail

The Awards consist of four categories – Environmental Golf Course of the Year, Conservation Greenkeeper Award, Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year, and the Operation Pollinator Award.

“I was hesitant at first because I saw what some of the other amazing courses had achieved and I wasn’t sure if we stood a chance,” said Dan Kendle, Course Manager at Newquay Golf Club. “However, a few people encouraged me to enter, and we were selected in the Operation Pollinator category.

“Just being included in the list of finalists was an achievement, but to go on and win it was mind blowing. It is something I am passionate about and my background before greenkeeping was conservation so I’m always trying to combine the two.”

The Operation Pollinator Award celebrates golf clubs that consistently deliver outstanding ecological habitat creation and management to benefit pollinating insects. Amongst other ecological activities on the course, Dan also impressed the judges by introducing native wildflower areas.

“I first spoke to David Bevan at Agrovista Amenity to explain what I wanted to achieve, and it was at this point he brought in Matt Gresty (MM and Designer Sales and Brand Manager for DLF UK). I explained that I didn’t want just a standard mix of wildflowers and that I wanted flowers that are native to my site. Matt went away and put together a wonderful mix and that was one of the main reasons we won the award.”

Appropriately named the Newquay Wildflowers, the mixture contained 24 flower species including Vipers Bugloss, Yellow Rattle, Common Toadflax, Dark Mullein plus five various grass species. Dan and his team created the first area in autumn 2020, and then started rolling it out to other areas on the course.

Not only have they provided a rich, colourful, and diverse ecological habitat but they have also wowed the public and members by offering great aesthetic value.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in the numbers of different butterflies and bumblebees, and we have also been getting rare species of birds including the Cornish Chuff. I record everything on the course, and we’ve had 8 species that are on the red list. It really is wonderful to see the course so alive with wildlife.

“The feedback has been fantastic too,” continued Dan. “We have a public footpath that runs right through the course, and one of the wildflower areas is in full view. So many members of the public have been stopping to take photos, and have been asking questions, so we gladly tell them about Operation Pollinator. The members are also on-board with the project and can really see the benefits.”

The ever-modest Dan was also quick to acknowledge the support of those around him and revealed that he plans on further extending the wildflower areas.

“Winning the award still hasn’t sunk in,” he said. “It is as much for my team as it is for me – and they should be proud of themselves. David and Matt have been helpful and I’m looking forward to working more closely with them as we create more wildflower areas.

“Awards such as these are incredibly important because there is still this stigma that golf courses are sterile environments pumped full of chemicals, but that could not be further from the truth. Look around the country and you can see what golf courses are doing now – it’s amazing. I’m delighted to be a part of it.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s new website www.mm-seeds.co.uk. You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

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Hunter innovation impresses The Swans: The advanced technology of Hunter Irrigation has hugely impressed Swansea City FC with Head Groundsman Evan Davies claiming it has improved the turf and simplified the irrigation process. 

As soon as Evan started his first job at a local cricket club, he knew that sports turf management was going to be his career. Over a decade later and he finds himself in the top position at the Swansea.com Stadium – home to Swansea City FC and Ospreys Rugby, in which he oversees the main stadium, the first-team training complex, and the youth academy.

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Somewhat of a perfectionist, Evan likes to keep well informed of industry trends and technological advancements, and future planning is something he likes to see in companies that he chooses to work with:

“In my opinion, companies in this industry always need to have something next in line – the next product or innovative technology. KAR UK and Hunter Irrigation are great examples of forward-thinking companies. The development is always there. Roger Lupton (KAR UK Regional Sales Manager) is always keen to tell me what exciting new products and concepts are coming next. It’s great to see.”

The Hunter Irrigation system at the stadium, supplied by KAR UK, includes eight 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 are incredible,” said Evan. “We are now able to get water to every area of the pitch including the wings – whereas previously we couldn’t reach them. It has made the pitch quicker and the playability better, so the manager and the coaches are happy.

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

Hunter innovation impresses The Swans

“The TTS aspect of the rotors makes life a lot easier too. For example, before one game an away player came onto the pitch earlier than expected. He kicked a ball, and it broke one of the sprinklers. Fortunately, myself and a member of staff fixed it and put a new one in within 15 minutes. With the old sprinklers, that would have been impossible – we may have had to have the game postponed as we would have had to dig around it to replace the sprinkler.

“The ease of being able to change and service the I-80’s is a massive benefit. In fact, I can rely on any of the staff at any of the sites to be able to change the I-80 rotors if needed.”

As Evan alludes to, a Hunter Irrigation system is installed at all three of the club’s sites and Evan and his team can control the system to any of the pitches through the mobile-friendly Centralus irrigation management platform. This provides highly secure, comprehensive cloud-based control and monitoring features to the ACC2 controller. The connectivity 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.

“It is so convenient,” said Evan. “If you are pitch side you don’t have to keep walking back and forth to control the water – you can just do it from your phone; you could be at home after just putting some fertiliser down and the rain suddenly stops – well you don’t have to drive back into work to put the water on anymore; whether it is a phone, a laptop or a tablet you can control everything.

“In the palm of your hand you can ensure that any part of any pitch gets the exact amount of water it needs. That is technology that certainly makes life easier for any groundsman.”

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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New bunkers to greet Korn Ferry players

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New bunkers to greet Korn Ferry players: Opened in 2000, the course at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, in Raleigh, NC, has hosted the Korn Ferry Tour throughout its life – when this year’s REX Hospital Open is played at the course, between June 2-5, it will be the twenty-second time that Wakefield Plantation has played host to the Tour.

But, as course superintendent Todd Lawrence explains, the players will see a very different course this year from last.

New bunkers to greet Korn Ferry players

New bunkers to greet Korn Ferry players

“The course has high flashed bunker faces, and every time we received a significant rain, they would wash out,” he says. “Over the years, the bunkers had gotten so contaminated and it got to a point where they would hold water so we would have to pump them out. We would have 15-20 bunkers holding water after a three quarter inch rain.”

When Wakefield Plantation was built, at the turn of the century, bunker liner technology was in its infancy. “There was a polymer sprayed to a half inch on the faces originally, but it didn’t really hold the sand up, and in time it broke down,” Lawrence explains. “In 2006-7, we did an in-house project to install a fabric liner, and that helped for a while, but over time it started to fail. We knew the bunkers needed to be rebuilt completely.”

Wakefield is run by management company McConnell Golf. “Given the projects going on elsewhere in the company, we obviously had to plan very carefully as to when we could do the work, and for a while we had this year in mind,” says Lawrence. “But that came to a head after last year’s tournament. We had over an inch of rain in two consecutive nights. Bunkers were washed out completely to the bottom both days and it took every person available to get them pushed up and ready for play – and even after play started we had some bunkers that were still holding water. The decision to rebuild was finalised quickly after the tournament!”

Lawrence and his colleagues from McConnell carefully evaluated the liner products on the market before settling on Capillary Bunkers. “The company had already used the product on a number of other project, and it was working really well,” he says. “I like the fact that the concrete is a homogenous two inch layer. Other products seemed to depend much more on the contractor to get the consistency and depth of the product right. With Capillary Bunkers, I knew that as long as it came out of the truck properly mixed, it would give me that solid two inch layer.”

Wakefield is normally open year round. The course closed the front nine in December 2021 to begin the renovation, and then moved on to the back nine in early February. “We have four holes yet to finish and expect to be done in the next three weeks,” says Lawrence. “So far, the product has done everything we expected it to. We had rain last night and this morning the bunkers looked just as they did before the rain. Our members love it!”

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The most destructive garden bugs

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The most destructive garden bugs: Green fingered homeowners falling victim to destructive garden bugs are being given advice on how to keep them away.

The team of outdoor experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk have provided some cheap and easy solutions on how to tackle these bugs.

The most destructive garden bugs

The most destructive garden bugs

As the sun starts to come out, Brits are making the most of their outdoor space and making them look as beautiful as possible.

Unfortunately, the likes of moths, slugs and snails also come out in the sun and can do a lot of damage to gardens.

A spokesperson for GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said: “It is inevitable that garden bugs will cause a bit of disruption, whether you’re out relaxing, planting your own veg or growing your own garden.

“This guide is full of some of the most destructive garden bugs and the top tips to help keep these at bay, so the outdoors can be stress-free.”

Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are some of the most common yet destructive garden pests. Not only do they leave a sticky trail behind them, but they also love to munch through leaves and vegetables. This can be particularly problematic on vegetable patches if you are growing plants like lettuce and cabbage.

Salt has always been a fool proof way of killing slugs and snails, but if you want to stop them in their tracks, copper tape acts as a great deterrent, giving them electric shocks.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars love to nibble their way through fruits, vegetables, and plants. They are also detrimental to some flowers too, with the buds and seeds often all destroyed.

One of the most natural and inexpensive ways to rid your plants of these pesky bugs, is to spray them with hot soapy water. This can then be poured into a spray bottle and used as many times as necessary.

Moths

This type of garden bug can be especially damaging in the summer months. They love cotton and wool fibres so homeowners need to be aware that leaving outdoor cushions and furniture in the garden could be targeted by moths.

An easy solution for deterring them is to use herbal sprays in the areas you want to protect. Herbs like lavender and rosemary are not loved by these bugs, and they also smell nice too.

May Bugs

Usually seen around May-time (up until July), which is how it earned its name, May Bugs can cause considerable damage to gardens. In their early years they live under the soil and feed off the roots of plants and flowers.

As there are not a lot of homemade options available to keep these bugs away, the best option is to use an insect killer.

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