Facing the Future

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Facing the Future: The world we all knew certainly has changed greatly. The Pandemic has impacted on every aspect of our lives and we all know that the recovery will be long and extremely challenging.

What has been highlighted during the time since the virus impacted has been the vital and important role of amenity management, seeking to keep amenity and sports surfaces safe and healthy. We would like to think that it has also increased public awareness of the importance of such spaces whether it be their local park, keeping transport networks running or more.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future

Given all this challenge and change, the title for the 2021 Amenity Forum Annual Conference is ‘Facing the Future’. What will the new normal bring? How will amenity organisations need to adapt and change? What will be the impact of proposed policy changes in how the work is undertaken? All these topics and more will be covered. The Amenity Forum conference is now a well-established event with a high reputation for the quality of presentations and opportunity to network and catch up on new innovations and changes. Indeed, it has become a must attend event for all involved in or with an interest in amenity management decision making and activities.

In 2021, the conference will commence with policy updates from a senior UK government representative, the chemicals Regulation Department of HSE and from the Environment Agency. This will be followed by presentations drawn from different aspects of amenity addressing the issue of integrated approaches and how they are applying them in their day-to-day amenity management approaches. Following these will be presentations on the very important area of education and training, talking about opportunities for continuous professional development and how new advances in digital technology can help.

The penultimate section of the programme will comprise two presentations. The first will focus on managing parks safely and sustainably and the second, an expert view on assessing the full life cycle implications of different methods of amenity management, including taking into account effectiveness, economics and carbon foot printing. The conference will conclude with a presentation by the Head Groundsman at Lords Cricket Ground providing his take on the challenges ahead.

During the event the category winners for the 2021 Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Awards will be announced and presented.

The conference is being held at the Kettering Conference Centre in Northampton on October 21st. For those still uncertain about travelling to a physical venue, the conference will also be available on-line as in 2020.

For further information and to book your place, talk to Kate on admin@amenityforum.net Delegate rates are £95 + VAT and there is an early bird discount of £10 on offer for bookings completed before September 1st. The conference remains competitively priced due to the contributions of its valued supporters. We look forward to welcoming you to another great event.

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Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

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Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins: DLF Seeds are pleased to announce the recent appointment of Stuart Yarwood MG. Stuarts role as Regional Technical Sales Manager will see him working closely with both customers and distributors across the North West of the UK, providing advice and support on the Masterline and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges.    

After completing his HND in Golf Course Management at Reaseheath College, Stuart spent two years in Golf Course construction before taking up his first greenkeeping role as Deputy Course Manager at Delamere Forest Golf Club. Following this, he spent 17 years as Course Manager at Lymm Golf Club where he specialised in traditional and sustainable turf management. Along with practical experience, Stuart also achieved his Master Greenkeeper certificate in 2010 and is one of only seven people in the world to have gained the R&A Gold Scholar Award for his role in the facilitation of the R&A Scholars programme.

Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

Stuart Yarwood MG takes the reins

Stuart’s years of practical experience and technical know-how then went on to set him up for a role in sales, where he provided agronomic support to customers across all sporting disciplines, before further developing this with some time spent in sports turf contracting & consulting. He joined DLF in February 2021. Commenting on his appointment, Stuart said, “Joining DLF was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. My late father always said, ‘If I was to be a car mechanic, be a car mechanic for Rolls Royce’. DLF are the Rolls Royce of the seed world, providing the very best range for natural playing surfaces. I am very passionate about sharing my knowledge and am looking forward to being able to do that in my new role, helping others to deliver the best surfaces possible.”

Amenity Sales & Marketing Manager Derek Smith added, “We are very excited to have someone with Stuart’s level of knowledge, experience and passion joining the technical team. Stuart spent the first few weeks in his role working closely with John Hughes to get a thorough understanding of both the product range and the specific needs of accounts in his territory.”

Stuart lives in Cheshire with his fiancée and three children. In his spare time he enjoys DIY, practicing some admittedly hit and miss magic tricks and exploring nature – which he’s hoping to do with a four-legged companion very soon.

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Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

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Club chooses Reesink Turfcare: Reesink Turfcare’s ReeAssure maintenance scheme has been worth its weight in gold for course manager Rob Peers at Hever Castle Golf Club in Kent.

Rob knows all too well what a worry it can be when you don’t have maintenance cover when very suddenly a few years ago, his full-time mechanic had to leave his job and the club was left without someone covering the maintenance of its extensive and comprehensive fleet.

Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

Club chooses Reesink Turfcare

Rob says: “We were unexpectedly directionless which was a real worry. We’re a mainly Toro club, so I put a call into Peter Clarke at Reesink’s Sheffield Park branch to see if he could help and he introduced me to the ReeAssure scheme. I signed up and the weight was taken off my shoulders and dealt with. In a nutshell, what Reesink’s maintenance plan has given me is an immediate and ultimate peace of mind.”

Rob chose the Gold plan and couldn’t be more surprised or pleased at the value this offers: “The pastoral care is fantastic and absolutely everything is included from nuts and bolts and cable ties to cylinders and bottom blades,” he says. “I am genuinely gobsmacked at what good value it is and amazed that they can do it all for the price.”

This is the whole idea behind the scheme which also has a Silver and Bronze option as David Jackman, operations manager at Reesink, explains: “We designed these plans to provide an affordable option for everyone with the best support at a fixed price and no hidden surprises. Whether you choose the Bronze, Silver or Gold plan, they are perfect for efficient budgeting and cost control. Reassurance comes from knowing you can be assured your machines will perform to the best of their ability whichever package you have.”

Rob couldn’t agree more as he says: “The cost is ringfenced and I don’t have any hidden surprises which means I have absolute control over my budget.”

Not just that though, regular maintenance helps maintain the optimum retail value for his machines should Rob wish to sell them on. “It’s a real selling point that these machines are kept in the best possible condition, with regular maintenance and everything documented,” he says. “It’s like selling a car, the more detail you can give for its maintenance history the best retail value you’ll get.”

But Rob’s concluding point was undoubtedly the best of all. When asked if there was anything else to add, he said simply: trust. “I trust them to react quickly, keep my machines running and deliver a fantastic service; so much so that they have become such a valued member of the team that they’re now essentially key holders.

“There aren’t many people I’d trust my keys to, but the Reesink team is one of them. If they haven’t finished by the time I need to get off, I am more than happy to give them the keys and leave them to finish, lock up and turn the alarms on.”

With Reesink’s ReeAssure plans there’s the option for warranty programmes and the guarantee that buying Toro comes with buying into a support network like no other. The parts backup is second-to-none and as a Toro customer you are never more than a maximum 72-hours away from the part you need, for minimum downtime and maximum productivity.

“My advice to anyone would be, do it, you won’t regret it,” finishes Rob.

Call 01480 226800 or go online at reesinkturfcare.co.uk to find out more.

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Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

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Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate: A unique new docuseries telling the remarkable story of one woman’s mission to turnaround a rundown golf club and make it a friendly, accessible and inclusive community venue is now streaming on syngentagolf.com

In a first for the golf industry, the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Changing the Business of Golf, follows former Ladies European Tour professional Fame Tate as she breaks with tradition and aims to transform the course and customer experience at Stanedge Golf Club, Derbyshire.

Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

In the first episode, Fame recalls the life-changing decision to acquire the golf course and how she is turning the club into an open, friendly venue at the heart of her local community.

Meanwhile, as the team prepares for a new season, they are faced with the prospect of preparing the golf course for reopening without their head greenkeeper.

“If you’d said to me one day you’ll own a golf club, I’d have probably sat there are laughed,” says Fame, whose playing career was cut short by injury. “My vision from day one was to break away from the traditional golf club model. It’s about making a place that’s welcoming, affordable, accessible, inclusive.”

Working closely with her greenkeeping team – and revealing how she rolled up her sleeves to get stuck in to groundwork – Fame is investing in a major course upgrade to improve playing conditions.

The series documents day-to-day happenings, including course management work led by head greenkeeper Christian ‘CJ’ Johnson.

“It was a tough task for Fame and everybody involved to get the course back to where it was,” says CJ. “But since then we have really tried to improve it as a team and get it moving forwards.”

Just one year after acquiring the club, Fame faced the potentially catastrophic challenge of the Covid pandemic and enforced lockdown, forcing her and the team to call on their inner reserves of strength and resilience to keep the business afloat.

Will she realise her vision and succeed? The series will follow Fame and her team as she reopens Stanedge Golf Club and takes on the business of golf.

Watch the first episode now on Syngenta Golf: https://www.syngentagolf.com/changing-business-golf

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Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

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Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation: To mark the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation’s first-ever War Graves Week (21-28 May 2021), premium lawncare brand Hayter has partnered with the Foundation to honour the Commonwealth’s war dead.

The partnership has launched the Best in Bloom competition, which invites people of all ages to create their very own wildflower memorial to remember those who died in the world wars. The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF) will be sending out free packets of wildflower seeds, which have been chosen to reflect the plants that would have grown on the battlefields of the First World War, to all that apply for some.

Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

The competition encourages people to plant the seeds now and the patch of wildflowers will be ready by War Graves Week. People can then enter the competition between 21-28 May by sharing their wildflower memorials on Twitter or Instagram using #WarGravesWeek. The winner will be selected by a panel of horticultural experts and they will take home a prize of up to £200 to spend in a garden centre.

Hayter will be supporting CWGF by stocking the seeds across the UK in its network of independent lawn mower dealers.

On the partnership, Craig Hoare, Sales and Marketing Manager for Hayter, said: “Gardening has been a great outlet for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a country we have come together to thank those who have put others before themselves. This follows in a great British tradition and shows that it’s just as relevant today as it’s always been to remember those who have given their lives for the greater good.”

While the seeds are free, donations to the CWGF are encouraged, as the foundation aims to engage and educate people in telling the stories of the 1.7 million fallen Commonwealth servicemen and women.

For more information on War Graves Week: https://www.cwgc.org/our-war-graves-your-history/war-graves-week/

For information on your local Hayter dealership: https://www.hayter.co.uk/locate-dealer

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