Cambridge groundsman awarded BEM

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Cambridge groundsman awarded BEM: Ian Darler has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2020.

The honour was given for his services to Cambridge United Football Club and his charity work, with the Cambridge Charity Fundraisers.

“I’m blown away. I feel really honoured, especially even more so in the current circumstances,” said Ian.

“Having so many friends who work within the NHS and understand what they’re going through at the present time, I think they are the sort of people you feel should be getting these awards.

“I think it has made it even more valuable to me to receive something like this during the current situation – I’m staggered.”

Ian has been groundsman at Cambridge United’s Abbey Stadium for 42 years, and it is more than just a job as he has dug deep into his own pockets to help maintain the pitch and facilities at the ground when the club has hit hard times.

He was the youngest head groundsman in the Football League when first appointed to the role, and has gone on to also become the stadium manager and matchday safety officer – it is fair to say that he is part of the Abbey Stadium furniture.

Ian went through a difficult period in his life a couple of years back, but has used his experiences of mental health to now help others who may be in a similar situation.

He has catalogued all of this in the book about his time at Cambridge United, entitled Life’s A Pitch.

Ian’s charity work is less in the public spotlight than his role at United, but is arguably even more valuable, having launched the Cambridge Charity Fundraisers.

At his testimonial game against Ipswich to mark 25 years at the U’s, he made a pledge to do something for the community – donating a chunk of the money to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice.

When a request came in two years later from Each for a further donation, Darler put the idea to a group of friends, who would go fishing once a month on a Wednesday, to start Cambridge Charity Fundraisers, in 2007.

The group of anglers run fishing matches throughout the year, raising funds on behalf of a chosen charity.

An example of some of the work of Cambridge Charity Fundraisers was helping 11 families in the Abbey ward by donating all the meat, vegetables, gravy, Christmas puddings and crackers for their Christmas dinners last year.

During the pandemic, they donated 70 children’s activity gift sets to the Rampton Fairies, a small committee of women in the village of Rampton who usually raise money for Christmas lights and raise money throughout the year to grant wishes for residents, to distribute to youngsters in the village.

Among the beneficiaries of Cambridge Charity Fundraisers have been Fresh Water Projects, England Amputees football team, Hinchingbrooke Special Care Baby Unit, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, Cancer Research UK, Magpas, Copars – helping children with cancer, The Road Victims’ Trust, Tom’s Trust and Arthur Rank Hospice.

He has been known to mow a poppy in the pitch design for Remembrance Sunday, a Christmas tree with baubles, then the Mind logo to show the club’s support for mental health by the side of the playing surface and, during lockdown, a thank you message to the NHS.

He has also won numerous awards at local and national level.

Ian admits that when he first received the call about the honour, he thought it was a joke.

“My first words were ‘who has put you up to this?’,” he said.

“Going back over the years with people like Chris Turner, Malcolm Webster and all the wind-up merchants in the football world, and the people I go fishing with, you just don’t take anything on face value when you’ve been stitched up as many times as I have.”

He added: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have a great time in the football world. For somebody who wanted to be a footballer but failed, to end up having the journey I have had is amazing.

“I’m totally gobsmacked that something like this has come my way. I just really hope it might be beneficial moving forward for what I try to do within the community – with the Cambridge Charity Fundraisers we try to make life better for other people.”

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Bayer ES appoints new digital marketing specialist

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Bayer ES appoints new digital marketing specialist: Bayer Environmental Science has appointed a new digital marketing specialist to support the business as they move towards more digital offerings.

Formerly working for a Cambridge-based B2B marketing agency, Freddie Bendall-Brown has an extensive background in digital marketing and experience of building digital and brand strategies.

Bayer ES appoints new digital marketing specialist

Bayer ES appoints new digital marketing specialist

“I’ve worked in digital marketing for many years with expertise in several areas from social media to website development,” says Freddie.

“My previous roles have allowed me to gain experience with a wide range of audiences and has given me valuable background in the digital sphere,” he explains.

The new appointment coincides with the roll out of Bayer’s new Digital Pest Management system. This new service has been developed to help revolutionise large scale pest control.

“It’s exciting to work for a company that wants to make a positive impact, invest in innovation and that’s driven to keep moving the turf and pest control sectors forward,” says Freddie.

“The sector is incredibly active on digital platforms, especially social media, which highlights significant opportunities for the company. I’m keen to engage with the industry and with those working at operational level to help stimulate a two-way dialogue and showcase the breadth of Bayer’s expertise.

“I’m looking forward to working with the team at Bayer to introduce a greater range of digital offerings,” adds Freddie.

Alan Morris, Bayer head of environmental science, says the team are thrilled to have Freddie on board.

“Freddie’s expertise in digital marketing will support the delivery of Bayer’s high-quality solutions to customers and will be invaluable in the future with our continued commitment to develop new innovative solutions,” concludes Alan.

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World War I programme protects green spaces

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World War I programme protects green spaces: A new report from environment charity Fields in Trust identifies 232 green spaces across the UK, totalling more than 660 hectares, which have been legally protected  as part of the Centenary Fields, World War I anniversary programme, delivered in partnership with The Royal British Legion.

The report, presented as an online story map,  (at www.fieldsintrust.org/centenary-fields) reveals that the Centenary Fields programme has protected a total of 232 parks, memorial gardens, woodlands and other green spaces with a link to the Great War. From Cardiff to Shetland and Antrim to Kent, these precious green spaces are now legally protected forever, ensuring they will always remain as places of remembrance to the generation who served and sacrificed. Nearly 1.37 million people across the UK now live within a ten-minute walk of a space protected forever as part of the Centenary Fields programme; spaces now secured forever for play, relaxation and the enjoyment of nature.

World War I programme protects green spaces

World War I programme protects green spaces

Centenary Fields was launched in July 2014 at Coventry’s War Memorial Park by Fields in Trust President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge where he said: “ Each moment of play or leisure that takes place on a Memorial Field is, in a way, an act of remembrance. I am delighted that Fields in Trust have identified these Centenary Fields as a vital part of our national heritage and well-being, which we cannot take for granted.” Two years later, in November 2016, The Duke marked the mid-point of the centenary commemorations by unveiling the plaque at Kensington Memorial Park in west London. Once legal deeds had been completed the final Centenary Fields were protected in 2020 as the programme drew to a close with 232 spaces now secured forever.

Fields in Trust partnered with the nation’s largest armed forces charity, The Royal British Legion, to deliver Centenary Fields. The programme joined a wide range of commemorative activities and events which took place across the UK between 2014 and 2018, led by The Royal British Legion, and its impact will continue in perpetuity.

Fields in Trust Head of Programmes, Angela Lewis, said: “This report not only details the green spaces secured forever in our national programme to commemorate the centenary of World War I but also sets out how communities across the UK engaged with the anniversary of the War. Through the coronavirus pandemic we’ve realised just how valuable parks and green spaces are to our health and wellbeing, yet across the UK only 6% of parks are protected and access to them is not equitable. So were delighted that these spaces are now protected, not only commemorating the sacrifices of those who gave their lives during the conflict, but also guaranteeing that future generations have valuable places to enjoy as a living legacy.”

Across the UK local authorities, town, parish and community councils, along with sports clubs and other landowners all dedicated green spaces as part of the anniversary. The legacy from the Centenary Fields programme is a network of protected parks and green spaces in which people will always have somewhere to run, play, share a picnic or just take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice made by the World War I generation, to whom is owed so much.

In the period until Remembrance Day on 11th November Fields in Trust will be sharing stories of the protected spaces. The full report is available to explore online at www.fieldsintrust.org/centenary-fields including an interactive map so you can find protected spaces close to home.

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A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

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A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!: The main requirement for a mower is of course to cut grass, therefore Baroness always make this their primary objective when designing cutting units.

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

The main criteria to consider during the design phase of a cutting unit is:

  • A high quality of cut thus ensuring a healthy grass plant and a superior presentation.
  • Simple and infrequent blade adjustments.
  • Low maintenance costs.

The common denominator between all three of these is the material used to make the blades from, which in turn allows other design features to be exploited:

Relief Grinding

Relief Grinding is a process that not all reel mower operators support, usually due to bad experiences in the past and not fully understanding the science behind the practise.

As most reel mower operators will be aware, blade relief is where the trailing edge of a reel blade is ground away at an angle to reduce the surface area of the cutting tip.  The thinner the cutting tip surface area is, the less friction will be produced between the cutting reel blades and the bedknife, and this in turn will reduce wear to the bedknife.  This is important because the bedknife is the blade which will lose its edge first due to it being subjected to multiple reel blade passes per single reel revolution, and if you can keep the edge of the bedknife sharp then you will maintain a high quality of cut and a healthy grass plant.

To reap the maximum benefits from relief grinding the blade material used must be of a very high quality.  If the blade was made of a soft material, then the very thin cutting edge produced by the relief grind process would wear away very quickly, and this would result in constant blade adjustments being required, which would then increase operator workload and frustration.

Achieving a hard blade is not just a matter of using a heat-treating process.  Whilst heat treating will make any steel hard, it can also make it brittle, so to make a blade hard and strong it is crucial to use a suitable alloy coupled with a carefully controlled heat treatment process.

Baroness use a carefully formulated alloy of Nickel, Chrome and Molybdenum to make their blades from, and this very hard wearing and tough material allows the cutting edge to be relief ground down to just 0.5mm, thus keeping friction, heat and wear to a minimum.

Back-Lapping

Back-lapping is another process that not all reel mower operators support, and this is usually because the reels that they have been trying to back-lap are not compatible with the process.

A reel blade which has not been relief ground will be very wide at the cutting tip, but when it becomes blunt it is usually just the leading edge of the blade that becomes rounded.  However, to make this reel blade sharp again, all the material back from this rounded tip will need to be removed.  To remove all of this material using back-lapping alone would take a long time, and by the time this material was removed, the back-lapping paste would have worn away the cutting edge of the bedknife, thus making the process counter-productive.

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

If on the other hand the reel blades have been relief ground, then the cutting tip would be very thin and will therefore only require minimum material to be removed to make the reel blade sharp again, which could be done very quickly without wearing the cutting edge of the bedknife away.  As the blade material that Baroness uses enables the relief grind to be taken down to a cutting edge of just 0.5mm, the full benefits of back-lapping are utilised.

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

A Durable & Clean Cut, The Baroness Way!

Therefore, relief grinding, coupled with a good quality blade material, is key to quickly and easily keeping your blades sharp at a minimal cost, which in turn will improve the health of your grass plant.

#LessstresswithBaroness

www.baronessuk.com

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Success for Hogweed Eradication Programme

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Success for Hogweed Eradication Programme: The River Tyne Hogweed Eradication Programme was declared winner of the Scottish Helping it Happen Awards run by Scottish Land and Estates.

Receiving recognition in the Enhancing our Environment category, the project was supported by Bayer and has succeeded in eradicating  any flowering plants of giant hogweed over 48 miles of the banks of the River Tyne and its tributaries for the second year running.

Success for Hogweed Eradication Programme

Success for Hogweed Eradication Programme

James Wyllie, voluntary project co-ordinator, explains they have seen a huge success with this invasive species project even though it is only in its second year.

“While we have had some setbacks due to Covid-19, thanks to the support of Bayer, landowners and volunteers, the project has delivered,” says James.

The programme is run by volunteer ‘spotters’ who use an online mapping tool to plot sightings of giant hogweed. They work in conjunction with the landowners and farmers to control the plants.

“Our maxim is that ‘no hogweed plant should be allowed to flower’, and with the capacity to produce up to 10,000 seeds each, this is vital.”

The project has involved intensive monitoring. As soon as a plant is ‘spotted’, the landowners can pinpoint the offending weed and control it, either with the use of Roundup or a spade.

“Ideally, we want to control the plant ahead of stem extension, so they aren’t able to flower and spread seeds. However, if a plant is missed and allowed to flower, it must be cut off below the ground, the head removed, bagged and disposed of safely,” says James.

“As a team we’re proud to receive this award as it shows the hard work that has been put into this unique project by all the volunteer landowners and spotters, is being recognised and valued.”

Project support

Colin Mumford, Bayer technical manager says both the non-native giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed can have a severe knock-on effect to the entire food chain and ecosystem, by rapidly reproducing and taking over land to the detriment of native flora and fauna, so it’s vital to do everything possible to eliminate these damaging species.

“Bayer are really pleased to be able to support this successful project, which has been driven by volunteers and landowners who are certainly worthy of this award. We’re keen to continue to support where we can, so these weeds that are damaging our environment can be tackled and kept under control,” he explains.

Colin adds that these invasive species are a rising cause for concern, so it’s important projects like this take place around the UK to help eradicate these problematic weeds.

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