STIHL announce new bar and chain upgrades

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STIHL announce new bar and chain upgrades: STIHL continues to offer professional forestry and agriculture chainsaw users enhanced performance with the introduction of a newly designed guide bar and saw chains for 20% faster cutting performance, with lighter weight.

Standard fitment on the MS 261 C-M forestry and MS 271 agriculture chainsaws, the Light 04 chainsaw bar features a new innovative slim contour design that means it weighs up to 200g less than the previous Rollomatic E bar, ensuring forestry and agriculture workers can benefit from easier manoeuvrability, improved balance, and less fatigue when cutting. The new guide bars weigh 10% (40cm bars) to 20% (50cm bars) less than previous versions, while the slimmer profile and bar tip allows for faster plunge cutting.

STIHL announce new bar and chain upgrades

STIHL announce new bar and chain upgrades

As part of the new chainsaw upgrades, the MS 261 C-M will now come fitted with .325” RS PRO and the MS 271 with the RM3 PRO saw chain as standard. The 1.3mm gauge chain, which matches the 1.3mm bar groove, offers up to 20% greater cutting performance when compared to .325 RS saw chains, which are 1.6mm thickness. The faster cutting comes from the thickness of the cutter tooth that is reduced from 7.7mm to 6.8mm, meaning less wood is removed from the cut for more efficiency.

The MS 261 C-M and MS 271 are available from May 2020 with the new Light 04 and new RS saw chains.

For more information on STIHL’s range of petrol powered chainsaws, please visit www.stihl.co.uk.

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1.4m more children could play sports weekly

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1.4m more children could play sports weekly: A new report by the Grounds Management Association (GMA) today reveals that junior participation levels in rugby and football could increase by almost 1.4 million (1,376,252) children every week, and in cricket, by almost half a million (489,859) per season. With the right investment, guidance and care, a massive 4 million more children’s football matches could be played on existing pitches every year.

The data, gathered through national Playing Pitch Strategies, the Grounds and Natural Turf Investment Programme (GaNTIP)* data, and a national survey of over 4,000 people, shows the huge opportunity for change.

1.4m more children could play sports weekly

1.4m more children could play sports weekly

With the nation desperate for sport to resume, and many individuals being more active than ever before, the leading not-for-profit membership organisation for the grounds sector is calling for volunteers, investment, and more resources to improve access to community-level sport.

Limiting play

The report also highlights the impact if nothing is done. Over the next decade, one in five football and rugby players, and half of cricket players will be left unable to play weekly or seasonally. This equates to over half a million players a week, and 170,000 players during a cricket season.

Geoff Webb, CEO at GMA, said:

“Across the world, playing and watching sport has been sorely missed. We’ve realised how much it means to us. After a season of no sport, now is the time to ensure pitches are playable when games resume. We know that if we act now, we can turn the tide and even improve access to local grass pitches. But, without immediate long-term investment and care, the huge benefits of sport for mental and physical health, community cohesion and the economy, will be lost to millions every year.”

Jason Booth, Director of Technical and Learning, said:

“We have around 56,891 rugby union and league, football, and cricket pitches in England today. That’s one pitch for every 984 people. While pitch improvement programmes such as GaNTIP* are making huge strides, more needs to be done to support grassroots sports and increase playability. With the right approach we can reduce cancellations, increase year round participation, engage new participants and promote active lifestyles.”

Priority players

The report also found that the pitch crisis has already had a detrimental effect on women and children’s sports. GMA’s research found that despite the growing popularity of women and girls’ sports teams, and junior play priority is often given to adult male teams.

55% of girls aged 7-18, and over a quarter of adult women, would play more team sports if they could, but there often isn’t the chance to due to slot availability or allocation. 58% of adults and 73% of children see more boys and men play local team sports than women and girls.

Get involved

The research found that pitches play an important role in our communities, for both children and adults. 57% of adults think playing local team sports is a fundamental national pastime, and over half (54%) think having teams play sport locally has a positive impact on their area.

A quarter of British children aged 7-18 think playing team sports locally is good for their communities and 64% want more grass pitches in their area. GMA is therefore calling for people to enter the profession, either as volunteers or professionals, to increase participation levels in our local communities.

Despite the enthusiasm for local grounds, many young people aren’t entering the grounds management profession, and one in five grounds managers will be leaving the profession in the next 10 years, leading to a perfect storm when it comes to pitch care. Only 19% of children are currently considering a job in grounds management. This means the UK does not have the workforce to stop the crisis.

Geoff Webb continues:

“While play isn’t currently happening, we’re urging people to get involved and contact local teams right now. The whole nation – government, sports bodies and members of the public who love sport – must help kick start sport as we are freed from restrictions. Sports turf volunteers and professionals are key to having surfaces ready for play, beyond this season of no sport. Through investing in local pitches, valuing the role ground staff play, encouraging more volunteering, or promoting careers in the profession, we can get more people playing sport than ever before.

“The skill of groundstaff, be they paid professionals or volunteers, and the crucial part they play in enabling sport to take place, must be recognised. Almost every professional sports player in the UK began by playing on a community pitch. And every community pitch across the UK, relies on volunteers or professional grounds staff to maintain it. Alongside all the benefits they bring to individuals, teams, and the local community – its crucial to invest time and money in our pitches right now so we can all get back to play.”

Whilst play is currently restricted, it’s possible to sign-up with local teams and take specialist online training, to start the volunteering journey right now. Find out more here: www.thegma.org.uk/learning

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Ease, accuracy and time saving from Foley

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Ease, accuracy and time saving from Foley: Starnes Engineering has experienced the benefits of an automatic relief grind using the Foley Company 633 Accu-Pro.

The East Sussex company has been continually growing since it was started four years ago by ground care and agricultural engineer, Jamie Starnes, with grinding counting as a key service over that time.

Ease, accuracy and time saving from Foley

Ease, accuracy and time saving from Foley

Jamie has gathered a vast amount of grinding experience within the industry, including working as tournament support at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews, Wentworth and The Oval. During this time, he has used an array of grinders from various companies, but the Foley 633 Accu-Pro has proven the best he’s used for relief grinding.

“It’s just so user-friendly compared to anything else that I’ve used, and I’ve used quite a few different makes for myself and companies at different sites,” Jamie explained. “I think it’s just superb, really. It’s easy to use and set-up, and it’s accurate with it. And the fact its automated means you can leave it to it, so you’re gaining productivity time, and you’re not disappointed with the results.

“Relief grinding makes such a difference to the quality of cut and the general ware of the machine, units and grass itself. It’s a vital thing to do for anybody, but it is time-consuming with other machines compared to this one even with the units themselves. With different makes, you have to remove a lot of stuff from the unit like rear roller brushes for example, but on the Foley, you don’t have to strip down units and take things off, you can pretty much clamp and hold down any unit with anything still on it, which is another massive time-saving aspect.

“I was looking for something that was fully automated that would speed up the whole process, and something that could be set up quickly and easily that you can walk away from when possible to do other things and make use of the time. When I’ve used other grinders to relief grind, I’ve had to stand there and manually push and pull the machine through each individual blade whereas once the Foley is set up, you can leave it.

“Once you’ve set it up and you know the formula from having done a unit, and you’ve got another five, ten or however many left to do you can more or less put them in and run through them. We’ve had a lot of use out of the grinder since we got it in January – at least 40 units or more. It’s been used to grind Jacobsen, Toro and John Deere, so we’ve had a bit of everything. It is very simple to go between each brand. The machine is superb for simplicity and swapping between units. And not only for the positioning of the bench and stuff but other things like moving the motor drive from left to right. On other models, it’s actually quite a paraphernalia to move it all around, but with the electric motor you pick it up and move it from one side to the other, so it’s a vast improvement for ease and speed and everything like that.”

Several features on the 633 Accu-Pro combine to make it a reliable and straightforward grinder. The Accu-Touch 3 Control system provides a step by step tutorial for new technicians, while more experienced operators can use the system to tell the machine what they’re working on and it’ll do the rest. Automatic placement features, the Accu-Reel Selector and Cylinder Height Stop, automatically locate the reel for a fast and easy spin and relief grind in one set-up and work with the pre-set relief angles to provide the hands-free relief grinding Jamie has found so beneficial.

To experience the difference of the Accu-Pro 633 or other Foley Company models, contact ProSport UK Ltd at prosportukltd@gmail.com.

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Overseeding transformed for Kelso GC

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Overseeding transformed for Kelso GC: A BLEC Multi-Seeder has improved both the speed and accuracy of overseeding at Scotland’s Kelso Golf Club.

With just Head Greenkeeper James Balmbro and an apprentice to maintain the 18-hole parkland course, the Multi-Seeder has improved the efficiency of their greens seeding programme, with a noticeable improvement in results.

Overseeding transformed for Kelso GC

Overseeding transformed for Kelso GC

Situated within the confines of Kelso racecourse in the Scottish Borders, overseeding is traditionally carried out twice a year across all of the club’s 18 greens. “Our manpower and available budget mean we focus on overseeding following both the spring and autumn renovation season” explains James, who has been at Kelso GC for five years. “Previously, we would simply broadcast seed by hand, or with a spreader, so it was important for us to find a way of making the process and end result more effective, to deliver the results we wanted to achieve.”

The BLEC Multi-Seeder features two, spiked ring rollers to saturate fine turf and amenity type areas with up to 1500 holes per square metre, ready to accept the seed. Re-engineered under the guidance of Redexim, it features a new seed ratio and seed feed system that offers the user incredibly accurate distribution for all seed types. “We’ve used some ultra-fine dwarf ryegrass in the latest operation, but have also had bent and fescue seed running through the Multi-Seeder without a problem. Within just 7-10 days, you can see the seed germinating from the dimple holes – the difference in the uptake we’ve achieved has been massive.”

“It’s a fantastic piece of kit that’s super easy to set up and adjust; so user-friendly in fact I’ve had our apprentice out there using it and he loves it! For us as a small greens team, operations all come down to time so the fact we can attach the unit straight to the tractor’s 3-point linkage and go, is great. We can get all of the greens done in one day with the Multi-Seeder and all without causing any disruption to the surface.”

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Interview greenkeeper Gary Cook

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Interview greenkeeper Gary Cook: Gary Cook, the head greenkeeper at Enmore Park Golf Club, admits that he is a fortunate man, writes Richard Walsh.

“I am lucky to be doing something that I always wanted to do and enjoy doing it as well, so I am very fortunate,” he says.

Cook was born into a golfing family in Scotland, as he explained: “My father played golf and where we were living near Glasgow I grew up next to a golf course.

“I started playing when I was seven or eight and enjoyed everything about it.

“I just loved that environment and that’s how it all came about.”

So how does he come to find himself at Enmore?

“We were looking for a change of environment and so started looking, and the vacancy at Enmore Park came up.

“I was lucky enough to get it – and 26 years on I am still here, so it’s all worked out pretty well for us.

“We settled in and love everything about the area. Somerset’s a lovely county and has got such a lot to offer.”

Under Cook’s watch of more than a quarter of a century there have been a number of changes at Enmore.

“Since I have been here the course has developed and a lot of the trees have matured and are starting to make a difference,” he said.

“The thing about the golf course is that it’s ongoing and always developing, so never finished.

“There is always something to be done and something that you want to do – that’s the beauty of what I’m lucky enough to be doing.”

“I just loved that environment and that’s how it all came about.”

So how does he come to find himself at Enmore?

“We were looking for a change of environment and so started looking, and the vacancy at Enmore Park came up.

“I was lucky enough to get it – and 26 years on I am still here, so it’s all worked out pretty well for us.

“We settled in and love everything about the area. Somerset’s a lovely county and has got such a lot to offer.”

Under Cook’s watch of more than a quarter of a century there have been a number of changes at Enmore.

“Since I have been here the course has developed and a lot of the trees have matured and are starting to make a difference,” he said.

“The thing about the golf course is that it’s ongoing and always developing, so never finished.

“There is always something to be done and something that you want to do – that’s the beauty of what I’m lucky enough to be doing.”

What had been the highlight of his time at Enmore?

“When I look back I think that when we had the English Ladies here was the highlight because it gave us championship status – the first here and a great accolade for the club.”

What difference had the coronavirus lockdown made to his job?

“I think the biggest difference is that we are maintaining the surfaces rather than preparing them.

“We are here to maintain Enmore as a golf course so that when it does re-open again it is still here.

“We are running with a smaller staff just to keep on top of the cutting.

“We are not allowed to start anything new; the only construction projects you can work on are those that were started before the lockdown.”

When the lockdown is lifted and golf can re-commence, how long would it be before Enmore members could start to play again?

“We could open as a golf course within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead but, to get things back to where we would normally like to be, it will take us a couple of weeks.

“I’m looking forward to getting the members back onto the golf course again and enjoying themselves.”

Gary is a keen golfer himself, currently playing off a handicap of four, and he added: “That’s the lowest that I have ever been but of course the challenge is always to try to get lower.

“We all want it to be lower and in my case it’s not for lack of trying!”

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