BIGGA members’ opportunity to shape education launches

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BIGGA members’ opportunity to shape education launches: The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association has launched the Members’ Choice survey for 2021.

The survey offers BIGGA members the opportunity to shape the education that is on offer at the Continue to Learn 2021 education programme, which is due to return in January as part of the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition.

BIGGA members’ opportunity to shape education launches

BIGGA members’ opportunity to shape education launches

The link to the Members’ Choice survey will be sent to all greenkeeper members of BIGGA. Prospective topics have been gathered through BIGGA’s annual ‘Proposal to Present’ system, where individuals and companies can submit their ideas for future programmes.

The Members’ Choice survey distinguishes the job role of the respondent, thus enabling BIGGA to create programmes suited to their members, wherever they may be on their career journey.

Continue to Learn at BTME is the most comprehensive education programme for greenkeeping professionals outside of the USA and attracts in excess of 3,000 attendees each year.

Sami Strutt, BIGGA’s head of member development, said: “In these strange times we are living in, it is all the more important to focus on the future. Planning for Continue to Learn at BTME 2021 is in full force, but needs the help of our members to shape the programme content. We want the learning to be relevant and to further enhance the knowledge and professionalism that is demanded by greenkeepers and we can only do this by asking our members what they want to see from the Continue to Learn offering.”

Continue to Learn at BTME 2021 will take place at Harrogate Convention Centre from Sunday 17 to Wednesday 20 January 2021, running alongside BTME, which runs from Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 January 2021.

The Members’ Choice survey is available to complete online here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MCC2L2021

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Praise for JCB food initiative

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Praise for JCB food initiative: The leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council today paid tribute to JCB for helping make a “real difference” to the lives of vulnerable people with its special food aid initiative.

Councillor Abi Brown’s comments came as JCB increases its production of meals for the community and works with more local organisations to extend its delivery of the food to the most disadvantaged adults and children.

Praise for JCB food initiative

Praise for JCB food initiative

The company’s catering staff in the UK and India are preparing more than 37,500 meals a week for distribution around towns and villages located close to its plants. The initiative is the idea of Lady Bamford, wife of JCB Chairman Lord Bamford. In the UK, staff started producing 2,000 cottage pies a week for distribution in the North Staffordshire area – and have now boosted production to 2,600.

The first meals have now been delivered to the city council with around 1,000 JCB meals a week expected for distribution to vulnerable adults and children across the city, who have asked for help during the Coronavirus pandemic through the #StokeonTrent Together initiative.

Today Councillor Abi Brown, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “People, businesses and individuals across the city have stood up and been counted in these testing times. JCB is one such organisation that we are proud to have as a business supporting Stoke-on-Trent. We are grateful to have a business of such calibre supporting the city where hundreds of its employees live and know it will make a huge difference to our most vulnerable residents that we are supporting through our #StokeonTrentTogether initiative. Our heartfelt thanks go to JCB.”
JCB’s kitchens in Staffordshire are being supported with the provision of food from organic farms at Daylesford in Gloucestershire. So far, Daylesford – founded by Lady Bamford – has supplied more than half a tonne of organic beef mince to the project, with staff working seven days a week to support the food aid initiative.

The meals being prepared by JCB arrive in specially prepared containers with a message, which reads: “Lovingly prepared by JCB’s chefs for our local community.”
The scale of the operation in India is even bigger, where the Coronavirus has caused huge disruption to people’s lives. Forty-five JCB staff have been mobilised to cook more than 35,000 meals a week in the company canteens for communities around JCB’s factory locations in Delhi, Pune and Jaipur.

In the UK, JCB is also working with the The Hubb Foundation in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, to distribute food to children and families in need of support across the city and the first of the cottage pies were delivered last week.

Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit puts measures in place to support the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in an emergency. One of the partners in this, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, has been helping JCB co-ordinate the distribution of the food, ensuring meals reach front line theatre staff at the Royal Stoke Hospital and providing the link to the city council to extend distribution to more parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

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Hayter Harrier’s 50th anniversary

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Hayter Harrier’s 50th anniversary: The Harrier range, manufactured by Hayter, the makers of the finest mowers, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020.

The ever-impressive range of rear-roller lawnmowers have set the benchmark for this class of mowers since its original model in 1970. The Harrier has won various accolades through the years, including the prestigious BAGMA award, which in 1998 the Harrier was awarded the ‘Product of the Decade’ title, after a nationwide dealership vote.

Hayter Harrier's 50th anniversary

Hayter Harrier’s 50th anniversary

In 1960, the Hayter company received one of the country’s greatest accolades, when they were granted the Royal Warrant for the supply of machinery to HM Queen Elizabeth II – which is an honour that is still retained, 60 years later.

The Harrier range has always been synonymous with luxury and a premium mowing experience; being one of the first rotary-bladed lawnmowers to feature an integrated heavy rear-roller and enabling the user to achieve the quintessential British, striped finish in their gardens.

Craig Hoare, Sales and Marketing Manager at Hayter, said: “We are really excited to be celebrating 50 years of the Harrier. This machine has been a staple of British gardening ever since its initial release in 1970, and even today, it has proved to be more popular than ever.”

“As we look to the future of the Harrier, this year we have released a series of updates to the range, including new blades, improved engines and our patented Crank-Safe Blade Brake Clutch (BBC) system on some of the Harrier models. We are continuing to take a pro-active approach to our products, and these updates to the Harrier mowers demonstrate just that.”

In recent years, the new additions to the Harrier range have seen continued success. The Harrier 48 and 56 continue to provide high-quality and high-performance mowing to people’s gardens all over the country. The Harrier Pro models also offer two-piece steel rear rollers to those using the mowers in a professional capacity.

For more information, please visit www.hayter.co.uk.

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Harrowden offers ‘dropship’ service

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Harrowden offers ‘dropship’ service: Harrowden Turf has launched its second new initiative to support the horticulture sector in as many weeks. “Let’s Build A Garden” was designed to encourage family-wide engagement in thinking about and making the most of a home’s outside space. 

The company also recognises that many traditional retailers in the sector have been adversely affected by coronavirus restrictions.  Harrowden Turf is looking to offer its “Dropship” or home delivery solution which enables retailers to continue to service customers via telephone or online orders which will be fulfilled directly by Harrowden Turf using its well-established no-contact direct to home delivery service.

Harrowden offers 'dropship' service

Harrowden offers ‘dropship’ service

Stuart Ridd-Jones – Managing Director

“There is currently significant interest in home-improvement projects and with the improved recent weather the garden is no exception.  Harrowden Turf’s “Dropship” service gives retailers the ability to continue to sell turf and other landscape products without holding stock or otherwise being involved in fulfilling that order”

“We have a well-established no-contact direct to home delivery service which can enable you to continue to provide ongoing service to your loyal customers whilst generating some much-needed revenue.  This is very straightforward to set up and administer.”

Whilst supporting retailers we would like to reassure you about ordering from Harrowden Turf during the COVID-19 outbreak. As a business, our priority above all, is to keep our people and customers safe. We are following the expert advice of the Government, Public Health England and World Health Organisation to make the necessary changes to our business to ensure everyone stays as healthy as possible.

Nearly all office staff are working remotely from home but the important work that can only be completed at our farms means that some staff are travelling to work as normal but we have adopted strict hygiene and social distancing protocols to protect both them and customers safety.

Our carefully selected delivery partners have introduced “no contact” delivery procedures in order to protect their drivers and our customers as much as possible.  We are currently able to operate a normal home delivery service.

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Procore 648 a hit at Muir-Of-Ord

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Procore 648 a hit at Muir-Of-Ord: Muir-Of-Ord Golf Club, located a few miles north of Inverness in Scotland, has chosen to invest in Toro for the first time, purchasing a ProCore 648 pedestrian aerator to enable quality aeration across the whole course.  

Head greenkeeper, Darren Hexley, explains: “We’ve never had Toro at the club before, but once our old aerator was reaching the end of its life, we seized the opportunity to improve the course with Toro. We’d been working with a tractor-mounted aerator and were keen to get a pedestrian aerator so we could access more areas of the course.”

Procore 648 a hit at Muir-Of-Ord

Procore 648 a hit at Muir-Of-Ord

Years of research, customer input, testing and attention to detail went into making the ProCore 648 the most productive and efficient walking aerator on the market, something Muir-Of-Ord is now experiencing.

“We noticed a difference from just the demonstration,” says Darren. “Staff and golfers have commented on the improvement that can be seen already. As a pedestrian aerator, we no longer have to drive over greens, and with no tyre tracks it’s a much cleaner job. But the biggest thing is that we’ve been able to cover areas of the course we weren’t able to before, such as slopes and the backs of bunkers. The benefits of this is huge. With just one Toro addition to our fleet we’re able to vastly improve the course.”

Darren is no stranger to the quality and results from Toro having previous experience with the brand, he says:  “I’ve used Toro before at previous clubs, and indeed the ProCore 648, so it was no surprise that it proved itself here to be a brilliant piece of kit. We could instantly see the benefits of the ProCore 648 over our old kit.”

It’s not just the improvement to the course that matters though. As a club with only three permanent staff members working on the course maintenance, having efficient and reliable machinery is vital. Something the ProCore 648 certainly delivers on.

“With only three of us on the greenkeeping team, having efficient and reliable machinery is very important and goes a long way,” says Darren. “The ProCore 648 will allow us to get out first thing in the summer and cover more ground than we could with our tractor-mounted aerator in the same time. The variable speed setting also really helps with that – it provides a consistent speed for a more even application.”

With the club’s only Toro machine having made such a difference to both the productivity of the staff and the quality of the playing surface, it seems only natural Darren is now wanting to bring more Toro on board.

“Once we’re in a position financially to make further machinery investment, it is certainly my preference to look to Toro. It would be great to invest in some of the latest technology, in particular one of Toro’s hybrid mowers.”

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