We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

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We’re in safe hands

Scott MacCallum catches up with two of the winners of the GMA’s 35 under 35 initiative.

We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

It’s not always wise to make predictions. Usually there is one chance to be a hero but many more chances of looking like a fool. But here I am about to do just that. I am predicting that the future of our industry is secure and in safe hands.

I am predicting that the future of our industry is secure and in safe hands.

I say this, confidently, having sat down with two of the ICL’s supported GMA’s 35 under 35s winners and seeing just how wise both are and just how much they care about the industry.

Daniel Puicar is Head Gardener at Middleton Hall Trust in Warwickshire, and Sean Faulkner is Sales and Marketing Director for Kersten UK and one of the country’s leading experts in sustainable weed management.

Daniel and Sean may come from different sides of the industry, but they are equally thought provoking on so many issues.

Asked where they think the industry would be in 10 years’ time Sean felt that it was something very much in the hands of the younger participants currently working within it.

“It’s up to us. Well, to a point,” he said. “Lots of people of my dad’s age (Baby Boomers and Gen X) are starting to retire now and there are a great many of them in our industry. And, at the moment, there are not that many of our generation and younger to fill that gap,” he explained.

“I believe that it’s critical that we encourage the people who are in our generation to take the reins, make a difference and shape the industry into how we want it to be shaped.

Otherwise, we’re going to be left with whatever industry we’ve given.

“So, as I said, in that sense, it’s down to us what it looks like in in ten years’ time,” added Sean.

Daniel has a similar take on the concerning age demographic within the industry.

“I am anxious about the exit from the industry versus the entrance into the industry. We are losing knowledge, and that’s knowledge that you don’t find in books. It’s knowledge that is not passed down,” said Daniel.

“But if you ever work with someone who’s been in the industry for 20, 30 or 40 years, you know that what they know is pure gold. And that is what we’re losing.”

The $64,000 question therefore is, “What can be done to attract young people into the industry?”

Well, Daniel can’t believe that he is lucky enough to be working in a job that he loves so much.

“Doing something creative is often linked to the satisfaction that you get from a hobby, while doing a job is sometimes seen as something much more routine.

When you mix the two together, you are in the lovely position of achieving satisfaction from doing your job.”

Daniel is also one of the few people who takes a positive from the poor wages that are so common place within the industry.

“The fact that the industry is so underpaid actually shows that the people who are in it are not in it for the money. They’re in it because they love it. That to me is a brilliant selling point to the industry.”

Highlighting what great job opportunities are within our industry is something with Sean has been actively working on recently.

We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

He is a trustee of a charity called Managing the Green Planet which builds awareness of career options.

They do it through virtual reality. They’ve got glasses that they give to students and they show them what it’s like to be a day in the life of the guy who managing Lords or Wimbledon or a National Trust estate.

“So that’s exciting and a way of showing just out varied and interesting jobs in our industry can be.”

On that theme Sean highlighted the variety of jobs the industry offers up and the value he gives from his own role.

“It’s an interesting industry with a lot of potential to go places and make big differences. What I’m doing may sound quite boring, but, in reality, I’m solving problems with air and water quality; with surface water; with potholes that everybody complains about, with weeds themselves, So, there’s ways of making a massive impact if that’s what you want.

“For example if National Trust sites weren’t maintained at such a high level, and interesting things done with the gardens and if the paths didn’t look pristine.

“I’m sure the number of visitors would drop alarmingly. People like to see lovely gardens and paths and it is the people within our industry who make them happen.”

“Being a steward of what we have is really important. I think we need to connect more as a country to our history and to our culture and roots,” said Sean.

So, you can see that I’m not exactly going out on a limb to say that we have some pretty smart cookies among the younger generation of industry professionals. While the rest of us are looking back at our careers from the comfort of our armchairs they will be forging forward making things better for the generation which follows them. For me I’m just hoping to sneak into the 65 under 65s before even that is too late!

THE FULL WINNERS OF THE GMA 35 UNDER 35:

  • Luis Arregui – Real Madrid C.F, Deputy Grounds Manager
  • Tom Bacon – Brighton and Hove Albion FC, Groundsperson
  • Alex Brierley – The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Groundstaff and Lead Irrigation
  • Louise Challiss – PAN Publicity Limited, Managing Director
  • Luke Chapman – Brighton and Hove Albion FC, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Evan Davies – Swansea City AFC, Head of Grounds
  • Max Drummond Smillie – Fargro Ltd, Head of Amenity
  • Alex Earle – Tennisclub Weissenhof, Head Groundsman
  • Sean Faulkner – Kersten UK Ltd, Sales and Marketing Director
  • Matthew Gibson – The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Groundsperson
  • Flynn Good – Leicester City Football Club, Skilled Sports Turf Operative
  • Matt Harris – Whitgift School, Groundsperson
  • Stanley Hayden – Fulham FC, Deputy Head of Grounds
  • Brad Jefferies – Colchester United Football Club, Head Groundsman
  • Ben Kim – K-League, The member of Pitch Assist
  • Jack Langley – Ashton Gate Stadium, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Rob Langley – University of Cambridge Sport, Sports Grounds & Facilities Supervisor
  • Meg Lay – Lord’s Cricket Ground, Groundswoman
  • Jack Leather – Liverpool Football Club, Specialist Groundsperson
  • Oliver Mahon – Bradfield College, Head of Grounds
  • Maritza Martinez – St. Louis CITY SC, Associate Director of Stadium Grounds
  • John Paul McAvoy – Preston North End, Groundsman
  • Santiago Molinaro – Independent Professional, Agronomist
  • Kane Munday – Norwich City Football Club, Assistant Head of Grounds
  • Matthew Noke – Bristol City FC, Groundsperson
  • Daniel Puicar – Middleton Hall Trust, Head Gardener
  • Adam Radley – Stamford School, Deputy Head of Grounds & Gardens
  • Ethan Reed – Nottingham Forest Football Club, Pitch Performance Manager
  • David Ridley – Wiltshire County Football Association, Facility Operations Manager
  • George Sheath – University of Southampton, Grounds Advisor (Head of Grounds)
  • Aaron Stevenson – London Stadium, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Bradley Tennant – International Greenkeepers, Director
  • Aaron Tong – Hull City AFC, Head of Grounds
  • Ben Tuckwell – Nuture Group, Grounds Maintenance Operative
  • Dewi Williams – Football Association of Wales, Club Developer
Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

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Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

In the world of professional turf management, the battle against the elements is perpetual, says Redexim’s Paul Langford.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

As weather patterns become increasingly volatile, the “shoulder seasons” are no longer defined by light mists, but by high-volume precipitation events that test the limits of even the most sophisticated drainage systems.

For the modern turf manager, the challenge is twofold: maintaining the structural integrity of the soil profile while ensuring maximum surface availability for players.

When traditional aeration is no longer enough to move standing water, the focus must shift to secondary drainage. This is where the Redexim Vibra-Sandmaster enters the fray – not merely as a piece of machinery, but as a strategic intervention for long-term turf health.

THE AGRONOMY OF INFILTRATION: WHY SAND SLITTING?

To understand the value of a machine like the Vibra-Sandmaster, one must first address the “perched water table” and the physics of soil compaction. In high-traffic areas such as golf fairways,
football and rugby pitches, the upper 100mm to 200mm of the soil profile often becomes a bottleneck. Even if the underlying subsoil is porous, a capped or compacted surface layer acts as a seal, trapping water and suffocating the root zone.

Sand slitting is the surgical answer to this problem. By creating narrow, vertical channels and backfilling them with free-draining aggregates, we can create a direct bypass for surface water.

These slits do more than just move water; they facilitate Gas Exchange. By breaking the surface seal, oxygen can reach the rhizosphere, and carbon dioxide can escape which is a process vital for the microbial activity that prevents thatch build-up and promotes deep rooting.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Traditional sand slitting has historically been a multi-stage, labourintensive process: decompacting, trenching, filling, and brushing. The Vibra-Sandmaster redefines this workflow by integrating the VertiQuake 2516 into a seamless, one-pass operation.

1. DECOMPACTION VIA THE VERTIQUAKE 2516

At the heart of the system is the VertiQuake technology. Unlike standard hollow coring or solid tining, the VertiQuake uses a rotary action with offset blades. These blades penetrate up to 250mm deep, creating a “wave” action underground. This lateral movement shatters the soil structure between the slits without the heave associated with traditional deep-tine aerators.

2. VIBRATING COULTER TECHNOLOGY

The “Vibra” in the name isn’t just marketing. It’s the machine’s most critical mechanical advantage. As the sand is delivered from the hopper into the slits created by the Verti-Quake, the coulters vibrate at high frequency.

Technical note: This vibration serves a dual purpose. First, it ensures that the sand (even if slightly damp) flows freely without bridging or clogging the delivery chutes. Second, it “settles” the sand into the slit, ensuring there are no air pockets. An improperly filled slit can lead to surface “slumping” later in the season; the vibrating coulters mitigate this risk entirely.

EFFICIENCY AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL

In the pitch maintenance community, “window of opportunity” is a common phrase. With budgets tightening and fixture lists growing, the luxury of closing a pitch for a week of renovation is disappearing. The one-pass capability of the Vibra-Sandmaster is, therefore, a massive logistical win.

By combining de-compaction and sand injection into a single pass, grounds teams can:

  • Reduce man-hours: Complete a fairway or pitch in a fraction of the time required for multi-machine setups.
  • Minimise surface disruption: Because the machine is precisely calibrated, the “clean-up” required post-operation is minimal. Surfaces are often playable within hours of completion.
  • Monitor with precision: The inclusion of an on-board camera system allows the operator to monitor sand flow in real-time. This prevents the “blind spots” that often lead to inconsistent drainage performance across a site.

While the Vibra-Sandmaster is a staple on the links and parkland courses of the UK, its application in the municipal and winter sports sectors is growing. Local authorities managing public parks and multi-use games areas (MUGAs) face extreme compaction from heavy foot traffic.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

In these environments, the VibraSandmaster acts as a “reset button.” It allows for the introduction of highquality silica sand into native soil pitches, gradually amending the soil texture over several seasons without the astronomical cost of a full pitch reconstruction. Whether it is dry sand, damp sand, or even small-diameter gravel, the machine’s ability to handle various media makes it a versatile asset in a facility’s fleet.

THE LONG-TERM ROI OF PROPER DRAINAGE

Investment in a Vibra-Sandmaster should be viewed through the lens of preventative maintenance. Welldrained turf is more resilient to drought (due to deeper rooting), less prone to fungal pathogens (due to lower surface humidity), and more capable of withstanding the mechanical stress of play.

When a pitch remains playable during a wet November, the revenue generated from fixtures or the satisfaction of golf members provides a direct return on the investment in secondary drainage.

The Redexim Vibra-Sandmaster represents the pinnacle of sandslitting technology. By marrying the deep-channel decompaction of the Verti-Quake with a sophisticated, vibration-assisted sand delivery system, it solves the most pressing issue in turf management: water movement. For the professional seeking to elevate their surfaces and future-proof their facility against the climate, this machine is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.

Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market

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Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market: Susan Lindsay reports on Honda’s latest robot mower launch from its facility in Germany.

I’m off to Germany again and this time my destination is the Honda academy in Frankfurt. Having landed at the airport I am whisked along the autobahn. The German autobahn is a federally controlled highway system with no mandatory speed limit. We reach over 150mph and before you can say “Mercedes”, we are at our destination for the day’s events.

Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market

Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market

The Honda academy was built in 2009, amid the global recession. Honda were clear-thinking and freethinking enough to push on with this development when other companies were shrinking in fear of what the future looked like in the light of the financial crisis at that time.

The academy offers product training including new models, systems, maintenance, repairs and diagnosis. Non-technical elements also take place with communication, leadership and management training.

There is a dynamic area of 10,000m2 tarmac of 280m length and a training area for motorcycles and ATVs.

Press gathered from the UK, Italy, France and beyond, all eager to see the new Honda wireless robotic mower, the Miimo range.

The new wireless models Miimo 1500i and Miimo 2200i will eliminate the need for physical boundary wires. The user can map mowing zones and adjust areas to allow for evolving layouts.

The models have antenna-free network RTK systems, combining a high-performance RTK GNSS chip with 4G cloud connectivity.

The app interface is easy to use and allows you to draw a mowing area to fit your cutting needs. Honda’s car parking sensors work to ensure that obstacles are avoided with care, and the model can harmonise with the customers living/ working space.

Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market

Honda’s new Miimo robot mowers about to hit the market

With the massive rise in technology improvement and developments, Honda aims to minimise the feeling of overwhelm that the customer might experience and develop models in a timely fashion to stay in line with current needs and wants.

The autonomous and intelligent mower has capacity for high runability on uneven ground and slopes. The team is working on bringing out new additions in 2027 with all-wheel drive to ensure exceptional slope handling performance and outstanding agility on steep lawns.

Honda promise to service all customer categories, minimise burden and eliminate operating hassle. Their prediction that customers are going to want to spend less time cutting, remains to be seen. While smart technology has its advantages, is there really anything that can replace the human ability to achieve a high, fine tuft result?

I once worked at a world class golf course where for one summer, they cut a tartan pattern into the surrounding lawns within the five-star hotel grounds. Now, while this may be a niche market, can a robotic mower achieve the same results? Having worked alongside the greenkeepers maintaining this design, they would say “let them do it!”.

Some of the key features and functions of the Miimo models include multiple mowing patterns, including a chess-board style layout. So, maybe tartan isn’t as far off as I might have first thought. With high waterproof performance, the new models meet IPX5 standards and maintain high cutting performance in wet conditions.

This is a good thing for the Scottish market also!

Since the original Miimo launch in 2012, over 170’000 units have been sold and 99% were sold to the Europe market. The revenue last year was 144 billion Euros and Shin Yasui, General manager of power products says, “Honda’s robotic lawn mower business is a key pillar for future growth”.

Products will be manufactured at Honda’s dedicated facility in France. This facility celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It is Honda’s largest production site for engine-powered lawn mowers and supplies Europe as well as Global markets.

The Miimo series is a commitment to Honda’s global vision for creating carbon neutrality by 2050 and contributing to a more sustainable future.

The Miimo wireless models will be available in Europe from spring 2026.

The Picasso of St Paul’s

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The Picasso of St Paul’s: Scott MacCallum meets Dene Hey, who has made his mark since arriving in the UK from South Africa.

When it comes to rugby union there is no-one around at the moment to touch South Africa. They have won the last two World Cups and some of their players are the very best to be found anywhere.

The Picasso of St Paul’s

The Picasso of St Paul’s

It might come as more of a surprise to learn that there are some top operators from among the Boks when it comes to being a Grounds Manager too.

Dene Hey, pictured, is the man who proves the rule. Dene is Grounds Manager at St Paul’s School, in Central London. He took up the post two-and a-half years ago and has since been working hard with his cosmopolitan team to ensure the pupils and staff at the school have the very best sports surfaces and surroundings.

He is also a man who treats his grounds is the same manner as an artist treats a canvas. More on that later.

“As groundsmen we are always focused on the rugby or football pitches and want them to be as fantastic as possible. But at a school there is more to it than that – the rest of the site has to match up,” explained Dene.

“That was a big thing for me. I’ve worked with people in the past where they are so focused on the pitches.

But they are actually the last thing that anyone sees when they come to visit. What parents and pupils, and potential parents and pupils, see first is the entrance and the drive up to the school.”

To make the point Dene references his own first visit to the school.

“The first thing I noticed when I walked on site was the lack of colour variety. Everything in the grounds was green,” said Dene.

“That is nothing not a reflection on anyone who has worked previously, but more of a personal observation.”

Showing that he is a man of action as well as talk, that driveway into the school has been transformed over the last couple of years, making the most of the mantra that you only have one chance to make a first impression.

“As you drive in, the entrance is now bordered by playing fields on the left and a parking area on the right and we now have a flower bed separating the road from the parking spaces,” described Dene.

The Picasso of St Paul’s

The Picasso of St Paul’s

“We replicated this by installing raised beds along the entire length of the driveway which created a divide between the sports pitches and the main access road.”

Added to this, the team has built four new flower beds, developed new walkways, established wildflower meadows, and redesigned an entire section of raised beds to complement the landscaping around the new prep school building.

“Beyond these projects, we have also refreshed nearly every flower bed across the site, adding more seasonal colour to brighten the grounds.”

A man with a genuine attention to detail, Dene also noticed something else on his first visit.

“It was little things. The pitches were being watered, but the surrounds weren’t getting much water, or much attention,” he said admitting that he is a perfectionist with high OCD levels!

St Paul’s School was founded in 1509 and takes its name from St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s on a 43-acre site on the banks of the Thames, in Barnes. The list of alumni includes writers, John Milton and Samuel Pepys; Edmund Halley, of Comet fame, and more recently, scientist, Magnus Pyke; Nicholas Parsons; Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne; historian, Dan Snow; actor, Rory Kinnear and comedian, Hal Cruttenden.

The site that Dene inherited is not the easiest to manage, as half of the grounds are leased from Thames Water, meaning that, under the terms of the agreement, there’s certain work that cannot be undertaken.

“There are weight restrictions, we can’t put down any fertiliser, or any chemicals. The fields actually sit on top of a reservoir, so we have to deal with a lot.”

It does means that these fields are not where Dene and the team want them to be, but they do what they can to make them work.

“We’ve started with a rye and micro clover mix to help get nitrogen back into the soil. We use Agrovista for a lot of our products,” revealed Dene, who added that they don’t have drainage and irrigation across the site, but only on some parts of the school-owned pitches.

“Our fields are split into two. We’ve got four pitches on the one side of the school, which is on our land, then on the Thames Water side, we’ve got another six pitches.

Rugby runs from September to the end of December. January until March is football and then from March until July, the pitches transform into the outfield for the cricket, for which there is an astro turf strip, laid two metres to the side of the main pitch.

One of Dene’s aims has been to work with the coaching staff and Heads of Sport to get them more understanding of what can happen if you play on pitch which is borderline playable. It is a part of the job with which Grounds Managers up and down the country have to deal but Dene has built a good relationship and understanding with his colleagues.

“You can easily damage the pitch for the next month, and the next few matches, if you were to take a chance on a pitch. They now understand that it’s sometimes best to sacrifice one game for the benefit of the next four games.”

Dene has made a positive impact everywhere he has gone since arriving on these shores with his wife in September 2018, initially as a Workshop Manager for the Chelsea Motorcycle Group.

The Picasso of St Paul’s

The Picasso of St Paul’s

While a skilled mechanic, and champion motorcyclist himself, he had always hankered for an outside role, having worked briefly as a groundsman at the Durban Sharks Stadium, in South Africa, prior to leaving for the UK.

Of course that was prior to experiencing the delights of the UK weather!

Getting back to groundsmanship, he took an apprenticeship at The Spencer Club, a sports club in South West London, before gaining a position as a groundsman at King’s College School, in Wimbledon, where he stayed for just under two years.

From there it was to The Lensbury Resort, initially as a Senior Groundsman, before being promoted to Head Groundsman a year and a half later.

Ten months after that he was of to his current position at St Paul’s meaning he’d gone from Apprentice to Grounds Manager in less than five years – impressive by any standards!

“When the position became available for The Lensbury, it was perfect as we’d just moved to Teddington and it was a mile from my front door. SoI would either cycle or take my electric scooter to work.”

“It was a big change from King’s college and, because The Lensbury is close to Twickenham, they are often chosen to host international teams which are playing there. They stay at the hotel and use the facilities.

“There is a heavy weights gym, a full size swimming pool, two rugby/ football pitches – one full size, one 90 metres long, and then they’ve got grass tennis courts, clay tennis courts, and the hotel grounds themselves.

During the autumn internationals Dene could catch up with his compatriots in the South African team, as each of England’s opponents would stay at the hotel for a week before moving on to be replaced by the following week’s opposition.

“It was a really cool experience and it taught me a lot about dealing with coaches and how to handle certain situations.

“I got to meet some really great people in the industry including Jim (Buttar) from Twickenham, who has been a massive help in my career – a nice guy to have in my corner,” he said.

“Working with international teams there’s also no room for error. You know they want the best and they’re paying top money, so you’ve got to give them international sport quality. Anything less isn’t going to be accepted,” said Dene, who also threw in the fact that he’d also hosted Manchester United who visited twice before the 2023 FA Cup final.

His time at The Lensbury was also key to his professional development as it gave him an appreciation of working in the multi-sport environment which he now has at St Paul’s.

He has worked hard to bring his ideas and working practices into his new role and to bring his team along with him.

“It has meant changes from how they operated previously, when standards and expectations were perhaps not quite so high.

“Since I came on board I have changed or tweaked quite a few of the working practices. I think any manager who comes into a new role will want to do things their way as they know they work. It’s then the challenge to bring the rest of the team on board, but I’ve got a really good team behind me that works hard,” said Dene.

“Since I started we’ve managed to get an extra member of staff while we are currently looking to recruit another gardener.” The team is from all across the globe – and London!

“We’ve got Marcin Szczupak, who is from Poland; Blake McKay, from Australia; Miguel Bosman, who is another South African, and Dave Green, who is local. We also have Abigail Woodford, our Head Gardener.”

The Picasso of St Paul’s

The Picasso of St Paul’s

Their boss has certainly come a long way since he first started work at the Sharks ground in Durban, not long before he and his wife decided to relocate to the UK.

“If I’m 100% honest with you, when I started this job there, I didn’t realise just how much went into it. I knew absolutely nothing about turf and I knew absolutely nothing about sports pitches.

“I actually thought that somebody rocked up on a Friday, cut the grass and marked the pitch. Then everyone arrived on the Saturday, watched the match then everyone went home and the stadium would shut for the rest of the week. That’s honestly what I thought.

“So, it was nice to stumble upon an industry which I had no idea about, but which I now absolutely love.” That passion and love for the job shines through from Dene and he has an interesting way of thinking about the job.

“I believe that we’re almost like artists in a way and the pitch is our canvas. It gives us a way to express ourselves. It’s that feeling you get when you’ve cut a pitch and you’ve put in perfect stripes and you’ve got nice bright white lines.

“It’s just the satisfaction for me. Little things like hedge cutting when you get that perfect cut and it just looks incredible.

“To me, it’s all art. Our way of expressing ourselves. I don’t have a pencil and a canvas, but I’ve got a mower and some grass.”

Could anyone put it any finer?

A show for Scotland

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A show for Scotland: Scott MacCallum applauds the vision which has introduced a trade show for Scotland, by Scotland, to replace a lamented event which closed over a decade ago.

It takes foresight, imagination and determination to launch a trade show in our industry, but with The Scots Turf Show, which has quickly become a feature of the Scottish amenity turf scene, it also took a visit to the Golden Arches.

A show for Scotland

A show for Scotland

That is where Richard Heywood and Alan Thomson, both well known figures within the Scottish scene, came up with the idea of launching a Scottish-based show to fill the void left when the original Scotsturf closed its doors over 10 years ago.

“It was back in 2019 and we were having one of our regular catch-ups.

We got chatting about trade shows and we got on to wondered if we could bring something back for the Scottish market,” recalled Richard, of the pair’s meeting in the McDonald’s close to Ibrox stadium, in Glasgow,

“We really missed the old IOG Scotsturf Show and we thought that there must be a way of doing something which would bring back the sense community within the Scottish turf scene,” said Richard.

Richard and Alan, while never having been with the same company have worked alongside each other for many years, wanted to see if there was an appetite to do something along those lines. If there wasn’t, they would console themselves with the fact that they’d given it a try.

The chat continued and what came out of it was an Open Day held at Falkirk Tryst in 2019.

“The only way that we felt we could make it work was to get some companies interested in the idea and work together. That is what we did and that first Open day worked really well.

We thought it was a tremendous and were planning a bigger show for the next year. Then along came Covid,” recalled Alan.

After the enforced lay-off Richard and Alan returned with what they also called an Open Day, this time at Hamilton Racecourse.

“We really didn’t want to go to Edinburgh or Glasgow, as traffic can be an issue, but while considering potential venues, Hamilton Park Racecourse became a possibility,” said Alan, whose day job is UK & US Sales Manager for SIS Pitches.”

“We paid a visit, walked around the site with Mark Bemrose, who was Head Groundsman at the time, and we also met with the caterers, Sodexo.

We looked at each other and thought this place is absolutely perfect,” said Richard, whose day job is Product Specialist for Campey Turfcare.

“That year, 2023, it was effectively the 12 companies who we’d already working closely with at Falkirk Tryst. There has continued to be a group of us that gets together once a year and looks at the direction we should be going,” said Alan.

A show for Scotland

A show for Scotland

That first Hamilton event was a huge success with excellent speakers delivering interesting talks in front of a large and appreciative audience. Over 300 people attended and immediately plans were put in place for the next year – what the guys call the first The Scots Turf Show.

Well 2024 went from 12 companies to just over 60. Then last year, when the rain gods paid a visit, there were over 70 companies in attendance.

“This year we are looking to be pushing beyond those 2025 numbers,” said Richard.

One nagging issue that was at the back of their minds was what the GMA might think of the Scotsturf name being taken, tweaked slightly and becoming The Scots Turf Show.

Those concerns were quashed when Richard bumped into Jason Booth, the GMA’s Operations Director, at a Saltex a couple of years ago.

“I saw Jason walking towards me and my first thought was ‘Oh no, what is he going to say?’. But he was brilliant, very positive and full of encouragement,” recalled Richard.

Jason’s message was to go for it and if it was successful he’d be absolutely delighted.

“We’re actually paying homage to what it once was, and I think the GMA appreciated that,” said Alan.

The original Scotsturf, had been a fixture on the Scottish turf calendar for many years.

“It was great for bringing together everyone from the Scottish side of the industry. Initially it was a one day show and there was a real buzz about it,” said Richard.

“There were buses coming in, the place was rammed. It was just a brilliant occasion, almost like a mini Harrogate. It had that same kind of vibe about it.

“Then it moved to two days and transferred from the Lowland Hall into the Highland Hall but the show just wasn’t big enough to fill it and it just seemed to lose momentum,” he added.

While accepting that they are not in the same league at the UK’s bigger shows the guys want their show to aspire to be a little like that other recently launched show – GroundsFest, with a blend of fun and business.

But visitors to this year’s show – on March 4th – will see the developments that have been introduced since the 2025 edition.

“We’re going to try and have badges printed off so that people will have lanyards and badges so that we know who people are when they’re walking around the show field.

“Last year it was just swing the doors open and let everybody in. We gave away food vouchers which gave us an idea of the numbers coming through the gates,” said Alan.

“We’re also increasing the value of the food vouchers which will add to the visitor experience,” he added.

Another important element of the day is the education and, again, they are hoping to build on what they had delivered in previous years.

A show for Scotland

A show for Scotland

“We’re going to take more control of the presentations. Last time we gave exhibiting companies slots and told them that they could talk about whatever they wanted..

“This year it will be a lot less commercial and we’re taking control of who’s going to be talking and what they’re going to be talking about. Listen to top professionals within our industry imparting their knowledge should be a draw to people to come and listen,” said Richard.

The layout this year will be more compact and give it a definite feel of walking into an event.

We’re not a GMA, we’re not a BIGGA and both of these organisations have a wealth of experience, a wealth of knowledge, and are really geared up towards putting on events. We’re not, and we don’t profess to be, so we ask all our exhibitors to help promote the show. We provide email headers and footers for them to include in their correspondence to customers and suppliers,” said Alan.

The only other help that the Show gets is from Campey Turfcare, who offer admin support, but the guys are keen to stress that The Scots Turf Show is very much independent.

Looking down the line and to the future of The Scots Turf Show Richard is honest

“I don’t know where we want to take it. It’s down to the visitors. We could get a year where nobody wants to exhibit and then the show dies. We could get a year when nobody comes to visit and the show dies. So we’re really driven by what people want.”

On the other hand, they have to consider how to grow the Show if the momentum that has been created continues. “We are restricted by Hamilton Park, particularly the outdoor areas as there is a limit to the hard standing they can offer us. We’re also restricted by the car parking.

“At the moment, the outdoor areas could be a little bigger, but not much. If the weather allows, we want to run some demo areas as well. Indoor areas can be increased substantially. We will find space and we don’t turn anybody down.

“Anybody wants to come and exhibit, it’s all inclusive!” said Richard.

Looking beyond that?

“If the show decides to get much bigger we would move it, we’re not wedded to Hamilton. Its natural home might be Ingleston, but we are mindful of costs increasing when you move to these big venues. And that increases the risk,” explained Richard.

At the current rate of trajectory those might be good problems to have but as it stands The Scots Turf Show is moving along nicely and 2026 is shaping up to be a must visit event for everyone in the Scottish turf industry.