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The Man Who Beat The Beast

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

The Man Who Beat The Beast: When most of us were tucked up in bed, with the heating blasting and dreaming about what we were going to do with our football-free Saturday, Cambridge United stadium manager Ian Darler had other ideas. In depths of the night, the stadium manager travelled to the Abbey, flicked on one […]

Two Honours For The Belfry

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

Two Honours For The Belfry: The Belfry Hotel & Resort has further underlined its status as one of the leading golf resorts in the world after it was recognised with ‘Gold Flag’ status at the 59club awards ceremony, whilst its Director of Courses & Estates Angus Macleod was also named Greenkeeper of the Year. The ceremony […]

The Man Who Beat The Beast

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

Two Honours For The Belfry

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

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The Man Who Beat The Beast

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

The Man Who Beat The Beast: When most of us were tucked up in bed, with the heating blasting and dreaming about what we were going to do with our football-free Saturday, Cambridge United stadium manager Ian Darler had other ideas.

In depths of the night, the stadium manager travelled to the Abbey, flicked on one floodlight and got to work.

It was 4 a.m.

Heading towards his 40-year anniversary with the club, when we caught up with him just before kick off he seemed unfazed by not only the 3 am start that morning but also even getting the game on, despite it being only one of 10 to beat the ‘Beast from the East.’

“It would have been very easy to turn a blind eye and the game would have been off,” he said.

“But I just think you just do your duty. It’s your professional pride at the end of the day.”

Indeed, Darler and his team – made up of a dozen or so volunteers from CFU and his fishing friends – had a long-term plan to ensure the game went ahead.

The pitches had been covered for nine days but the freezing conditions were still proving too much for them to deal with as temperatures dropped to as low as minus-11 with windchil.

And a bit of ingenuity – from using a customised plough to getting the snow to act as an incubator – meant there was very little danger of the game being called off in the end.

“To be honest getting the game on wasn’t the challenge,” he said.

“We’ve have had had pitch covers on for nine days as I always work to a 10-14 day programme.

“Apparently I came in for a bit of criticism on social media because I took the sheets of yesterday but I could see quite clearly the actual pitch was frozen and the covers were insulating the frost on the ground.

“We saw snow was coming and that it was likely to climb to zero. Obviously zero from minus six, minus seven is a massive thaw so the troops came in yesterday for me, we got all the sheets off and blew the layers of snow off and I was praying for the snow last night as I’ve used the snow as a incubator previously.

“Got up this morning about 3.30 am and went outside and saw it was 0.5 degrees and thought, ‘happy days!”

“I got in here, put one floodlight on, cracked on and by time the safety officer turned up all I had was about 25% of one corner to do.”

His efforts were recognised and he was, along with the other volunteers, named the man of the match during the U’s 1-1 draw with Luton Town.

And as Darler said, it would have been easy to let this game slip away like a majority of those in the Football League did.

And that’s is what is most impressive about this all. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of heart and shows how much people really do care about the club, and Darler, who has a book coming out about his 40 years working in football, was quick to thank all those involved.

“I have got the most amazing team of ground staff, which is made up by stewards who have worked for me for over 30 years,” he said

“They just appear like the borrowers and then a load of fishing mates come out the woodwork to bail me out.

“Because they’ve worked with me for so long I don’t have to tell them, they know what the process is.

“12, 14 people showed up in the end and six, seven were from CFU and seven or eight are my friends.

“I’m a fisherman, I’m used to going out a three o’clock in the morning!

“It’s a nice end. I’ve been quite fortunate had a publisher come forward and I’m having a book out about forty years working within the football world.

He added: “These days are great. It just gives you the opportunity to I’m just as keen now as I was 40 years ago. It’s always a challenge.

“I just love the challenge.”

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Two Honours For The Belfry

March 5, 2018/in Industry News, Press Release/by External Source

The ceremony rewarded those destinations and personnel within golf who have shown exemplary customer service ratings following the 59club’s extensive mystery shopping assessments throughout 2017. The Belfry became one of only nine resorts across the world to achieve Gold Flag status, with its overall venue score up by some 11% from 2016. The spiritual home of The Ryder Cup scored particularly strongly within the ‘Tee Time Reservations’, ‘Arrival in Shop’, ‘Locker Rooms’ and ‘Food & Beverage’ categories.

“Our entire team have worked tirelessly over the last year to ensure the customer experience at The Belfry is as good as anywhere in the world,” said The Belfry’s Director of Golf Chris Reeve. “The Gold Flag award is testament to our expert team who continue to provide that VIP experience from the moment our guests book their visit right through to when they leave the resort.

“Moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in staff training to further improve the service across our golf, hotel, spa, F&B and conference facilities,” added Reeve.

Meanwhile, The Belfry’s Director of Courses & Estates, Angus Macleod was named ‘Greenkeeper of the Year’ at the 59club awards ceremony. Overseeing a supreme 96.1% score for The Brabazon within the ‘On Course Presentation’ category, Macleod was recognised for his meticulous management of The Belfry’s famous, 4-time Ryder Cup course.

“I’m delighted to win this award and would like to pay special thanks to my incredible greenkeeping team at The Belfry, who allow me to take a strategic role in the conditioning of our golf courses,” said Macleod. “Whatever day of the year, golfers coming to The Belfry demand a Ryder Cup-standard experience, so the level of detail required in our maintenance is up there with the very best in the world.”

The Belfry Hotel & Resort made several headlines in 2017 as it was named ‘England’s Leading Resort’ and ‘England’s Leading Conference Hotel’ at The World Travel Awards, whilst also being recognised as ‘England’s Best Golf Course’, ‘England’s Best Golf Hotel’ and ‘Europe’s Best Golf Hotel’ at the World Golf Awards ceremony. As well as the success in the 59club awards ceremony, 2018 has seen The Belfry nominated for ‘The Best UK Hotel’ accolade at the M&IT awards in March.

For more on The Belfry, visit

“Moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in staff training to further improve the service across our golf, hotel, spa, F&B and conference facilities,” added Reeve.

For more on The Belfry, visit www.thebelfry.co.uk, email enquiries@thebelfry.com or call 01675 238 600.

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Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

The Man Who Beat The Beast

Two Honours For The Belfry

The Man Who Beat The Beast

Two Honours For The Belfry

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The Man Who Beat The Beast

Two Honours For The Belfry

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