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The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Wycliffe Bowls Club head greenkeeper Keith Freakley and his assistant Raymond John Carter have both praised their recently purchased Dennis Razor Ultra 560 for its ease of operation. For the past six years, Keith has been looking after the stunning greens at Wycliffe Bowls Club, which can be found in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. As the club […]

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Admin

Paul ‘Tommo’ Thompson, head groundsman at Derby County Football Club’s Training Ground and Academy Centre, says he has been achieving “outstanding results” by using Rigby Taylor’s R14 100 per cent perennial ryegrass on a number of pitches. R14 – which comprises the Columbine, Poseidon, Duparc and Berlioz 1 cultivars – offers a host of advanced […]

The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Admin

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The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Wycliffe Bowls Club head greenkeeper Keith Freakley and his assistant Raymond John Carter have both praised their recently purchased Dennis Razor Ultra 560 for its ease of operation.

For the past six years, Keith has been looking after the stunning greens at Wycliffe Bowls Club, which can be found in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. As the club continued to grow and membership numbers soared, Keith brought in Raymond to take on the mowing responsibilities in order to enable Keith to concentrate on other areas of maintenance.

In taking their procedures to an even higher standard, Raymond was presented with a brand new Dennis Razor Ultra 560 cylinder mower – which made for the perfect start to his new role.

“The Razor Ultra has made life a lot easier for me. I was already familiar with Dennis, having used one of their machines at my previous club. That was an older model, which still worked a treat, but getting to use a brand new Dennis machine on my first day was just fantastic.”

“It is beautiful to handle, always starts with the first pull, and it cuts nice and even across the blade when you’re mowing. It also has a great roller to give you good runs on the green for that all important presentation.”

“I think it’s just perfect to use. It goes at a nice even pace and you can slow it down if you want to. In my opinion, it is the ultimate machine.”

The Razor Ultra 560 has been developed specifically to meet the demands of fine turf such as bowling greens, golf greens and cricket pitches. With a 560mm (22”) cutting width, the Razor Ultra 560 incorporates many key features including an 11 bladed cutting cylinder, ultra-short wheelbase for undulating surfaces, tungsten tipped groomer, compact handle design for extra maneuverability, click height adjusters and stub free transport wheels for easy transport from site to site.

Selected by many greenkeepers like Keith and Raymond for its quality of cut, the Razor Ultra 560 also boasts incredibly simple operation controls – something which Keith believes is essential.

“As a greenkeeper I don’t like anything too complicated – and in that respect the Razor Ultra is the best mower anyone could wish for. Before I purchased the machine I looked at other models but felt they were incredibly complicated to operate – I just couldn’t get on with them at all.”

“With the Razor Ultra it was totally the opposite. Instantly we saw how very easy it is to set it up and the click adjusters for a precise height of cut and controls are so easy that I think anyone could operate it.”

“The Razor Ultra is the first brand new mower the club has ever purchased – and the club has been going nearly 25 years. For that reason, we wanted to ensure we made the right decision and by all accounts we certainly did.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

April 21, 2017/in Press Release/by Admin

R14 – which comprises the Columbine, Poseidon, Duparc and Berlioz 1 cultivars – offers a host of advanced and unique specialised characteristics including rapid establishment and high tolerance to wear and disease, plus all-year-round colour and the fact that pitches recover very quickly.

Rigby Taylor’s R seed range is pre-treated with Germin-8 – a unique treatment of a cocktail of speciality penetrating surfactants, nutrients, sugars and mycorrhizae to stimulate and support accelerated germination and emergence. And, as Tommo says, “I’ve never seen such excellent coverage, colour and density on the pitches, even in February”.

He continues: “We started trialling R14 on the three first team pitches three years ago when I moved here (from the club’s Pride Park Stadium, where I spent six years), for seeding at the annual renovations and for subsequent overseeding, usually around September/October. We’ve used it ever since on these pitches – and subsequently on the Under 23 show pitch and the Under 18 match pitch – because it’s proved so successful. The coverage is fantastic and so is the wear tolerance.”

Paul oversees a site that has a total of 15 pitches which includes 12 grass pitches and warm-up areas, plus three artificial surfaces.

“We had the first team pitches re-laid in 2106, by SISGrass,” he continues. “These rootzone surfaces were ready for an upgrade – hence the new pitches – but we’ve continued our R14 programme on the pitches and never looked back.”

Explaining that because the pitches are used every day of the week, Tommo and his team of six grounds staff – Deputy Head Daniel Tunnicliffe and groundsmen Daniel Elevy, Paul Hitchcock, Sam Morris, Curtis Neasham and Mike Vickers – follow a regular maintenance regime of aeration, fertilisation and treatments, as well as cutting routines (to 25 mm in summer/27-28 mm in winter) to consistently present first-class surfaces across the site.

Each summer, every surface is Koro’d or fraise mowed (by contractor Talbot Turf, the company which also renovates the stadium pitch and a company that Tommo works closely with throughout the season) and seeded with around 30 bags of R14, then in the September/October overseeded with another six bags.

“Presentation and playability are everything,” he says. “I need to ensure that at least three pitches are ready for use by 10.30am every day (plus Academy day release every Tuesday and Thursday), and our established maintenance routines – and a hard working grounds team –ensure that we meet that demand.”

Now 31 years of age, Tommo has been involved in groundsmanship all his working life, starting off by helping out at his local cricket club where he used to play. “I was about 14 then and it is thanks to the groundsman Lee Spendlove (now a groundsman in Scotland) that I entered the industry, with a contracting company, before joining Derby County FC as an assistant at the stadium.”

With such practical experience underpinned by NVQ Level 1, 2 and 3 accreditations – “I’m hoping to sign-up soon for Level 4” – Tommo says that while “the trick is always trying to stay one step ahead in terms of pitch usage and the weather,” he adds that perhaps the most valuable lesson he has learned is “if in doubt, don’t do it”.

The R14 seed mix, however, is not the only Rigby Taylor product that he uses to keep the surfaces in pristine condition. The list includes Apex Organic mini granular and the controlled–release PolyPro and Microflow liquid fertilisers, as well as Blockade-LX black layer treatment and Activate R biostimulant – which, he says, “has been instrumental in creating root growth of 180 mm”. He also uses the Mascot Hi-Aktiv Amenity glyphosate herbicide.

Rigby Taylor’s Impact Glider line marking machines and Impact XP paint, which won the Queen’s Award for Innovation, also play a key role in pitch presentation. Boasting speed of use, ease of application, long-lasting bright lines and cost savings, there’s no measuring or mixing with Impact XP – the 10-litre paint drum is simply loaded to the Impact Glider and up to eight standard size pitches can be marked without the need for re-filling.

“Another major benefit of dealing with Rigby Taylor is the fact that I know that the company’s sales representative Mike Brear is always available,” Tommo concludes. “It’s great to have someone effectively ‘on call’ to provide any back up that’s needed.”

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

The Dennis Razor: The Ultimate Mower for Wycliffe Bowls Club

Rigby Taylor Products Help Paul Thompson Present Pristine Pitches For Derby County FC

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