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Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

September 4, 2026/in Events, News, Press Release/by Admin

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026 SALTEX has unveiled an exceptional line-up of headline speakers for its prestigious Learning LIVE education programme, including experts from UEFA, STRI, Agrii (Envirofield), SAPCA, LaboSport and the Football Foundation. Bringing together experts from across sport, science and industry, the programme will provide visitors with direct access to the […]

Putting a plan in place

September 4, 2026/in Turf Spotlight/by Admin

Putting a plan in place Scott MacCallum catches up with George Mills, of Bedford School, who has spent the last two years implementing a plan to make the grounds as good as they could possibly be. George Mills took over as Head of Grounds at Bedford School a couple of years ago at a very […]

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

September 4, 2026/in Events, News, Press Release/by Admin

Putting a plan in place

September 4, 2026/in Turf Spotlight/by Admin

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

September 4, 2026/in Events, News, Press Release/by Admin

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

SALTEX has unveiled an exceptional line-up of headline speakers for its prestigious Learning LIVE education programme, including experts from UEFA, STRI, Agrii (Envirofield), SAPCA, LaboSport and the Football Foundation.

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

Bringing together experts from across sport, science and industry, the programme will provide visitors with direct access to the latest thinking, research and real-world experiences shaping the future of grounds management.

Taking place across the Main Stage, Spotlight Stage and Community Sport Stage, Learning LIVE 2026 will bring together some of the most influential voices in sports turf management, environmental sustainability, water stewardship, scientific research, and grassroots sport. Through diverse expert-led sessions, visitors will gain practical insights, cutting-edge knowledge and lessons learned from professionals operating at the highest level of the industry.

Opening the programme is Lee Guerriero of UEFA, who will take to the Main Stage to deliver a highly anticipated session, ‘Review of UEFA Club Season 2025/2026 and a Preview of EURO 2028 Pitch Programmes’. Offering a unique perspective from one of world football’s governing bodies, Guerriero will reflect on the latest UEFA club competitions while looking ahead to the planning, preparation and expectations surrounding UEFA EURO 2028.

Hot off the back of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Greg Whately, Principal Consultant at STRI, will discuss the delivery of exceptional playing surfaces for major international tournaments. Greg will share valuable insights into the planning, preparation and performance standards required to support football’s biggest events, offering practical lessons for turf professionals operating at every level of the game.

Technology and innovation will be firmly in the spotlight during a session from Dr Ruth Mann of Agrii (Envirofield), who will explore ‘The Role of Technology in Turfcare Management’. Her presentation will examine how emerging technologies are transforming decision-making, improving efficiencies, and helping turf professionals deliver high-performing, sustainable surfaces.

Research-led learning will form another key strand of the programme. On the Spotlight Stage, Dr Christian Spring of STRI will headline the European Turfgrass Society Takeover with a session entitled ‘Putting Science and Research at the Heart of Turfgrass Management’. Visitors will gain valuable insight into how evidence-based approaches and scientific innovation are helping shape the future of turfgrass management across Europe.

With water management continuing to dominate industry agendas, Tony Hanson will present ‘From Problem to Resource: Unlocking Alternative Water for Turf Irrigation’ on the Main Stage. His session will explore innovative and sustainable approaches to water sourcing, offering practical solutions for organisations facing increasing pressure on traditional water supplies.

Also on the Spotlight Stage, Dr Kathryn Severn join the SAPCA Takeover session, ‘The Latest Trends in Player-Surface Interactive Research’. Her presentation will examine the latest findings surrounding the relationship between athletes and playing surfaces, providing valuable insight for professionals seeking to balance performance, safety, and sustainability.

GMA Grounds Manager of the Year 2026, Karl McDermott, will lead two Learning LIVE sessions, drawing on his experience at some of the UK’s most prestigious sporting venues. In the session, How Strong Team Culture Ensures Success at the AELTC, Lord’s Cricket Ground, the University of Leeds and Leicester City Football Club, Karl will explore how effective leadership, collaboration and a positive workplace culture underpin consistently high standards across a diverse range of world-class facilities.

The Community Sport Stage will feature expert guidance aimed at helping grassroots sports clubs’ access vital funding and resources. On 12 November, Ruby Armitage, PitchPower Project Officer at the Football Foundation, will present ‘How to Obtain a Machinery Grant’. Drawing on her experience supporting clubs and facilities across the grassroots game, Ruby will provide practical advice on securing funding for essential equipment and improving the long-term sustainability of playing surfaces.

Geoff Webb, CEO of the Grounds Management Association, said: “Learning LIVE has become one of the defining attractions of SALTEX, bringing together world-class expertise and practical knowledge that visitors can take back to their organisations. This year’s speaker line-up reflects many of the key issues shaping the future of grounds management, from major tournament preparation and climate resilience to scientific research, technological innovation, and grassroots facility development. We are delighted to welcome such an outstanding group of speakers to SALTEX 2026.”

As the industry’s leading platform for professional development, networking, and innovation, Learning LIVE continues to provide SALTEX visitors with unparalleled access to the people and organisations driving progress across the grounds management sector.

SALTEX 2026 takes place on 11 and 12 November at the NEC Birmingham, with all Learning LIVE sessions included free as part of visitor registration.

For more information and to register for free, visit www.saltex.org.uk

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Putting a plan in place

September 4, 2026/in Turf Spotlight/by Admin

Putting a plan in place

Scott MacCallum catches up with George Mills, of Bedford School, who has spent the last two years implementing a plan to make the grounds as good as they could possibly be.

Putting a plan in place

George Mills took over as Head of Grounds at Bedford School a couple of years ago at a very good time.

The school had just made a conscious decision to refocus on their sporting provision and to put the resources in place to enhance what had always been a key element of the school.

At his interview the school agreed that money would be invested in bringing the facilities back to a level which had seen the talents nurtured of such figures as 1924 Olympic 100 metres Champion – and Chariots of Fire star – Harold Abrahams, and England Cricket Captain, and record runs and 100s maker, Sir Alistair Cook.

In addition, from rugby former pupils include Martin Bayfield and two current England internationalists, George Furbank and Fraser Dingwall. Emilio Gay has also just broken into the England Test cricket team. It is quite a legacy.

“When I walked around the site, I could see areas where we could make some tweaks,” admitted George, who added that he had found some wicket mowers which were older than him.

At his interview, George discovered that the school wanted to put a long term plan in place for their sport provision to ensure that their place as the premier private school in the area was maintained.

“They’ve been absolutely superb because, since the day I came in, they’ve been true to their word and backed me with equipment and funding for projects,” said George, who had an unfortunate start to his Bedford career, when clipped his knee with a hedge trimmer, taking him off his feet for a period.

But for every cloud there is a silver lining, and it proved to be an accident which brought some benefits.

“It actually gave me time to sit down and assess the equipment we had, and I wrote up a long-term procurement plan for the site. It ended up being a real positive because we ended up getting a big influx of equipment straight away off the back of it.”

So, what was top of his to-do list once George and his team got going?

Putting a plan in place

“We started to do more work inhouse. Previously they would bring in a contractor twice a year to spray for weeds and it was done to the contractor’s schedule rather than the optimum time for it to be done.

“We moved it in-house and having targeted sprays at times when they would be most effective. I was also putting in some nitrogen and some pH buffers to make sure the pH level was correct. So, we got the best possible strike rate.”

Remaining on that to-do list, but creeping nearer the top, is the first team rugby pitch which currently has a 40 mil thatch layer.

“The plan is to remove that 40 mil, stone bury the next three to four inches, integrate 300-400 tonnes of sand and level it all off. We’ll then create a sort of homogenous pitch that’s not too different from the native soil.”

George also found issues with the drainage on the predominately heavy clay site.

“My view is that drainage that had been put in had been overspeced. It’s great in the winter, but when we get into April the pitches would suffer.

“We’ve got 80 mil drains at three metre spacings and we can’t retain moisture during dry spells,” said George, who is working out how best to move to six metre spacing in the future.

The irrigation issue has already been addressed.

“When I started, we had three main water points dotted around the field which had around one bar of pressure each. It just wasn’t fit for purpose.

“We’ve installed over a 1,000 metres of irrigation pipe; installed a borehole; a couple of tanks and pumps.

“All of the cricket squares now have pop up irrigation, and the first team rugby pitch this year also has had pop up irrigation. The whole system has been designed so we can keep adding to it.”

The idiosyncracies of the site don’t end there.

“When I started the first team rugby pitch had a cricket square in the middle of it. It was literally on the 22 metre line at one end.

“In the winter, it would flood and they’d have games called off, or they’d resort to having to move the scrums across the pitch because of the potential damage to the square,” he explained.

Fitting sufficient pitches into a finite piece of land and doing so in the most efficient manner was another brain teaser.

Putting a plan in place

“One of our biggest projects was last summer when we installed three new cricket squares and reconfigured the entire field.

“We moved every rugby pitch at least a few metres and adjusted the angles of the first and second team cricket square. We also had a third cricket square to one side of the site.

“This was a major team effort and it took us ages to come up with a plan of how we could end up with more cricket squares and better quality rugby pitches by reconfiguring such a finite amount of space.”

The new configuration was introduced in August last year and played this year.

“We’ve had really positive feedback on how they played this year,” said George, who added that the new layout is much easier on the eye with the striping all going in the same direction and avoiding strange angles.

There was also one thing that had niggled George from the day he had walked onto the grounds. There was something about that first team rugby pitch which didn’t quite seem right.

“It came to a head when I watched the guys erecting the 13 metre steel rugby posts at the beginning of the season. They were old fashioned posts and for health and safety reasons I decided that we should have hinged posts that could be erected in a much safer manner.”

So new hinged posts were purchased for every pitch.

“The posts had been in place for an extremely long time, and replaced in 2022, but when we were reconfiguring the field in 2025 we noticed that the first team pitch was off – wider on one side than it was on the other.

“So, when we went to the hinged posts we took the opportunity to rebalance the pitch,” said George, adding that it was one of those things that once you’d seen you couldn’t un-see.

With rugby mandatory at Bedford School and such a big roll coupled with a small site, George and the team also have their work cut out when it comes to preparing and repairing pitches throughout both the rugby and cricket seasons. Football provision has been enhanced in recent times too. There are also two full sized astroturf hockey pitches.

“We can go from 10 fixtures in quieter times to over 30 a week at our peak. It means that turnaround time for pitch preparation can be extremely tight.

“We go straight into renovating the cricket squares, which we now do in-house, then, after that, we’ll go into setting up all of the rugby pitches. It turns around pretty quickly.

For George groundsmanship is very much in the blood.

“My father, Bob, is a groundsman. He has spent the last 11 years at the Royal Artillery Company, in London, and is retiring later this year, while my brother is also a groundsman at the Odney Club, in Reading.

Putting a plan in place

“I love it and can’t imagine ever doing anything else. I used to be told off at school for not doing my homework. I remember once, when I was 12 years old, leaving school, walking up to the football club at Bishop’s Stortford, and cutting the pitch with a G860 for a West Ham reserve game in the evening. That’s why I hadn’t done my homework.”

He is also delighted to be at a place where there is so much variety.

“A school is a bit of a Swiss Army knife. I think that’s the coolest bit.

Particularly somewhere like Bedford where we’ve got so many historic issues. We need to resolve so many different issues for some many different sports with such short turnaround windows.

“The hardest bit of the job is to accept when the field doesn’t look nice. I hate July and August because you spend all year trying to make it as good as you can and then you just watch it die.

“Then off you go again in September and they’ll be playing rugby six days a week.”

There are five in the Grounds Team including George. There is his Deputy James Griffin, who arrived last year from a golf background, Andrew “Moose” Brightman, Glenn Denny and Anthony Maylor. There is also a Gardens Department team of three.

Between the five members of the Grounds Team there is around 90 years of industry experience, a bank of knowledge and experience that would be hard to replicate at many other schools.

Indeed, George himself completed the GMA Level 5 Technical and Sports Turf Management qualification before he joined the school.

“One of the biggest successes has been the development of a more multiskilled team. They tackle far more of the servicing, repairs and machinery set-up in-house than before, which helps to build knowledge and reduce reliance on external support,” explained George.

“I have told the school that I think it’s incredibly rare to find a team of five with that much quality. Within the next year, we’re going to have our least qualified member of staff, either someone with 20 years’ experience, or someone with seven or eight years’ experience and a Level Three qualification.”

George is also quick to recognise the support that he has had from Charlie Seager, at Agrovista, and Duncan Toon, Head of Grounds at nearby Warwick School, who have both been generous and quick with their advice.

Likewise, companies such as JK Irrigation and Elite Sports Turf have worked closely with the in-house team on the major projects.

“Rather than simply carrying out their work and leaving they have involved our team throughout the process giving us valuable learning experiences.”

Having achieved so much in the first two years, George has prepared his line managers for the fact that such a rate of progress can only slow.

“I’ve said to my boss that we’ve probably made a 30% improvement over those two years. Going forward that will reduce and we might see 5% and then 2%. Beyond that, it’s about what finances can be provided to make further advances,” said George, who is realistic enough to appreciate that external financial pressures inevitably play a role in how quickly projects can be delivered.

“But we are continuing to make steady progress with our long term plans.

George is not someone who looks back, but if he were to, he’d appreciate just far he and the team have come over the past two years.

Looking forward can only be exciting for all concerned. Perhaps they will have facilities fit for Britain’s next Olympic sprint champion, or another record breaking cricketer.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

Putting a plan in place

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

Putting a plan in place

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

Industry leaders and innovators headline SALTEX 2026

Putting a plan in place

Putting a plan in place

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