Tag Archive for: Allett

Dennis West wins Allett competition

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Dennis West wins Allett competition: What has been a tough two years for everyone has seen a huge rise in the number of people taking to their gardens with more time at home. The Allett lawn stripes competition is in its ninth year with entries welcome regardless of the size of lawn or where they are in the world.

Homeowners are encouraged to use their lawns to design the most eye-catching designs and show off the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into grass maintenance. The standard of this year’s entries has again been incredible, say Allett, with the top six entries coming from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the USA. This year’s judge was Andy Wain, Head Gardener at Euridge Manor and last year’s winner. An internal vote was done by a specialist Allett panel with the top six entries forwarded to Andy to pick his overall winner. First place went to Dennis West of Provo, Utah, USA, who was sixth in last year’s competition. The judges’ comment were: “This is a really clever design. The way the pattern flows around the house is fantastic – Incorporating both stripes and different cutting heights has come together to create a really outstanding piece of art. Congratulations! Beautiful’’

Dennis West wins Allett competition

Dennis West wins Allett competition

Dennis works from home as an instructional designer for a telecommunications company headquartered in Maryland, and worked as a graphic designer for many years. He has a BFA in Animation and an MS in Instructional Psychology and Technology. A little over three years ago, he moved to a newly built house that had no landscaping and over the next two years, he set to installing sprinklers and managing the hydroseeded lawn. He watched many YouTube videos on DIY lawncare and became more and more impressed by what he saw could be accomplished in a lawn. In March 2020 he purchased an Allett Kensington 20H and began raking, sand levelling and conditioning the lawn to grow at a shorter length. For this year’s competition, he tried something different from his first entry but decided it wasn’t good enough. Following more experimentation, he saw online some Zen garden patterns and felt that was a good place to start.

To design the pattern, he measured out the lawn and drew an outline in Adobe Illustrator. Accurate measurements were key to scaling down the lawn to make line widths equal to the 20-inch width of cut on the mower. Then, to get the pattern on the lawn, Dennis used a string and stakes to make the curves. He established the pattern over a few weeks using different heights of cut but felt it lacked something, so he experimented by adding directional stripes, but they obstructed the main design. To bring it all together, he used the mower’s brush cartridge, which helped the design stand out as if it was above the directional stripes. An additional challenge was that Utah is a high elevation desert, so accurately measuring and adjusting the watering was important.

“I am so honoured and humbled by being chosen as the winner this year,” says Dennis, “so many great entries were finalists, I really had some great competition. My family, friends, and neighbours are all so supportive and pleased by this honour, it’s really a great pleasure!”

Dennis now becomes the proud owner of an Allett Liberty 43 battery powered cylinder mower alongside the ALLETT Complete Lawn Care System of six interchangeable cartridges comprising an aerator, a scarifier, a lawn brush, a dethatcher, a verticutter and a 10-blade cartridge together with two cartridge stands.

Allett Mowers is a leading manufacturer of cylinder, walk-behind mowers – the ultimate tool for creating perfect stripes. They launched the first Allett mower in 1965 and the brand has since firmly established itself as being synonymous with creating stripes on lawns and sports grounds around the world.

The runners-up in the competition were:

2ND PLACE

Tim Sanken USA

3rd PLACE

Dale Buchanan-Murtagh, Scotland

4th PLACE 

Tito Triana from East Sussex

5th PLACE

Dave Boyd Scotland

6th PLACE

Sammy Graham from Northern Ireland

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Allett Awarded Queen’s Award

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Allett Awarded Queen’s Award: Today, Allett Limited welcomed the Lord-Lieutenant, Mr Ian Dudson, the Queen’s representative in Staffordshire to meet the staff and present a commemorative vase and ‘Grant of Appointment’ deed for the Queen’s award for Enterprise.

In April 2019 Allett, the Staffordshire based specialist cylinder mower manufacturer won the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2019 in recognition of its growth in exports and contribution to the British economy.

Allett Awarded Queen's Award

Allett Awarded Queen’s Award

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of:

  • Innovation
  • International trade
  • Sustainable development
  • Promoting opportunity through social mobility

Allett won this award after the company had demonstrated exceptional and year-on-year growth in export sales over a five year period  and had made a minimum of £100,000 in export sales in the first year of entry.

The Russia World Cup was an important factor in Allett’s overseas sales success however the Company has also seen a huge rise in sales to other countries such as America where sales into the top baseball and football clubs has been a strong and growing market.

Export Manager Dave Allett played a major role in partnership with Allett’s Russian distributors, Moscow based Unisaw, before the world’s biggest football tournament to supply host stadiums, training grounds and contractors with a range of Allett machinery.

Dave Allett and James Till (Allett Director) were invited to attend a Royal Reception at Buckingham Palace last summer.

“We’re very honoured to receive the Queen’s Award,” says Austin Jarrett, Allett’s Managing Director, “This prestigious award recognises our achievements and team efforts in bringing innovative developments in our mowing systems to meet challenges in overseas markets with large potential. Because of increased export sales the business no longer subject to the seasonality of sales cycles in the UK. Our mowers and turf maintenance systems are used throughout the world where they maintain sports surfaces and lawns to the highest standards. The groundsmen in the UK are acknowledged to be the best in the world and these customers demand the highest standards from their equipment suppliers,” says Jarrett. “This relentless demand from our UK customers over the years have driven our engineering team to improve and develop our mowing systems which subsequently help to produce near-perfect sports surfaces and garden lawns. Allett have benefitted from this and we are confident that we can deliver higher standards to the stadiums and lawns using our systems in the rest of the world. Every one of our machines proudly bears a Union Flag decal, and this really helps us in our export markets where the UK is revered for their lawns.

We will be hosting Pitch Maintenance training seminars in China this year,” adds Jarrett, “to help set standards and expectations for the playing surfaces in this huge country which is growing rapidly as a footballing nation. Allett is more than just a machine. We’re strengthening our technical support and embarking on a plan of new product development to concentrate on a wider range of grass and sports turf maintenance products.”

As part of the Award ceremony at Regal House, Allett’s manufacturing facility, Allett held a celebration on the 14th February 2020 to celebrate their success. The Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire was on hand to present the Directors with a ‘Grant of Appointment’ (an official certificate) and a commemorative crystal trophy. After an informative factory tour, the Lord-Lieutenant took the opportunity to talk with Allett employees over lunch. It was a special day for every member of Allett Mowers staff  who are extremely proud to have achieved the award and play their part in producing the machines used in some of the world’s most prestigious sporting venues.

Lord Lieutenant said;

“It was a privilege and delight to present a Queen’s Award for Enterprise today to Allett lawnmowers. Another Staffordshire manufacturing company leading the world in product design, performance, quality and reliability which has driven outstanding continuous growth in overseas sales over the last six years to achieve this well deserved prestigious recognition.

Great to be able to meet the entire workforce to offer congratulations and continued success.”

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Allett Launch Electric Mower

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Allett Launch Electric Mower: Allett Mowers invited industry leaders to Twickenham Rugby Stadium on May 14th to showcase the new Allett C34E battery powered mower and hold informal talks on sustainability.

Attendance at the venue represented football, rugby, cricket, Royal Households, Oxford and Cambridge University colleges and dealers. Austin Jarrett, Allett’s Managing Director, gave a talk on the company’s battery machine strategy and the technology behind battery electric power helping to drive the future for professionals. He emphasised the health and safety benefits of non-particulate power and sustainability with zero emissions at the point of use, low noise, low vibrations and minimum maintenance.

Twickenham Rugby Stadium’s Head Groundsman, Keith Kent, talked about how he maintains a world class pitch, providing the same standards whatever the use, be it international rugby, leisure events or even schools tournaments. The third speaker, sustainability expert Professor David Stubbs, presented on the challenges in the industry, using a case study of the London 2012 Olympic Games. His talk embraced climate change and how sport can help address major global ecological problems.

Allett Launch Electric Mower

The talks were followed by pitchside demonstrations with everyone allowed access to the hallowed turf and a very green pitch in bright sunlight. The Allett C34E was exceptionally well received with its battery packs and futuristic looks combined with the tradition and heritage of the Allett cylinder mower. Since it was first seen at Saltex 2018 Allett have spent the months in trials and further developments, to bring the mower to the stage where it is ready to go into production. Powered by the latest Lithium-ion system battery technology, the C34E has a new chassis design while maintaining compatibility with Allett’s renowned turf maintenance system. The mower has plenty of power to drive the interchangeable cartridges for powered raking, aerating and brushing. Delegates were shown that, just like its petrol counterparts, the C34E gives an impeccable cut and lays down Allett’s hallmark stripes.

Austin Jarrett says: “We’ll be using the debate and feedback from the customers to form part of Allett decision making and future planning in our battery machine strategy. The industry is rapidly changing and while we aim to be at the forefront we will only be launching twenty C34E this year. When a customer buys one of the first 20 machines we will work with them and their dealer on any developments of the machine before we go into mass production next year. They will become an Allett Pioneer Programme member and attend focus groups and factory visits and will also get exclusive Pioneer merchandise.” The consensus after the meeting was general agreement the industry is quickly learning about sustainability and recognising the need to gain greater momentum in the face of climate change.

01889 271503 www.allett.co.uk

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Queen’s Award For Allett

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Queen’s Award For Allett: Allett, the Staffordshire based specialist cylinder mower manufacturer, has won the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2019 in recognition of its growth in exports and contribution to the British economy.

A wholly British-owned company, Allett has designed and manufactured mowers for the sports and premium lawns market for over fifty years. The award marks a major period of development for the company, with ranges of new products launched to meet the needs of strong emerging markets. Allett’s main export success has been achieved with their professional products for sports stadiums and training grounds, achieving increased sales with the USA, Russia, Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Spain leading their top ten markets in the past three years.

Queen’s Award For Allett

“We’re very honoured to receive the Queen’s Award,” says Austin Jarrett, Allett’s Managing Director, “it recognises our achievements and team efforts in bringing innovative developments in our mowing systems to meet challenges in overseas markets with large potential. We’re no longer confined to the seasonality of domestic sales cycles in the UK. Our mowers and turf maintenance systems are used throughout the world where they are maintaining sports surfaces and lawns to the highest standards.”

Allett was the major supplier to the host stadiums and contractors in Russia for the 2018 World Cup football tournament. The company concentrates on assisting a World Cup country for a period of three years to help attain the striking light green-dark green stripes in time for the main tournament. Markets with large potential such as the USA offer access to developments for sports such as American football and baseball as well as soccer. South America, where previously they have not had the financial resources, is now a developing market, says the company. Allett has placed its first mowing systems in China where there are great World Cup ambitions.

“The groundsmen in the UK are recognised as being the best in the world and they demand the highest standards from their equipment suppliers,” says Austin. “This demand drives our engineering team to improve and develop our mowing systems which consequently produce world class sports surfaces and garden lawns. We have benefitted from this and we are confident that we can deliver improved standards to the stadiums and lawns using our systems in the rest of the world. This is because of the help we get from our great customers in the UK. Every one of our machines proudly wears a Union Flag decal, and this really helps us in our export markets where the UK is revered for their lawns.

“We will be hosting Pitch Maintenance training seminars in China this year,” adds Austin, “to help set standards and expectations for the playing surfaces in this huge country which is growing rapidly as a footballing nation. Allett is more than just a machine. We’re strengthening our technical support and embarking on a plan of new product development to concentrate on a wider range of grass and sports turf maintenance products.”

Allett recently launched and continue to develop products powered by Lithium-ion battery, with the advantages of zero emissions at the point-of-use, low vibration for the operator and almost no noise. To accommodate the growth of the business Allett recently moved their Hixon, Staffordshire base to a new, larger factory.  The company has an After-Sales team in place to support overseas national distributors and, as export sales grow, consider it is important to maintain the ‘brand value’ which has been a keystone to home market success. Allett say the recognition of achievement the Queen’s Award for Enterprise brings is a proud moment in its history, and one the company can bear as a premium standard into the export markets of the future.

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Allett Launch Uplift 86

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Allett Launch Uplift 86: Allett Mowers has launched the new Uplift 86 stadium rotary mower.

The new mower is built on the experience of the previous model, coupled with the feedback of groundsmen. This is an altogether solidly built, tougher machine with its stainless steel fabricated cutter deck and three piece, full width, steel roller.

Allett Launch Uplift 86

Allett has created an 86cm/34” solid and dependable stadium rotary mower in the Uplift 86. Twin, 18” contra rotating blades produce a high lift cut and vacuum for increased efficiency, making it the ideal mower for debris collection after matches. The 90 litre grass bag capacity means fewer trips to empty cuttings.

As you would expect with Allett, the rear roller produces the most perfect stripes. The cutting height is micro adjustable between 1.5 and 7.5cm (0.5in – 2.3in) and among the new features is an HOC front locking kit and lower handle stiffening.

The Uplift 86 features a five speed heavy-duty gearbox, with cast aluminium housing and steel gears, which allows the operator to select a comfortable forward speed with greater control in small, intricate areas.

Higher speed selection, up to 6.7km/h (4.2mph), quickly covers large areas for increased efficiency. There is a separate bail bar for the roller drive and blades which allows the operator three modes of selection: roller drive only, blades only or roller drive and blades. The blades are driven by the belt drive and there is a safety blade brake. The handle bars are adjustable for operator comfort.

Reliability and durability are inbuilt in the Uplift 86 with new chain self tensioning, bearing protection on the toothed pulley and solid front tyres running on bronze bushes, which are greasable for maintenance. A 223cc Briggs & Stratton 950E vertical crankshaft OHV engine featuring ‘Ready/Start’ drives the Uplift 86.

An optional accessory of an Uplift 86B fixed strip brush is also available with soft, medium or hard bristle.

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