Tag Archive for: Back

Ilkley Town back up and running

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Ilkley Town back up and running: Ilkley Town AFC is back up and running in the wake of flooding by Storm Ciara.

“We’re very pleased to be back up and running again,” said Richard Giles, chairman of Ilkley Town. “When Storm Ciara hit, the river burst its banks and came on to the pitch.”

Since then, 20 teams of players and coaches across the whole of the football club have been unable to train or play games for the last two-and-a-half weeks.

Ilkley’s first team, who play on the all-weather pitch at Ben Rhydding Sports Club, have relied on the help of at least 50 volunteers to bring the playing facilities back into use again.

“We’ve brushed and disinfected the pitch,” said Giles. “We’ve worked hard on it, and have had a lot of volunteers to come and help. We’ve had a great response from the community, and players, parents and coaches have all volunteered their time.”

When asked if the floods had disrupted the improvements Ilkley Town need to carry out to upgrade their facilities in case of possible promotion, Giles said: “It’s distracted us, but even during the flooding from Storm Ciara the decorator was inside the pavilion refurbishing the changing room while the flooding was happening. It’s built up higher than the pitch, so it looked like it was in the middle of a lake.”

The hard work by the volunteers has meant for the first time since Storm Ciara, Ilkley’s first team will be able to train in preparation for this Saturday’s West Yorkshire League Cup match against Carlton Athletic. Kick-off is 2pm at Ben Rhydding Sports Club.

With their last two games called off because of the weather, Giles said: “The players will be a bit rusty as they get back to match sharpness. However, every other team will be the same boat.”

Giles said Ilkley Town are just one of the teams who use the facilities at Ben Rhydding Sports Club affected by the flooding.

“The Ben Rhydding hockey pitch had been under water and the groundsman at Ben Rhydding Cricket Club has been working hard to get the pitch back into shape.”

He added that two grass 11-a-side pitches and three mini pitches used by Ilkley Town’s junior teams seem to be okay despite the flooding.

“They’re not too bad,” said Giles. “Once the river goes down, they drain well.”

Giles said the flooding caused by Storm Ciara is rare, and he said the only time he had seen anything like it was Boxing Day 2015. He also said the end of March last year was pretty bad as well.

“It has flooded four out of the last five years after not having flooded before that,” said Giles. “We’re just crossing our fingers that the worse is behind us.”

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Carnoustie give back to local community

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Carnoustie give back to local community: Carnoustie Golf Links are supporting a joint project with the Carnoustie Branch of Royal British Legion Scotland (RBLS) to provide bespoke hampers to those in the local area who could do with a little help this Christmas.  

The RBLS currently supports many families already, through their Food Share programme, which enables the Legion to ensure they are choosing the right items for each family when creating their personalised Hamper, in time for Christmas.

“It is very important to us, especially at this time of year, to look out for our local friends and neighbours. To be able to help, in a small way, with the Royal British Legion is the least we can do” said Michael Wells, Chief Executive of Carnoustie Golf Links.

“I speak for all at the Carnoustie Legion when I say that we are extremely grateful for the support that Carnoustie Golf Links gives us.  Their support to the FoodBank has underpinned our work for the past year and we are proud that the Links have chosen to support the Legion with a further £1000 for this project.” Davie Paton of the Royal British Legion, Carnoustie.

Having recently reached the milestone of £250,000 of contributions since achieving charitable status back in 2014, Carnoustie Golf Links have continued their season of giving by also awarding the Carnoustie Claymores £1500. The money will be used to install a portable defibrillator at Carnoustie High School and include training for club officials and High School staff.

Pat Sawers, Chairperson of Carnoustie Golf Links said, “We are delighted to be in a position where we are able to assist the town in providing much needed and potentially lifesaving equipment.”

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Bluebird back in the UK

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Bluebird back in the UK: Bluebird is back in the UK, with its new 125v Lithium-ion battery and petrol-powered ranges of turf care equipment.

Now supported by E.P Barrus; Bluebird, launching at BTME on stand 264, provides commercial, rental and residential users with some of the most reliable turf care power equipment in the industry- including aerators, power rakes, overseeders, sod cutters, stump grinders and hover mowers.

Bluebird back in the UK

Leading the future of turf care equipment is Bluebird’s new and innovative range of 125v battery powered machines, for electric performance equal to petrol – designed and built for professionals. The range includes an 18” and 22” power rake, a 17.5” and 19” aerator and a 20” hover mower.

The lower noise level allows you to continue to work during noise restricted times and in noise restricted areas.

Other key advantages include no exhaust fumes or odour when operating, no fuel costs, low maintenance, reduced downtime, significantly improved productivity and profitability and more environmentally friendly.

Bluebird back in the UK

For more information on our products go to bluebirdturf.com

Bluebird. Tough. Rugged. Dependable

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Back to basics

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Back to basics: This was the clear message emerging from a panel discussion on amenity management, held at SALTEX recently, and chaired by John Moverley from the Amenity Forum.

Whilst plant protection products continue to have a clear and vital role in managing pests, weeds and diseases, the need to take an integrated approach to the management of amenity spaces is equally important. The emphasis must be on preventative actions, ensuring all aspects of soil management, seed selections, cultivations and appropriate on-going management routines are in place to minimise impact and ensure plant protection products, when applied, are targeted and have maximum impact.

Back to basics

The Amenity Forum has produced a guidance document to assist in producing integrated weed management plans (IWMs) across all areas of amenity, together with a template to help in their construction. A supporter, Parks for London, is also working with the Forum producing a document to help in constructing policy statements on IWM, especially useful for local authorities. The Forum, subject to funding, is additionally hoping in the next year to produce similar guidance for integrated disease management approaches.

The Forum has also worked closely with the sector to develop the Amenity Standard. This will be fully launched at the start of 2020 and is seen as a game changer for the sector. Those operating in amenity management at the Standard will demonstrate their professionalism and re-assure all involved that practices undertaken on that amenity space follow an integrated approach and meet all requirements on safety and good practice. The Amenity Standard is a bespoke quality management standard very much like the Red Tractor standard in food and agriculture. Those operating to the Standard will be members of an approved and audited assurance scheme recognised by the Standard.

The Amenity Standard is designed to:

• Provide an industry benchmark
• Provide a basis for continuous improvement
• Focus on quality as an objective
• Provide assurances about the quality of the approved organisation and maintenance of the amenity space
• Ensure that quality assurance scheme operators recognised under this Standard use auditors with technical knowledge and experience of the sector concerned
• Promote confidence in organisations operating and providing resources in the amenity sector by provision of a robust and transparent standard

John Moverley, Amenity Forum Chairman, said ‘’the management of our amenity areas is essential and important and impacts on every UK citizen every day. The Amenity Forum promotes best practice and organisations who support this are committed to the highest professional standards seeking to produce safe, healthy spaces fit for purpose. Taking integrated approaches to amenity management should be the norm and, for those concerned with or employing operators for amenity management, I would urge you seek those signed up to the Amenity Forum aims and objectives and following our code. The introduction of the Amenity Standard will further assist in this process and we seek to roll it out across all aspects of the sector going forward’’

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Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top

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Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top: Scott Duff, head greenkeeper at Bovey Castle in Devon, is using a range of Sherriff Amenity products to help the club get back into the Top 100 Golf Courses.

Designed in 1926 by J F Abercromby, one of the finest British golf course designers of the last century, Bovey Castle’s 18 hole championship golf course is challenging and surrounded by the natural beauty of the Dartmoor.

Sherriff taking Bovey Castle back to the top

Scott, who has been at Bovey Castle for four years, started his turf career in football at Torquay United FC before switching to greenkeeping. He admits that it was somewhat of a challenging transition but claims that he has no regrets.

“When I was in football groundsmanship, I had always wanted to try greenkeeping but to be honest I was always worried that I would be out of my depth,” he said. “I went from looking after just one surface which had a fairly consistent maintenance regime to suddenly looking after a multitude of different areas – each with their own requirements. It was the biggest challenge in my career but also the best because I can confidently say that I love my job.”

Scott excelled in his new role and was rewarded two years ago when he was promoted to the position of head greenkeeper. Now, alongside Sean Bennett – course manager, the two of them have a very clear goal.

“We are a championship course which used to be in the top 100 but not anymore unfortunately. Quite simply our goal is to get back in there. I think with Sean’s knowledge of managing a course, his drive and his passion, along with the improvements he wants to make, I think it is very realistic.

“We are not a million miles away but we still have a lot of work to do and with people like David Chammings from Sherriff Amenity on-board then this will only boost our chances. David has really changed the way we approach our feed programmes and also some of the work we do out on the course because he draws up management plans which concentrate on what we should be doing throughout certain periods of the year.”

After consultation, David recommended a tank mixture consisting of iNTrench fertiliser 15.0.9 and GoGreen Energy bio-stimulant for the greens – two products which perfectly complement one another.

iNTrench is a controlled uptake nitrogen fertiliser designed specifically for the needs of professional sports turf. It gives up to ten weeks of improved blade colour and a higher quality turf with 66% the nitrogen rate of leading competitors. Its tank-mix partner, GoGreen Energy, is a concentrated bio-stimulant, formulated to assist plant health and relieve stress symptoms.

“Every course is different and you have to work out what is best for your site,” said Scott. “With iNTrench and GoGreen, we find that if we go at half rate (20 l/ha) every two weeks, then the greens seem to hold the nutrients a lot better. By applying it like this we notice healthier greens and also better longevity out of the products. This tank-mix has worked really well for us and there has been a big improvement in the greens.

“In fact, we also use this mix with the addition of seaweed on our tees if they need some instant colour-up.”

Scott also reported excellent results from Sherriff Amenity’s Aqua-Zorb 45 – a unique wetting agent, which helped him through a somewhat difficult summer last year.

“Last year, Aqua-Zorb was a real saviour for us. I would say that at least 90% of courses in the UK would say that the disease period for golf was horrendous last year and a good wetting agent could have saved money on fungicides and relieved the drought stress.

“We had such intense heat last year and Aqua-Zorb still worked incredibly well considering we were frequently seeing temperatures of 30°C plus.

“I feel we have been going through a massive transition period and this year we will see even more improvements to the course. The Sherriff Amenity products have played a big role in the success over the past couple of years and I can’t fault the service from David whatsoever.”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

For more news and insightful views, you can follow Sherriff Amenity on Twitter @SherriffAmenity

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