Tag Archive for: Centre

Ventrac package for Leicester training centre

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Ventrac package for Leicester training centre: Leicester City Football Club, last season’s FA Cup winners, is the latest organisation to appreciate the multiple benefits of Ventrac.

Delivered by local dealer, Farols, the package included a Ventrac 4500 all-terrain compact tractor in dual-wheel configuration, a Contour mowing deck, Trencher and Power Broom and will be used to maintain their new world-class training centre of at Seagrave in Leicestershire.

Ventrac package for Leicester training centre

Ventrac package for Leicester training centre

Following a demonstration earlier this year and with input from his team, John Ledwidge, Head of Sports Turf and Grounds at the Premier League club, specified the purchase.  He is an integral part of the team that has developed the world-class training facility, where he oversees the management and development of the 180-acre site. This includes the equivalent of 14 turf pitches, synthetic pitches, a 9-hole golf course and the world’s first dedicated Sports Turf Academy.

Commenting on the latest addition to the machinery fleet, he said,

“Our owner is passionate about this football club and the community we share. He wants the very best and this facility demonstrates that commitment. We all share his vision and our aim is to make this the premier training centre in Europe.

“To be fair, we took a lot of our inspiration from the exceptional job Darren Baldwin has done at Tottenham’s facility, where we first saw the Ventrac in action during the research phase of the plan. I’d also seen it at various trade fairs and in the media. We needed a machine that was highly versatile, that can help us here improve a site that’s going to be constantly evolving over the next five years.

“The Contour deck helps us maintain the numerous banks and sloped areas around the complex, including ‘Mount Vardy’, the nickname we’ve given to a landscaped area of unused spoil from the original build. It is also used on the golf course where its articulated design prevents scalping. We’ve used the Trencher to insert drainage bands in some particularly wet areas of the golf course and the Power Broom does a great job on the pathways and carparks. It’s all about quality presentation and the versatility of the Ventrac helps us achieve the high standards demanded here.”

Chris Minton is the club’s Head Mechanic, supervising a team of three in the state-of-the-art Maintenance Facility located within the Sports Turf Academy building. Commenting on the Ventrac he said, “It’s a very good and impressive piece of kit; robustly constructed and powerful, considering it has a sub-25 hp engine. It’s simple to work on, all the belts are easily accessible as are the greasing points and the flip-up decks make our job easier when we need to access the blades or blade spindles. Definitely a very good addition to our fleet.”

John Ledwidge’s career

John began his career in 2002 as an apprentice groundsman at Coventry City where, at the tender age of 19, he was promoted to Deputy Head Groundsman. In 2008 he was appointed Assistant Grounds Manager at Aston Villa and 18 months later returned to Coventry to take up the Head Groundsman role, where he was responsible for directing pitch preparations for the London 2012 Olympics at the City of Coventry Stadium (now the Ricoh Arena).

Following the much-publicised issues at Coventry during this time, he then joined Ricoh Arena in the role of Grounds Manager and in 2014 was successful when he applied for Head Groundsman’s position at Leicester City. In 2016 he was promoted to Grounds Manager and then in July 2019 he took up his current role as Head of Sports Turf and Grounds, where he leads a team of 52 staff working across multiple sites and is actively involved in the ongoing development and investment in the class-leading sports turf surfaces at the club.

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John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

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John Deere’s new apprentice training centre: John Deere and training provider ProVQ have announced plans to open a brand new Apprentice Training Centre this autumn, at a farm site in Upper Saxondale near Bingham in Nottinghamshire. This will mark the 30th anniversary of the company’s first Ag Tech apprentice intake, who were enrolled at original partner Brooksby Melton College in 1992.

Designed specifically and solely for John Deere dealer apprentices attending the company’s award winning Ag Tech, Turf Tech and Parts Tech training programmes, the first John Deere Apprentice Training Centre was established at Radcliffe-on-Trent five years ago. These premises have now been outgrown, due to the programmes’ success and increasing dealer demand.

John Deere's new apprentice training centre

John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

The Ag ,Turf and Parts Tech apprenticeships focus on developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for dealer personnel of the future. Each year group trains at the centre for up to eight weeks a year in four blocks of two weeks. Some of this time is also spent at John Deere’s Langar HQ when working with the largest equipment and the latest technologies.

John Deere appointed ProVQ Limited in summer 2015 as its new business partner to deliver the apprentice training programmes on behalf of its dealers in the UK & Ireland. Since that time the strength of the partnership has allowed the programmes to develop and grow to meet the needs and expectations of a modern John Deere dealership. The current full-time ProVQ staff will continue to be managed by James Haslam at the new Apprentice Training Centre from the autumn.

ProVQ started its apprentice training programmes in 2005, and went on to develop a full range of national services including apprentice recruitment, training, vocational assessment and qualifications. Today the company trains over 600 apprentices and many hundreds of adult learners on technical, parts and customer service programmes.

“We are really looking forward to establishing this new bespoke facility close to our UK headquarters at Langar,” said John Deere Limited training centre manager Allan Cochran. “Our joint investment in the expanded Apprentice Training Centre will be in the region of £1.5 million. This will allow us to continue our growth and ambition to attract more young talent to develop successful careers in land-based engineering through the John Deere agricultural, turf and forestry dealer network.

“As our dealership businesses continue to grow, there is increasing demand for qualified technicians equipped with the correct knowledge and skills to support that growth. We have therefore recognised the need to increase the capacity of our already successful and industry leading training programmes even further.

John Deere's new apprentice training centre

John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

“The new site will feature a purpose-built two-storey unit in addition to refurbished and extended farm buildings, effectively almost doubling our available square footage. The premises will include a bigger workshop space as well as larger classroom and cafeteria facilities.

“Most importantly, this will give us the capability to double our throughput of trained technicians to meet dealer demand. ProVQ will maintain its current staffing levels and continue to provide the full suite of apprentice technician training programmes at the new premises.”

ProVQ managing director Stuart Jones added: “Together with John Deere, we have already jointly developed a very high quality training environment in which apprentices can learn to master the technology that underpins the company’s comprehensive agricultural and amenity turf product ranges.

“We are now looking forward to seeing many more young people come through the doors of our new training centre at the start of what is undoubtedly a very exciting and rewarding career in engineering and parts support. The facilities we are developing will help them to achieve their full potential in a rapidly changing industry that offers a great opportunity to work with some of the most advanced technologies supporting food production, land management and environmental sustainability.”

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Centre Court Steam Cleaned

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Centre Court Steam Cleaned: The famous Centre Court at Wimbledon has been steam cleaned to kill off any nasty pests lurking beneath the surface, head groundsman Neil Stubley said. 

The All England Club first trialled steam sterilising in 2017 and is now rolling it out around the courts.

Centre Court Steam Cleaned

The technique involves covering the grass with polytunnels, drilling holes into the soil and blasting in steam, as the club adapts its practices in response to climate change and environmental concerns.

“We’re very conscious about pesticide usage now,” said Stubley.

“We’ve started looking at alternatives to managing weeds, pests and diseases. We’re looking at steam sterilising as part of our annual maintenance of the courts.

“As soon as you take that steam away, it’s just cold water. There’s no residual effect.”

The technique has been used for around a century, particularly in the Dutch glasshouse growing industry.

“We put loads of holes in the court beforehand and then we start pumping the steam in. As soon as we hit 70 degrees Celsius, we know that it’s killed anything like spores or pests that may live in the soil.

“It gives us a complete clean surface. Then we shave the top off and then we reseed it and grow it back in for the following year.”

He said each court might need the treatment every five to 20 years.

Besides Centre Court, the Courts 12 and 18 show courts have also been done, with Court One, the second-biggest, in line to be done after this year’s tournament.

Managing the 18 competition courts and 20 practice courts is a year-round operation.

Each court is reseeded with a brand new surface after each championships.

The grass was changed in the early 2000s from a creeping grass to a more tufted perennial rye grass, meaning the courts are harder.

The firmness of each court is measured 25 times a day which informs how much water is sprayed on during the night. The drier the court, the more it is irrigated.

More than 20,000 measurements are done across the two-week Championships.

“Each year is a challenge because you’ve got a living surface. As much as you try and manage it, it will be invariably dictated by the environment.

“This year, it’s a fairly nice, even temperature. It’s low 20s, a bit of fair-weather cloud, nice blue skies, a slight breeze. It’s perfect for the player, the spectator and the grass.

“If you get a wet, damp day, the moisture in the air will naturally find its way into the plant and that becomes a little bit greasy. The beauty of grass is that you have to adapt to the environment.”

Stubley said there were 70 or 80 different plants around the grounds and some people come to see the horticulture as much as the tennis.

The flowers are rarely stolen but sometimes spectators sit on them.

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Makita’s New Factory Service Centre

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Makita’s New Factory Service Centre: Makita UK has opened a third regional Factory Service Centre (FSC) in the busy London borough of Hounslow.  This new FSC joins Makita’s HQ facility in Milton Keynes, which serves the whole of the country, as well as Glasgow, which supports the rapidly expanding market penetration of the brand in Scotland and northern England.  The London FSC will primarily service the essential London and South East region.  In order to offer the best service levels in the industry Makita is committed to offering improved national coverage for the benefit of end user customers, as well as the network of Makita distributors, by building these dedicated FSC’s.

While these facilities satisfy a vital role in providing technical repairs and maintenance services for all mains and cordless construction machines, and the rapidly expanding range of grounds care tools, including 2-stroke and 4-stroke petrol engine products, training remains the cornerstone of Makita’s marketing success.  It ensures that both authorised distributors and operators are fully conversant with the power tools they own, or may purchase in the future; how to obtain the best and safest performance from these machines, and how to maintain them for efficiency and productivity.

Makita's New Factory Service Centre

The first FSC to be opened is based at South Street, Glasgow, which offers Makita product training across the complete range of products; product servicing courses, as well as accredited courses such as the successful and certificated City & Guilds Correct & Safe Use of Handheld Power Tools.  A user or instructor certificate is issued upon successful completion.  Courses are available to meet individual needs and bespoke power tool training can be designed to meet specific requirements.

At each location the theory elements of courses are held in a lecture theatre, followed by essential hands-on practical work which is carried out in specially adapted and fully equipped training demonstration rooms.  Courses are of 1 or 2 day duration or tailored to specific needs.  The CITB certificated course, which can include a combination of in-house and on-site training, relates to abrasive wheel training, and both instructor or user courses are available.  Gas nailer user training, chainsaw cross cutting and service courses are also available.

Tony Coleman, Technical Manager, Makita UK, says: “We are already receiving a very warm welcome from all sectors of the power tool industry in this heavily populated area of west London.  If demand becomes similar to that we’ve established in Glasgow and Milton Keynes we will be looking for additional training personnel.  Both employers and operators will benefit from this convenient location offering improved local services to all customers.”

Makita's New Factory Service Centre

Makita has great experience in supporting worthwhile challenges as WorldSkills UK, APL Apprenticeships and Hire Association Europe Apprenticeship schemes to help support customers of the future with product and training support.  Employees and employers can benefit from Makita’s outstanding training courses, which compliment high quality power tools used by professional trades’ people, raising ambitions and abilities for many.

The Makita range is supported with an equally comprehensive range of over 4,500 accessories and consumables products.

For more news and product information about Makita UK please visit www.makitauk.com.  Follow us on Twitter @MakitaUK, Facebook.com/makitauk and google.com/+makitauk

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Olympic & Orient Welcome For New Sports Centre

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Olympic & Orient Welcome For New Sports Centre: An Olympic Gold medallist and two products of the Leyton Orient youth system have opened a new pavilion and sports centre at Ive Farm Sports Ground in East London.

Hockey midfielder Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE opened the Feel Good Too sports centre alongside Orient defender Sam Ling, goalkeeper Charlie Grainger and ribbon cutter Clare Coghill, the leader of Waltham Forest Council.

Olympic & Orient Welcome For New Sports Centre

Richardson-Walsh won gold at the 2016 Rio Games, after converting a penalty in the dramatic shootout win over defending Olympic and current world champions Holland.

The £11m scheme in Leyton masterminded by main contractor Wilmott Dixon is now the new home of the Leyton Orient FC Academy, which has moved from the Score Centre, that will now be redeveloped for housing by Taylor Wimpey.

The Feel Good Too Centre includes two floodlit all-weather pitches, a 60m running track, six volleyball courts, a fitness trail, 40 growing beds and a pavilion with changing rooms and a café.

Access to the pavilion is via three swing gates and three huge architectural tracked sliding gates, the largest of them 4.5m wide, that are clad with 358 fencing and form part of the building walls.

The innovative scheme was designed by Fifth Studio Architects, supplied by steel fencing manufacturer Zaun Ltd and installed by Zaun subsidiary Binns Fencing.

Councillor Coghill said: “This is a great new facility in Leyton that will act as a sports hub for the whole borough, as well as a place where local residents can come along to keep fit, take part in sports and make new friends in the local community.”

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