Tag Archive for: Fleet

Merchant Taylors’ Extend Dennis Fleet

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Merchant Taylors’ Extend Dennis Fleet: Richard Ayling, grounds manager at Merchant Taylors’ School has purchased a G860 and a G30D cylinder mower to add to the existing Dennis fleet of two G860’s which the school already had.

Merchant Taylors’, one of the ‘Great Nine’ schools of England, has provided an outstanding education to boys since 1561. As well as boasting exceptional academic results year on year, sport is central to life at Merchant Taylors’.

Merchant Taylors’ Extend Dennis Fleet

There are over 80 acres of magnificent playing fields with an additional 200 acres of estates providing outstanding opportunities for a wide range of sports including rugby, football, hockey and cricket. The school is a regional centre for England hockey and also hosts a number of elite sporting teams such as Middlesex County Cricket Club, Saracens and Wasps rugby academies and has previously catered for the Australian and South African national cricket teams.

The presence of such sporting teams surely is testament to the quality of pitches produced and maintained by Richard and his team of ten. With exceptionally high standards to adhere to and a multitude of sports surfaces to maintain, it is vital that the team has the most reliable and best performing grounds maintenance equipment in their armoury.

Therefore, as a long term user of Dennis equipment, Richard was delighted when he had the opportunity to bring in a range of brand new Dennis machines as part of a complete fleet renewal.

The new Dennis G860 cylinder mower is lightweight at just 166kg; easy to manoeuvre and comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for – throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive. The mower also features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish on every occasion.

The Dennis G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide range of tasks which gives Richard the ability to use the G860 across more than one sports pitch.

“We use the G860’s across all of our winter pitches and they also do our squares in the summer. With cricket squares you need to get across them fairly quickly and these mowers allow us to do just that. As one person cuts the square another person follows behind with the Sorrel Roller and opens the top up slightly to allow a little bit of air movement. It works really well. It has cut our algae and other bits on the surface down and allows a bit more drainage through the surface.

Merchant Taylors’ Extend Dennis Fleet

“The option of having all of the different cassettes is great. We use the Verti-Cutter, the Brush, the 8-Bladed Cylinder and the Sorrel Roller – so we are building an armoury of attachments too.”

With over 30 acres of lawns and other grass areas to maintain, Richard completed his Dennis line-up with the purchase of a Dennis G30D cylinder mower. Designed and built following the same concept as the Dennis G860, the G30D incorporates a large-diameter eight bladed cutting cylinder to cater for a wide range of uses to leave a precise cut.

“At the moment we have two big lawns at the school and another large grass area. We use the G30D for this work but it is also a good back-up mower for the sports pitches.

“Previously we were using a 26” mower for the lawns and it had a fairly small grass box so we were forever emptying it. Since changing to the G30D we are saving a significant amount of time and we are getting an incredible finish and presentation – something that is extremely important here at the school.”

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

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Greenfingers’ New Etesia Fleet

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Greenfingers’ New Etesia Fleet: Based in Midlothian, Scotland, Greenfingers have renewed their fleet of Etesia groundcare equipment by purchasing 14 Pro 46 PHCS pedestrian mowers and a Buffalo 100 BPHP ride-on mower.

Established in 1991, Greenfingers offers professional garden and grounds maintenance and commercial soft landscaping throughout the Lothians, Borders and Fife.

Greenfingers' New Etesia Fleet

The contractor has been relying on a wide range of Etesia equipment for a number of years, and proprietor Jason McCran revealed how it all started.

“I had initially heard of Etesia through press articles in trade magazines – there were always good reviews and people seemed to rate them highly. That was a long time ago now and we’ve been buying the machines for as long as I can remember and every member of the team feels confident using them.”

As part of his fleet renewal, Jason purchased 14 Etesia Pro 46 PHCS pedestrian mowers and a Buffalo 100 BPHP ride-on mower.

Jason’s team use the Buffalo BPHP for the larger green space areas that the company maintains. Featuring a 100cm cutting deck and a 20.5HP diesel Perkins engine, up to 12,000sq.m. of grass can be cut and collected per hour. The efficiency of the unique cutting system allows professionals to work faster and operators see increased productivity as the Buffalo 100 excels when used on wet grass or in the rain. This machine is also fitted with a built-in grass collector with a capacity of 600 litres, and the hydraulic emptying system is controlled from the driver’s seat.

The Etesia Pro 46 PHCS offers extreme versatility with the ability to cut, collect and mulch without the need for an accessory. Built upon the DUOCUT concept of combining 100% collection and 100% mulching decks together, the Pro 46 PHCS delivers high performance without compromising the results of either of the functions. By crushing the grass finely, even if it is long and wet, it excels in its collection abilities. Fitted with a powerful 5HP Honda engine, the PHCS offers low vibrations with ‘soft grip’ handle bars which can fold for easy transportation.

“We predominately use the pedestrian mowers on small grass areas on grounds where we work with property managers, or around sheltered complexes for housing associations,” says Jason. “We find that by using the PHCS, we can govern the speed better because you can cut with it as quick as the operator can move”.

“The majority of our work is cut and collect and the Etesia mowers do this in wet weather better than any other mower that we’ve tried. This is what particularly drew us to them because in Scotland we are prone to rain throughout the summer months. We’ve never had any issues with Etesia equipment; they do the job to an extremely high standard and we have no reason at all to change.”

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

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Murray Hire Expands Först Fleet

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Murray Hire Expands Först Fleet: Bristol-based equipment and tool hire business Murray Hire Centres is expanding its long-standing fleet of Först woodchipper machines, after consistently being impressed by the superiority and reliability of the machinery.

Established since 1982, Murray Hire Centres is a close-knit family run business, now employing a total of 15 staff. With 600 account customers, the business has built itself a reputation as the best one-stop shop for equipment and tool hire in Bristol and the surrounding areas.

Murray Hire Expands Först Fleet

Mandy Taylor, Managing Director of Murray Hire Centres, explains why the business has worked closely with Först since its inception and has chosen to maintain the relationship ever since.

“There are numerous factors that make the Först machinery stand out to other machines available on the market”, said Mandy. “We’ve always felt that, paired with the consistent reliability and efficiency of the machines, their smart appearance also makes them far superior against other competitors.”

At present, Murray Hire Centres has two TR6’s, one ST6 and one TR8 machine, with another TR8 currently on order. Ideal for remote locations, the TR6 is a compact and manoeuvrable chipper which comes complete with Först’s unique ForstGrip feed-roller system, allowing for even the toughest forks and limbs to be broken.

Mandy continued: “We have reaped nothing but benefits from having Först machines on our fleet. For the business as a whole, it’s allowed us to offer a full circle of products to our customers. The robust machines have been utilised in a variety of scenarios over time, from general arboriculture work through to site clearances for large company extensions, as well as housing estates.

“Despite it being a rarity to face an issue with the machines, the warranty and after-sales support offered by Först is superb, which really gives us faith in the products and provides us with the assurance we need as a business.”

Going forward, Mandy is confident that the relationship with Först will continue to strengthen.

“Since day one, we have always had a fantastic relationship with Först, and we firmly believe that the machines are the best chippers available on the market.”

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Increased Wiedenmann Fleet

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Increased Wiedenmann Fleet: South Wales contractors Peter Villars Sportsgrounds Maintenance (PVSGM) have doubled their aerator fleet. In January the Cwmbran-based family business added a Wiedenmann Terra Spike XD6 to their current Wiedenmann Terra Spike GXi8 HD.

Director, Iestyn John said: “We need to cover lots of ground fast. Clients want you in and out so they can get on with their business. Even at speed the Wiedenmanns can be relied upon do a neat and tidy job.”

Increased Wiedenmann Fleet

Ahead of the season launching Easter meeting at Bath Race Course, PVSGM spiked the whole race course easily within a normal working day.

Iestyn working with his father, Steve John, said because of relentless poor weather it was the first occasion they had the machines in tandem.

“The Bath track is about 7 hectares. We started in the home straight with the tractors facing separate directions.  Tine holders on the legs of XD are slightly further apart than the GXi8 so hole patterns weren’t strictly identical but matched closely. Both were set to 150 mm deep with heave at 10° as the roots are quite shallow and there’s a base of Cotswold stone beneath. We kept to a steady 3 km / hr.

“Last year the same job took us two days. Now with the extra Terra Spike when we see a weather window, clients will get the benefit. We can get the jobs done faster. “

PVSGM have been operating in South Wales and the South West for over 30 years. With several race courses on their books they also maintain and renovate bowls, tennis rugby, cricket and football surfaces as well as helping a host of synthetic customers.

For more information, visit: www.wiedenmann.com

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School Extends Dennis Fleet

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School Extends Dennis Fleet: Andy Richards, grounds manager at Shrewsbury School, has extended his existing fleet of Dennis mowers having recently purchased three new Dennis FT510’s and two new G760’s. 

Andy has been the grounds manager at the illustrious Shrewsbury School for nearly eight years and he and his team of eleven groundstaff tend to 120 acres of green space – three quarters of which are sports pitches. In addition to synthetic surfaces and other world class facilities there are ten grass pitches which cater for the School’s highly competitive sports teams.

School Extends Dennis Fleet

The boys compete internationally in cricket, and Shrewsbury School boasts a string of historically strong football teams. Rugby is played at a high level and girls compete locally and nationally in hockey, netball and tennis. It’s no wonder then that with over 800 pupils, many of whom participate in sports, that the sports pitches endure an incredibly high amount of usage. This, however, does not keep Andy and his team from maintaining them to an exceptionally high standard.

“The trick is to be pro-active rather than reactive,” he says. “We try to keep the standards of our pitches to those of the football league. In fact, our first team football pitch is definitely better than the pitch I had when I was the head groundsman at a professional football club.”

Andy chooses to use a variety of equipment from Dennis to get the best out of his sports surfaces. For cricket square maintenance he uses his three Dennis FT510’s and for football two G760 mowers.

“This is my third batch of FT510’s and they work extremely hard here,” he says. “We use them predominantly for cricket wicket presentation and through the cricket season we host 250 matches – they are used for every one of those.”

The Dennis FT510 is an interchangeable cassette cylinder mower giving users options to fit twelve different cassettes including scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, spikers and slitters as well as 5 or 10 blade cutting cassettes.

“We’ve got a wide range of cassettes and by having the three machines we have the ability to use a different cassette in each one. We might have a cylinder, a brush and a verticutter out at the same time so we can use them back to back. On other days, one of the team may just work all day on a wicket and they can simply interchange their cassettes without having to get a different machine out. It’s a massive time saver and it’s great having that versatility.”

For his football surfaces, Andy revealed that he is an advocate of hand mowing and that he uses his G760’s in conjunction with his Dennis Premiers: “I’ve always been a fan of the G760’s and originally we used them on the cricket squares. However, we started hand cutting the first team football pitch with them and we have the added bonus of using a variety of different cassettes such as the verticutter and brush.

“To allow us to mow more pitches by hand we use the G760’s alongside the Premiers which have a slightly wider cut and it gives us a good contrast with the G760 because that is slightly smaller and slightly lighter. When the pitches are wetter we can get on with a G760; on other occasions we may veer more towards the weight of the Premier.

“We try and vary what we do and it may depend on the usage and what games we have but it is ideal having a variety of machines.”

With such a hectic schedule, Andy was also quick to praise the reliability of the machines and the back-up he receives from the Dennis team.

“We are such a busy school and we haven’t got any downtime at all. Fortunately we don’t have many problems and that comes down to the quality of the machines. The back-up from Dennis is really good and reassuring and I could pretty much guarantee that if something did go wrong, I know that something would be sorted out extremely quickly.”

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

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