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Milestones For Hunts Engineering

Milestones For Hunts Engineering: Hunts Engineering Ltd is celebrating a double milestone this year after reaching its 10th anniversary in business and also its first year working in partnership with Kubota UK.

To celebrate these key milestones, the Midlands-based tractor and groundcare dealer recently held a special two-day event at its premises in Shipton-on-Stour, welcoming over 250 customers through its doors.

Milestones For Hunts Engineering

Visitors to the open days had the opportunity to see Kubota’s complete range of market leading groundcare solutions, with machinery experts from Hunts Engineering and Kubota UK on-hand to help and answer any questions and queries. A number of live demonstrations also took place across the two-day event, giving visitors the chance to see the machines in action.

Kubota UK’s partnership with Hunts Engineering is going from strength to strength since the two joined forces in 2017. For Hunts Engineering, it has enabled the business to target a much wider customer base.

Hunt’s Engineering’s latest partnership with Kubota UK has helped it to further target the commercial arena, allowing Hunts Engineering to supply machinery to commercial landscapers, local authorities and grounds maintenance professionals across Shipston and spanning a 20-mile radius including Banbury, Chipping Norton and Stratford.

For the first time, Hunts Engineering now supplies UTVs, sub-compact tractors and ride-on mowers through Kubota’s diverse product portfolio. This includes Kubota’s rugged RTV400, RTV500, RTV-X900 and RTV-X1140 utility vehicles, its new BX231, B Series and L1361 sub-compact tractors, and its high performance ride-on mowers, such as the GR Series and ZD122R.

Peter Hunt, Managing Director at Hunts Engineering Ltd, said: “As a family-run business, we are delighted to be celebrating our ten-year anniversary, whilst also marking our one-year milestone as a Kubota dealer.

“Becoming a Kubota groundcare dealer has enabled us to take the business to a new level, securing a breadth of both residential and commercial clients. Whilst its product range is second to none, Kubota’s commitment to aftersales and service also reflects our own dedication to servicing and parts, which remains very much at the core of our success.”

Having been an agricultural engineer for a number of years before launching the business with his wife, Julie, Hunts Engineering boasts a first class workshop and team of Kubota trained engineers who hold over 80 years of servicing experience between them.

Adrian Langmead, Groundcare Business Development Manager, added: “Over the last year we have seen significant growth through our partnership with Hunts Engineering. Our dealer network is vital to our continued growth and success, so having such a dedicated and committed dealership representing our product range, whilst also providing excellent aftersales service, is a fantastic extension of our brand. We look forward to continued success for many years to come.”

For more information on Kubota and its service solutions for the groundcare sector visit www.kubota.co.uk or call 01844 268000.

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Award For Council Groundsman

Award For Council Groundsman: An award has been presented to a member of Tendring District Council’s Open Spaces team for his work maintaining a popular cricket pitch.

Chris Russell won the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Cricket Championship Groundsman Award at the annual general meeting of the Essex Cricket Board Groundsman Association.

Chris was given the award for his work preparing pitches at Clacton Cricket Club’s Vista Road ground during the 2017 season. The pitches received top marks from a panel of umpires right across the season.

Stuart Kerrison, head groundsman at Essex County Cricket Club’s Chelmsford ground, presented Chris with his award.

Barry Dunwell, the outgoing chairman of Clacton Cricket Club, said the club was fortunate to have such a hard-working, dedicated and conscientious groundsman preparing their pitches.

“It was not a surprise that Chris received this accolade for his efforts,” he added.

Chris works at a number of recreation grounds right across the District in his role with Tendring District Council.

Trevor Mills, Open Space Manager at Tendring District Council, added his congratulations to Chris.

“We all know how hard Chris works to look after our open spaces, and his sterling efforts at Clacton Cricket Club are just one example of his year-round fine work,” he said.

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Groundsman Nominated For Award

Groundsman Nominated For Award: A member of staff from Colwyn Bay Football Club has been nominated for a prestigious award.

Elfyn Jones was nominated for the Evo-Stik North Groundsman of the Year, and his sterling efforts throughout the season have seen him reach the final three.

The 52-year-old Rhyl resident will now attend at glitzy award ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool on Saturday, June 16 where the winner will be announced.

Jones is in his second season volunteering with the Seagulls after previously holding a position with Warrington Town, and he has also assisted at National League side Chester at times during the campaign.

He spends between 25 and 30 hours a week working on the pitch at Llanelian Road, combining his time at the club with the tanning salon he runs in the area, where he spends 35 hours a week on average.

Jones, said: “I didn’t expect to get this far and I am surprised, but having praise off referees and home and away fans regarding how good the pitch is looking is so nice to hear.

“This makes all worthwhile and the players also have a good surface to play on. I sometimes work longer when we’re playing at home as there’s preparation in brushing, slitting and aeration work needs doing. Also fertilising when required.”

This recognition is even more significant when you consider the terrible weather conditions that have blighted the domestic game over the winter months, which has made the preparation process extremely challenging for Jones and other groundsmen in the region.

“This season has been the worst ever, the amount of rain we’ve had has made life difficult,” he added.

“I was unable to put the tractor on the pitch for three weeks due to it being simply too wet. The last few months I’ve been more busy on my sponge roller collecting water off the pitch than I ever have before.”

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Pitch Vandalised For Third Time

Pitch Vandalised For Third Time: Vandals have driven over the Rew Valley football pitch for the third time since Christmas.

The pitch, at Watcombe Bottom on Whitwell Rd, Ventnor, is home to Rew Valley Youth FC, which has 125 players and many more who train there weekly.

The damage to the grounds has been a devastating blow for the team, which has suffered an expensive season so far with lots of unexpected costs and things needing replacing.

Organisers are now desperately trying to raise funds to erect fencing around the pitches, to prevent them being driven over.

Jess Cutler, youth team secretary, said: “Being repeatedly hit by vandalism is a massive blow.

“We’re entirely run on donations and the children’s subs, which we try to keep as low as possible as we feel sport and being part of a team or club is really important for young people. It not only keeps them fit but teaches them valuable things like respect and how to work together.

“Unfortunately, since Christmas we have been blighted by vandalism. Our pitch was driven on for the third time in so many months. The first two times the damage was caused by a car driving on it.

“We hoped to stop the problem by erecting a chain across the access lane, which seemed to work, but the latest damage was caused by a motorbike which drove through a gap in the fence. We need to enclose the whole pitch.”

The team is hosting a touring club from Herefordshire for the first time soon, and is hoping the pitch will be in good enough condition.

The children are very active in the club’s fundraising efforts and have recently been bag packing, taken part in sponsored events, sold raffle tickets and run stalls at community events.

A crowdfunding page is at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rewvalley A jumble sale has been organised for Saturday, April 14, at Ventnor Baptist Church from 2pm to 4pm. A quiz night is being held at the Mill Bay Inn on Wednesday, April 11.

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Extensions Of Use For Herbicide

Extensions Of Use For Herbicide: As of March 2018, the barrier acting, total herbicide, Pistol®, from Bayer, will be labelled with two new extensions of use, which will include applications by CDA (Controlled Droplet Applicator) as well as vehicle mounted sprayers, in addition to the current approval for knapsack application. 

Lewis Blois, Bayer national account manager, explains that treatments using a CDA allow for the herbicide to be applied evenly and effectively, so that contractors are not required to use a large amount of adjuvant or water.

Extensions Of Use For Herbicide

 

“This greatly reduces the overall weight of herbicide operators need to carry and saves a significant amount of working time, as they won’t need to continually stop to refill the tank.

“Vehicle mounted applications were actually removed from the Pistol® label in 2015, but the Bayer regulatory team has worked hard to bring about renewed approval. This will ensure that users can cover large permeable areas such as car parks, in a shorter space of time,” he says.

The updated label will not affect those currently using the product. However, those applying old-label products, with the extended application methods, should ensure that they have access to the updated label. This will be available from Pistol® distributors or can be downloaded from the Bayer website.

All Pistol® bottles will continue to be supplied with low drift nozzles, which allow amenity professionals to minimise chemical drift and ensure a targeted spray pattern.

“Using low drift nozzles is an essential part of pesticide stewardship, and without such practices we could see even more products removed from the market,” explains Lewis.

A key benefit of Pistol® is that it has a long lasting, systemic and residual mode of action. As well as killing weeds on contact, it continues to reside as a barrier in the upper soil profile to control and prevent germinating weeds from establishing for 3 months, post application.

“The updated label will offer all users the flexibility to apply the herbicide in the most appropriate way to suit their circumstances,” says Lewis.

To find out more about Pistol® and the label update, please contact the Bayer Turf Solutions Team on 00800 1214 9451, email turfsolutions@bayer.com or visit www.environmentalscience.bayer.co.uk

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