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Limagrain Stays In The Family

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Limagrain Stays In The Family: Alex Exton, head groundsman at Witham Hall in Lincolnshire, claims he has not looked back since using a range of MM grass seed from Limagrain UK, having had the mixture recommended by his father Keith.

Keith Exton has enjoyed a long and prosperous career in the turf industry and Alex, long inspired by his dad, is now carving his own successful path in the industry. However, he admits that he would be foolish to not soak up some of the wisdom Keith has accumulated over the years.

Limagrain Stays In The Family

“I first heard about Limagrain through my father who is a big fan of them,” said Alex. “He’s been quite successful within the industry and I suppose I have just tried to follow in his footsteps.

“I know he used Limagrain when he was at Oakham School for 16 years or so and then continued to use them when he went to Glamorgan County Cricket Club.  ​He is now at Grantham CC and is still using MM50 and Action Replay to this day”.

Alex is entering his ninth year at the prestigious Witham Hall which is a thriving boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 4-13 years. The school is committed to providing a first-class education both in and beyond the classroom and sport is a fundamental part of the curriculum – which is where Alex comes in.

The children can enjoy the major team sports of rugby, football, hockey, cricket, netball and rounders, and Alex alongside two other members of staff, maintain the fabulous sports pitches, grounds and facilities all year round.

Alex has a busy schedule which sees a tight turnaround in transforming the pitches for the relevant sports in between terms. As you can imagine, the playing fields experience an incredibly high amount of usage all year round but Alex claims that his use of Limagrain grass seed helps the turf to withstand such high wear.

Throughout his tenure at Witham Hall, he has relied on Limagrain’s MM50 for the cricket squares and Action Replay for all of the outfields which includes the rugby, hockey and football pitches.

MM is one of the most respected brands in the UK sportsturf and amenity industries and is relied upon at top sports grounds throughout the UK and beyond. In particular, MM50 is ideal for cricket squares and outfields. This hard-wearing mix has rapid germination, very fine leaved appearance, high shoot density and is tolerant to very close mowing, along with high disease resistance. All these attributes together produce a fantastic sward that has great colour all year round

Limagrain’s Action Replay belongs to the company’s Designer range of amenity grass seed and is an excellent mixture to use when renovating winter sports pitches. It will establish very quickly producing a dense, hard wearing sward for all heavy-duty sports areas.

According to Alex, both of these products provide him with everything he is looking for in a grass seed.

Limagrain Stays In The Family

“We try to put Action Replay down in the spring and autumn as part of our renovations. I have just recently purchased a disc seeder so I tend to put it down between 20-25g/m2.

“On the cricket square it all depends on what I’m doing. If I have cleaned a track out in the playing season and want to reuse it, I will groove out and apply the product with the pedestrian push spreader. When I’m over-seeding the whole square, as part of our end of season renovations, I must admit that I put plenty on. I will normally apply two bags with the pedestrian spreader, to fall into the grooves made by the scarifier and then I will go over it in four directions with our SISIS Variseeder, again with another two bags.

“I know it sounds a lot but our square is on a slope, so when watering, the water can run and take a fair bit of seed with it. I just think that doing it this way works really well for our site and I get a fantastic take and coverage.

“The MM50 is excellent for the cricket – it stands the sort mowing, the heavy rolling and recovers incredibly well. In fact, both products perform consistently well and I never have any bad results or problems. It’s as simple as that really – they are good solid products.

“If I’m ever asked what seed I use, I only ever say Limagrain and I would recommend MM50 and Action Replay to anyone.”

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm. You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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INFINICUT® Improves Presentation In Sweeden

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INFINICUT® Improves Presentation In Sweeden: Home to Ik Oddevold and Rössö IF, the Rimnersvallen Stadium in Sweeden have recently purchased a Cub Cadet INFINICUT® 34” mower from local dealer Grasvardsmaskiner. Used on the main stadium pitch, including before matches, Rimnersvallen Grounds Manager Robert Adamsson has been particularly impressed with the improvement in the quality of cut and appearance produced.

The multi-use stadium, which played host to Pele’s first World Cup match in 1958, is currently under redevelopment with the changes including taking delivery of their INFINICUT® in spring last year. “Ivan came over and did a demonstration and we liked the mower straight away” explains Robert, who is supported by a team of 3 groundstaff. “The first, and perhaps the most important thing for us, is that it runs on battery power making the mower very quiet which means we can get out and mow early in the morning.” Featuring an athletics track in addition to the main pitch, the quiet operation of the INFINICUT® means that mowing can take place at any time, including when the facilities are in use by children from the local school.

INFINICUT® Improves Presentation In Sweeden

“The whole team use the INFINICUT® and have been impressed with how easy it is to use, and how simple it is to adjust the cutting position. The quality of the cut it produces has dramatically improved the appearance of the pitch, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the players and the fans.”

The Cub Cadet INFINICUT® has been specifically designed to offer the operator the ability to alter geometry and working parameters to ensure sward consistency is retained regardless of the time of year or conditions encountered. Plant health can only be augmented by choosing the correct equipment set-up for the circumstances that prevail at any given time. Setting the mower with an attitude angle that is too aggressive can weaken the plant during times of plant stress allowing pathogens to more easily ‘take hold’. Frequency of clip (FOC) is important in ensuring the correct quality is achieved for the specific height of cut as an incorrect FOC can mulch the plant leading to an unclean cut and an increase risk of disease.

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Replay Invest In Grassroots Sport

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Replay Invest In Grassroots Sport: Back in 2013 artificial sports pitch specialists Replay Maintenance commenced an ambitious programme of partnering with County Football Associations (CFAs) across England. This has proved to be such a valuable tool to the partnered CFAs, and just as importantly to the grassroots game, that in five years the number of CFA partners has quadrupled, with Replay now proactively supporting half of them.

Replay’s partnerships with the CFAs works to simplify what can be a daunting proposition for any grassroots volunteer.  As part of this unique partnership, all CFA member clubs and facilities have access to information and expert advice on the planning and implementation of an artificial maintenance programme. Replay’s remit is driven by a desire to put innovation at the heart of the business. Never more so than through the introduction of PitchPassport®, an asset management tool that is revolutionising the industry and breaking down barriers for the grassroots game – a tool that all partnered CFAs have access to.

Replay Invest In Grassroots Sport

A fundamental element of the partnership is the opportunity to design bespoke in-house training courses, run in conjunction with Replay, as well as exploring individual CPD training options for facility staff. Other benefits include free site surveys, reporting and competitively priced, bespoke maintenance packages.

Commenting on the extended agreement Replay Maintenance Director, Garry Martin, said, “We have enjoyed a positive working relationship with a number of CFAs over the last five years and in that time have shared new processes, advice and guidance to support those responsible for maintaining an artificial surface. The growth of the partnership is testament to our dedication to raising awareness around, and the quality of, effective maintenance regimes as well as being at the forefront of technological innovations in the synthetic maintenance market. With more CFA partnerships in the pipeline, we look forward to supporting and sharing new developments with the grassroots clubs and organisations within these CFAs over the years to come.”

A recent addition to the CFA partnering programme is Essex, one of the largest counties in the country. Commenting on the agreement, CEO Brendan Walshe said “With Essex’s stock of 3G pitches growing all the time, it’s crucial we help to ensure they’re being looked after effectively. We view our partnership with Replay Maintenance as a real step in the right direction towards providing the best possible surfaces. We’re always keen to understand how we can develop and better the offer to our member clubs and associated organisations. Given the FA’s commitment to rolling out 3G pitches we wanted to ensure Essex is going to be in the best possible position to support the grassroots game going forward and, as such, I’m delighted that we’ve managed to agree a five-year partnership with Replay.”

For more information on those counties partnered with Replay Maintenance, please visit the website or contact your local County FA Representative for further details.

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Supporting Grass-Roots Cricket In Mongolia

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Supporting Grass-Roots Cricket In Mongolia: When the enquiry came in for a good value gang mower to cut the grass on a cricket field, it was immediately clear that the request was an unusual one. The Mongolian Cricket Association (MCA) were looking for a machine to cut the only real grass cricket pitch in Mongolia, a pitch that is the focal point of the sport in a brand new cricketing nation!

The MCA provides year round coaching and kit to state schools and orphanages, focusing on the difficult areas of Ulaanbaatar where around half of the city’s 1.5m population live in informal “ger districts” on the edge of town. A large proportion of these have no access to mains water, heating or sewage.

Supporting Grass-Roots Cricket In Mongolia

Great social inequality exists here and the MCA want to create a community where sport is the common denominator and where friendships can be made irrespective of wealth or social standing. Now coaching 250 kids a week from 10 different schools, 40% of which are girls and young women, they are certainly well on the way to achieving their mission.

“I was very touched by the work they do and in particular how they raised the USD 50K to build that first pitch in 2016”, said Richard Taylor, MD of RT Machinery. “It just felt like the right thing to do to ship them one of our Junior Tow n Mow gang mowers, together with a few spare cylinders, with our compliments, as our way of helping them further with their mission. It’s not often you can do something that has such wide-reaching benefits!”

Battulga Gombo, or Tulga as he is better known, is the heart of cricket in Mongolia and the association’s head. He says “It has been a long path for the association to get to where we have in terms of funding. Firstly was the fundraising for the pitch itself, then the nets and concrete, then the containers and the pavilion. The last item on the list of big expenses was for a mower.”

Supporting Grass-Roots Cricket In Mongolia

“As a small NGO, the mower is for us a large piece of capital equipment, and we expected that we would not be able to save up enough to buy one for at least another year. To receive it as a gift from so far away by people that have not come and seen the kids starting out in cricket and having fun, demonstrates an extremely kind, generous and outward looking attitude.”

“Now all efforts, both fundraising and energy, can go towards coaching the kids and building participation, in particular introducing the sport to the secondary school system, as requested by the Minister for Education! We have a long way to go, so if you would like to get involved, please contact us on the ‘Cricket Mongolia’ Facebook page.“

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Top Dresser In The North East

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Top Dresser In The North East: Beaumont Grounds Maintenance took delivery of a GKB top dresser at the start of the season to help fulfil the needs of their many contracted sites.  Covering an area across the North East, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Humber, the family-run commercial and sports grounds maintenance business looks after a diversity of clients from schools, academies, sports clubs, councils and factories through to hotels and property management companies. In recent years the company has pushed the boundaries with expansion in the sports turf market, contracting directly for sports clubs and golf courses, providing specialist services and working with the clients’ own teams. One such venue is Gateshead International Stadium and it was to there the GKB SP230 Sandspreader was delivered.

“The GKB machine was recommended by our local dealers, Lloyd Ltd of Bishop Auckland, and we were very impressed with the service,” says Beaumont’s Managing Director, Alex Lineton, “it took less than a week from order to delivery and Tom Shinkins, GKB’s own Operations Manager, brought the top dresser to us and set it up at the stadium.” The Sandspreader can be used to distribute a variety of materials and the version ordered, the SP230 with a bunker capacity 2.3 m³ / 81 ft³ flat filled, is one of four different designs ranging from 1 m3 to 4 m3. There are several options.

Top Dresser In The North East

With the standard design, you can set the speed of the conveyer belt and the disc spreaders by means of a control unit attached to the Sandspreader. The shape and design of the sand bunker ensures an efficient operation and ensures a clear view along the machine. The sand is transported by means of a conveyer belt to a metering valve, which, optionally, is also available in a hydraulically adjustable version. The double, hydraulically powered, spreading discs are adjustable on multiple points and in this way the Sandspreader enables you to create perfect sand distribution. A touchscreen operated from the tractor cab gives complete control.  The towed version can be delivered with four pivoting balloon tyres and there is a model suitable for assembling on a turf truck.

The Beaumont machine has been fully employed throughout the season across a large number of sports venues including Northumberland University, the renowned sports university with its two sites and several pitches. “We’re very pleased with the results,” says Alex, “the GKB machine is simplicity itself, well built, easy to maintain and it does a good job. I highly recommend it.”

For more details on GKB machines visit www.gkbmachines.com  or call Tom Shinkins on 07495 883617.

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