Tag Archive for: kept

Edgmond Bowling Club Wins Best Kept Green in Shropshire

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Edgmond Bowling Club Wins Best Kept Green in Shropshire: Edgmond Bowling Club has been awarded the title of Best Kept Green in Shropshire 2024, a competition sponsored by leading turf maintenance brands Dennis and SISIS.

The accolade marks a milestone for the club, which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and highlights the dedication and skill of its greenkeeper, Peter Leath.

Edgmond Bowling Club Wins Best Kept Green in Shropshire

Edgmond Bowling Club Wins Best Kept Green in Shropshire

The Best Kept Green competition was launched in 2021, in response to the remarkable efforts of bowling clubs and their greenkeepers during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative, supported by Dennis and SISIS, aims to improve the standard of greens across the county, recognising the hard work of greens teams and providing them with valuable feedback to enhance their maintenance programmes. Each year, the competition grows in popularity, with a record number of clubs entering in 2024—a testament to the ongoing improvements in bowling greens throughout Shropshire.

Peter, a greenkeeper with 47 years of experience, joined Edgmond Bowling Club just before the pandemic and quickly found himself responsible for the care of the green, which was in need of attention. Reflecting on those early days, he recalls, “The green was in quite a bad condition. During Covid, I spent a lot of time managing to feed it and improve its health.”

Drawing on his greenkeeping background, Peter implemented a rigorous maintenance routine, including verticutting and aerating the green, to encourage healthy growth. He also invested in a SISIS Supaturfman, using it up to 16 times a year. His efforts have paid off, with Edgmond’s green now widely praised for its smoothness and playability. “There have been a lot of really positive comments about the green,” Peter said.

Edgmond Bowling Club’s win this year, tied on points with Cleobury Mortimer but edging ahead thanks to a perfect 10/10 score for the roll of the woods, is a fitting tribute to its 50th anniversary.

Peter’s attention to detail is key to the green’s success. He spends around 240 hours a year maintaining it, mowing three times a week in the summer and continuing regular care even through the winter months. His advice to other greenkeepers? “Make sure your mower is adjusted correctly, and cut the grass consistently. It makes all the difference.”

Phil Scott, Chairman of the Shropshire Crown Green Bowling Association, praised Peter’s work and spoke about the growing success of the Best Kept Green competition. “We started these awards to recognise the often-overlooked work of greenkeepers in our county. Since the competition began, the standard of greens in Shropshire has improved dramatically.”

DLF’s Stuart Yarwood, a well-known expert in the industry and a key supporter of the Dennis/SISIS educational seminars, was part of the judging panel. He visited the top ten greens and provided invaluable advice to clubs on how to further improve their playing surfaces.

Looking to the future, the Shropshire Crown Green Bowling Association, in collaboration with Dennis and SISIS, plans to continue supporting greenkeepers with initiatives such as forums, educational days, and factory tours. “We’ve set up new initiatives to keep the momentum going. We’re already planning to take all the greenkeepers who entered this year to the Dennis and SISIS factory for a tour, and we’re looking at adding new categories like ‘Most Improved Green’ or ‘Best Newcomer’ for next year,” Phil explained.

Further information about the range of maintenance products available can be found by visiting www.dennisuk.com / www.sisis.com.

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on X @DennisMowers and SISIS @SISISMachinery. You can like the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK and www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest Dennis and SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers and www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery.

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Winner of Best Kept Green in Shropshire Announced

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Winner of Best Kept Green in Shropshire Announced: Trench Bowling Club has been announced as the winner of the 2023 Best Kept Green in Shropshire, sponsored by Dennis and SISIS.

It’s been a good year for Telford based Trench Bowling Club. Not only has 2023 seen the club celebrate its centenary year but they have also been awarded the Best Kept Green in Shropshire. Trench finished top to pip Whixall, Edgmond and Tilstock by just two points.

Winner of Best Kept Green in Shropshire Announced

Winner of Best Kept Green in Shropshire Announced

As well as being the secretary and the bar coordinator, David Evans is the man largely responsible for maintaining the green. He’s been part of the club for nearly 60 years and after retiring in 2013, he decided to take full-time responsibility of the green.

“I’ve learnt greenkeeping as I’ve gone along,” said David. “It must be in the genes because my father was a keen gardener and always took a great deal of pride in his lawns. Also, over the years I have been involved in bowls, cricket, and golf. I always took an interest in what the greenkeepers or groundsmen, were working on. The Dennis and SISIS bowls education days we have recently attended have also been very informative. These are a big help to people in my position to not only show what equipment is on the market but also to gather advice on maintenance tips.”

Trench Bowling Club came second in the competition in 2022 and David revealed why he believes they landed the trophy this year.

“I’ve managed to significantly reduce the thatch since we bought a new Dennis FT510 mower at the start of the year. I think this was the missing link because it has really helped me to improve the surface of the green. The verticutting cassette has thinned the grass out and eliminated the thatch and we’ve had lots of compliments from members and visiting teams about the playability of the green. Over the last couple of years, we have installed new gutters, which has vastly improved the overall presentation of the green and the green surrounds. I’d like to think that this also went some way towards winning this award, as the construction of the new ‘boxes’ and the installation was all carried out ‘in house’ by our members.”

With David spending most of his time at Trench Bowling Club, and his wife and daughter sharing the responsibility of the treasurer role, it is very much a family affair. However, the modest David was quick to acknowledge the hard work and dedication from everyone else who works at the club.

“As a family we put a lot of time in, but we’ve got a great committee that runs the club and there are so many other brilliant people that help out. I certainly can’t take all the credit. This award is for everyone at Trench.”

Further information about the range of bowls maintenance products available from both manufacturers can be found by visiting www.dennisuk.com / www.sisis.com.

For more news, reviews, and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter @DennisMowers and SISIS @SISISMachinery. You can like the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK and www.facebook.com/SISISMachinery. You can also view the latest Dennis and SISIS videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers and www.youtube.com/SISISMachinery.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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Irish surfaces kept pitch perfect

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Irish surfaces kept pitch perfect: There may be no games taking place in the Danske Bank Premiership right now, but a small band of individuals up and down the country are still having to prepare as if there are.

The day that football does return is still a long way down the line as the coronavirus continues to make its presence felt across the world, but pitches still need to be maintained in the meantime and it’s down to groundsmen across the league to ensure that they’re ready to go when sport gets the green light again.

Tommy Doherty, the groundsman at the Coleraine Showgrounds, said: “It’s just about keeping it ready while we’re waiting for a call from the Irish League to get back to playing again.”

The general duties tend to be the same around most grounds right now, bar those clubs who have 4G pitches, in that the grass needs mowed and the white lines need repeatedly marked.

It’s vital work done behind the scenes to little fanfare, and if it isn’t done now then the Irish League wouldn’t be able to return as soon as it will. Instead, every ground should be up to scratch when needed.

Glentoran groundsman William Kirkwood explained: “If Mick McDermott rang me right now and told me there’s a match tomorrow then the pitch would be ready to go. It’s not panic time. We do keep on top of things.”

It’s a thankless task, especially because no fans are even able to see the fruits of the groundsmen’s labour at the moment, and it’s frustrating as well. After all, the season could, theoretically, be cancelled at any point.

Dungannon Swifts groundsman Davy Magee said: “It’s tough when you’re cutting the grass and marking the pitch and there’s no football at the weekend. It’s all for nothing, you know?”

Doherty agreed, and added: “It keeps you busy, although you miss the football. There may not be any football for the rest of the year and all my work is for nothing, but you can’t take that chance. They could step onto the pitch at any time.”

In the meantime, Kirkwood and Magee are trying to get ahead of the curve by completing some of the work that they were hoping to do over the off-season.

Kirkwood’s intentions are to spread 100 tonnes of sand on The Oval pitch and then re-seed the surface so that it’s in pristine condition for the start of next season, plans which have been halted both by the lack of rain and the lockdown.

“I want to try and do it now, but most of my suppliers are closed. Most of the sand comes from Emerson’s in Lurgan but they’re closed up. Because it’s heavy work, I usually bring in a contractor but he’s closed up too,” he explained. “I’m preparing to do it myself, but hopefully at the start of May those guys might be able to work again.”

Magee has already seeded his pitch but has run into similar problems.

“We seeded it three weeks ago and now it’s just about waiting for the new stuff to come up,” said the Swifts man. “We can’t get sand or anything like that because everywhere is closed, and we need sand to fill holes. We can’t get the machinery either.”

But at the end of the day, for all the work they can do, what all three groundsmen are united on is that football can’t return soon enough and they’ll see their pristinely prepared pitches back in use once more.

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