Tag Archive for: Lancashire

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor: West Lancashire Council wanted to brighten up the area for their residents with some instant colour and provide pollinators with natural habitat, they decided to trial Euroflor flower seed from Origin Amenity Solutions (OAS) on one of their major routes into the town of Skelmersdale.

Heading up this project was Stephen Bissette, Clean and Green Operations Manager at West Lancashire Borough Council. He explains, “Windmill Island in Skelmersdale is a roundabout on a major route into Skelmersdale. It is just off J5 of the M58. The council wanted to trial a wildflower area and following a meeting on flower seed in general with Gary Brindle from OAS, we sought Gary’s advice on the best way to do this and what seeds to use”.

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

West Lancashire Borough Council commissioned OAS to complete the trial project on their behalf which they did working alongside one of their trusted contractor partners.

For speed, ease and fast results Flora Fleece was used – a weed suppressant made from recycled fabric composed of 50% jute, 25% cotton, 25% brown wool, with a hessian scrim. The matting is made of natural fibres, which will break down through the growing season in 5-8 months.

On 10th May 2023 the team laid the fleece on both sides of the roundabout. Stephen comments, “A 100m2 of the Flora Fleece was used. It was quicker than weedkilling and rotavating the soil and gave the best chance of inhibiting weed ingression; it also supports seed establishment. It was easy to use. It is delivered in a roll which you unroll where you want your wildflower patch to be. And that’s it, ready for the soil. Could not be easier”.

Four tonnes of Green-tree topsoil were delivered by OAS and spread evenly on top of the Flora Fleece, in preparation for seeding. This is a an environmentally friendly sustainable soil that is manufactured using organic compost and overburdened sand from quarries; products that would otherwise end up in landfill.

400gram of Euroflor Rainbow Annuals were sown onto the topsoil and then raked over. A firm favourite because of its rapid establishment and long flowering period starting 50-60 days after sowing right through to the first frosts. Euroflor Rainbow displays a wide range of colours from early season – Eschscholtzias and Iberis, to mid-season Poppies, Cornflowers and Flax, giving way to Marigolds and Cosmos at the end of the season. The striking mix of bright colours red, orange, yellow, blue, and white successfully combines native flora with garden favourites.

Stephen concludes, “We had flowers in bloom on the 3rd of August, a beautiful showing which really did brighten up the approach to the roundabout. It was incredibly simple to install, required no maintenance and looked nice. I am delighted with the results and will look at other areas for 2024”

Sow Euroflor flower seed until the end of October for a Spring showing. Contact OAS on 0800 138 7222 for more information or to place an order.

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Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC

Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC: A range of Helly Hansen workwear clothing supplied by Agrovista Amenity has been well received by the greenkeeping team at The West Lancashire Golf Club in Liverpool.

Helly Hansen workwear, available from Agrovista Amenity, has been specially designed by a team of experts to be of the highest quality workwear and outdoor clothing available.

Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC

Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC

Their ongoing product development means they are always on the cutting edge of outdoor clothing technology, meaning you can rest assured the outdoor wear you’re looking at is superb value and allows the team to work productively year round, in challenging weather conditions.

Stuart Hogg, Course Manager at The West Lancashire Golf Club, believes that nothing compares to the quality of the clothing.

“We’ve always had Helly Hansen workwear clothing,” he said. “They are good quality and reliable for the weather we encounter here. The team have enjoyed wearing the gilets and the soft-shell jackets over the years, and they have lasted the time which means that we are not always buying these items every year.

Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC

Helly Hansen the perfect fit for West Lancashire GC

“This year we have started using Helly Hansen trousers and shorts which have gone down really well with the team. To have all the staff feeling comfortable while they are working is great – the cost becomes insignificant.

“I have eight members of staff – all of whom want different features, and each do a variety of jobs from mechanics to bunker raking. For them to all be happy means that I will keep on going back to this range.”

From base layers to boots, a complete range of high quality Helly Hansen clothing is available from Agrovista Amenity. The clothing can also be personalised with logos, names and sponsors.

The new Agrovista workwear catalogue can be viewed by clicking here.

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

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Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire: In a previous life Stuart Hogg, Course Manager at The West Lancashire GC was among the first to own the Wiedenmann Terra Float & Terra Seed. Last year, more by coincidence than by design, he found himself back in the market for an overseeder just as the Terra Float Air was re-engineered and relaunched with an added computerised pneumatic unit.

“We bought one of the original launch Terra Float and Terra Seed combinations in autumn 2010 when I was Course Manager at St Anne’s Old Links, on the Fylde coast. They served extremely well. When I moved to The West Lancashire in April 2015, I inherited a more traditional type seeder. For the first couple of seasons we made do then we hired in equipment. Last winter a funding package allowed us to invest in a new machine. Darren Barker at dealers, Balmers GM, showed me some others but I liked that the three Wiedenmann drums are floating so cope well with undulations of a links green.  I knew I liked it before and the Air version was better again,” he said.

Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

Offering maximum accuracy at quantities as little as 1 g / m² the Terra Float Air, combines three units in one. A base unit aerates or loosens soil to 30 mm using either spikes or fine slits assuring a receptive seed bed either pre or post top dressing. Next the distribution of the seed is absolutely uniform via the air flow and deflector system.  Finally, a brush and roller combination incorporates top dressing materials to the ground before smoothing the surface.  With its very fine seed rollers exact calibration is achievable. Those with expensive or ‘rare seed’ can be confident of success while memory function on the control pad stores input and calibration data for the next use.

The West Lancashire GC is a proud host of R&A and England Golf competitions as well as featuring in the Top 100 Golf Courses in Great Britain.  It is one of England’s ten oldest clubs and will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2023. The role earmarked for the Wiedenmann Terra Float Air has been well considered to help deliver incremental improvements to the quality of the course and take advantage of the machine’s versatility and potential.

“This purchase is not just about one area or one type of grass or indeed just limited to seeding,” said Stuart Hogg.  “We want to be able to do tees, greens, fairways and walkways with different grass species.  The fact that the seed delivery hoses are kept dry and clean with the airflow is a big plus. If we want we can brush the greens without overseeding or we can sarrel roll the greens. There is much that can be done. But for now we’re going with little and often; playing the long game. It will take a period of time before we see a change of any botanical composition in the grass but that’s where we want to be in seasons to come.

“So far the Air has had one outing around the pathways with dwarf rye fescue mix, a couple of passes on the tees and three passes on the greens both with a pure fescue mix but we’re on a break until after The R&A’s Open qualifying and the club championships.  During August, September and possibly October, weather dependant, I expect it to be constantly overseeding the greens every two to three weeks to let germination happen ahead of winter.”

Terra Float Air Delights in Lancashire

Where the Air comes into its own is its high performance air stream which effortlessly directs precise amounts of the seed to the prepared perforated holes A series of steel deflector plates ensures uniform depositing of the seeds from a short distance while lifting the unit automatically triggers a shut off.

“The in-cab control saves time and effort.  Our team really likes this. If one of the greens, or a specific area is a bit weaker there’s no requirement to get out and recalibrate the machine.  It’s a couple of presses of a button and the machine does it for you, storing the data for next time. You are far more in control of which green gets what and such versatility on a golf course makes the job a little bit easier,” concluded Stuart Hogg.

Stuart Hogg is one of a rare breed of course managers having spent his entire career on links courses.  He took up his Course Manager post at The West Lancashire GC after 11 years at St Anne’s Old Links and before that spells at two other links courses, Fortrose & Rosemarkie GC on the Black Isle and West Kilbride GC at Seamill in Ayrshire. At The West Lancashire he is supported by a team of seven full time plus three seasonal staff.

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