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Course manager receives industry award

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Course manager receives industry award: Royal Cinque Ports course manager James Bledge continued a fantastic month for links venues in Kent after being awarded top prize at the BIGGA Excellence in Communications Awards sponsored by BIGGA Partners Campey Turf Care Systems.

James was presented with a £750 cash prize and an all-expenses paid trip to Florida, when restrictions allow, on the Campey Turf Care Systems stand at Festival of Turf, which took place on 21 and 22 July 2021 at the Warwickshire Event Centre.

Course manager receives industry award

Course manager receives industry award

Located just a few short miles along the coast from this year’s Open Championship venue, Royal St George’s, the team at Royal Cinque Ports has developed a culture of education and strong communication, led by course manager James, 41.

BIGGA is the members’ association for golf greenkeepers in the United Kingdom and the BIGGA Excellence in Communications Awards recognise those BIGGA members who have undertaken outstanding work to further the cause of greenkeepers by promoting their activities through various channels, including the creation of thought-provoking articles for Greenkeeper International, the monthly journal of BIGGA.

James produced a feature that was selected for inclusion in the October 2020 edition of Greenkeeper International. The article touched upon the daily maintenance of the golf course and whether asking golfers to contribute to a course’s upkeep through activities such as raking bunkers detracts from the activities of the greenkeeping team.

Each month BIGGA encourages its members to submit articles for inclusion in Greenkeeper International, with a monthly prize of a £100 education voucher up for grabs, to be redeemed at BIGGA’s annual education programme Continue to Learn, held each January in Harrogate. James was kind enough to donate his voucher to another BIGGA member who would otherwise have been unable to attend.

From the 12 features that were selected for inclusion in the magazine throughout 2020, James’ piece, entitled “The Sands of Time: Should we dump the bunker rakes for good?” attracted praise from the competition judges for discussing a topic that stands in contrast to traditional thinking and sparked debate among readers.

The feature is available to read online here: https://www.bigga.org.uk/news-listing/should-we-dump-the-bunker-rakes-for-good.html

James said: “I was really shocked because I’ve never won anything like this before. I read every new entry that comes in, but I never thought my article was in the same calibre as those. How the article came about was I had a Sunday off, I got up and had a coffee and had a feeling that I wanted to write something. I turned the laptop on and wrote a few words and before I knew it I had enough words to submit for the magazine. It was never intended to enter a competition, it was just something I wanted to get off my mind. There are other guys and girls out there who have a lot to say and I would really encourage them to give it a shot.

“The prize is pretty exceptional and so my thanks go to Campey. We’re lucky in our industry that there are so many manufacturers and sponsors who put a lot of money into things like this. It’s phenomenal that we have all this support and we couldn’t do it without them.”

The BIGGA Excellence in Communications Awards continue throughout 2021 with BIGGA members encouraged to submit articles for inclusion in upcoming editions of Greenkeeper International. Head to the BIGGA website for more information.

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Regional Technical Manager *FEATURED JOB*

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About Us

Regional Technical Manager

Regional Technical Manager

Headland Amenity originated in 1994 as a division of Headland Agrochemicals, a British independent supplier of adjuvants and micronutrient products to agriculture. By 1997 the business had an increasing customer base predominately in golf and sportsturf and was building a niche as a specialist fertiliser and pesticide manufacturer and supplier.

Over the following years, Headland Amenity introduced a number of unique technologies and brand leading products, often specifically developed for the UK turf and amenity markets.

Today’s product portfolio includes over 50 fertiliser formulations, encompassing conventional, slow and controlled release technology in both solid and liquid forms, as well as a growing range of pesticides and growth management products. Customers include the largest and smallest of Golf Clubs, Cricket and Bowling Clubs, Racecourses, Landscapers, Local Authorities, Lawncare and Contractors, as well as many others.

Headland staff have many years combined knowledge of the turf and amenity markets in the UK and Europe, with experience gained in both practical turf management, (many of our staff have been Greenkeepers or Groundsmen) or in product development.

Role Outline

The role of the Regional Technical Manager will be use their knowledge to support and advise customers in the use of Headland Amenity products.

We currently have a vacancy in each of the following areas:

(1) Regional Technical Manager – South East England

(2) Regional Technical Manager – North West England

(3) Regional Technical Manager – Sportsturf (Central/Southern UK)

The successful candidate will be able to support and develop sales of our quality products to both existing and new customers, contribute to new product development and work closely with other industry professionals. They will have experience in the turf or amenity sectors and be highly motivated with exceptional communication skills.

Applications are invited from candidates who wish to be part of a dynamic, rapidly growing Company and can contribute to our existing close team of Regional Technical Managers, as well as acting on their own initiative.

These roles are field based involving travel and will require some work from home. Overnight stays will be required from time to time e.g. to accommodate exhibitions, sales meetings or in the course of efficient territory coverage. A company vehicle will be provided, and all business expenses will be covered.

The company will provide comprehensive training and support and an attractive remuneration package including company car, laptop, mobile phone and a Company pension scheme.

If you’d like to apply for one of these vacancies, or discuss them in more detail, please email recruitment@originukoperations.co.uk by 9th July 2021. Please include the area you are applying for in your email.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER SOUTH

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The Grass Guys are looking for a new crop of grass solution specialists to develop our business in the South and South West (Berkshire to the Avon)

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER SOUTH

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER SOUTH

Collier Turf Care is an independently owned business focused solely on the amenity trade with a hunger to grow.

As part of the planned strategic development of our business we are seeking to recruit an experienced Business Development Manager for the South to develop our business across the South and South West to the fine turf and winter sports turf amenity trade.

This development is done with the support of our key suppliers including Aquatrols, Barenbrug, Harrod Sport, ICL and Vitax.

Responsibilities reporting to the Sales Director:

  • Ensure CTC business plan for area is implemented and sales targets achieved.
  • Organise and coordinate operations of southern team to ensure maximum productivity and development.
  • Supervise the work of the x 2 Sales Development executives and provide mentoring, leadership, planning, direction, organisation, monitoring and training to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Represent the company at events and conferences.
  • Assist marketing team activities relating to developing the area.
  • Produce and maintaining customer computerised CRM records and details.
  • Producing verbal and written reports for your customers as required.
  • Producing written reports on area as required.
  • Strong understanding of CTC values, ethos, product range, competition in the industry and market positioning.
  • Ability to communicate information to staff members and customers in a clear concise manner.
  • Manage own profitable ledger achieving agreed turnover and GP targets alongside management responsibilities.
  • Assist with credit control as required.
  • The above will be supported by CTC directors, senior management team and systems.

Ideal candidate:

  • Proven track record in business sales or regional management.
  • Excellent organisational and leadership skills.
  • Outstanding communication skills.
  • Be organised.
  • Be an Achiever – ‘can do, will do’.
  • Have an existing customer ledger.
  • Industry qualifications.

We offer a very competitive salary and attractive bonus package, as well as a quality company vehicle, pension and range of other benefits. Continuous ongoing training will be provided to the successful candidates.

If you feel you have the necessary experience, skills, dedication and enthusiasm to make this new venture a success for us all, please send your CV and a covering letter to the below:

Craig Brisley (Sales Director)

craigb@collier-turf-care.co.uk

Closing Date: 31st July 2021

EcoBunker’s new business development manager

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EcoBunker’s new business development manager: Synthetic bunker edging specialist EcoBunker has made a significant expansion by appointing Hamish Crichton as its new business development manager. Crichton joined EcoBunker at the start of May, from soil surfectant and wetting agent provider Aquatrols.

“I come from a corporate background, but a few years ago I decided I wanted to follow my passion, and work in the golf business,” said Crichton. “Although I don’t have a background in golf, while at Aquatrols I took the Fertiliser Adviser Certification and Training Scheme (FACTS) qualification. It was quite a challenge to go back to school for the first time in years, but it did me a lot of good. I found that I love the science in soil and grass. It’s one of the first jobs where I’ve found myself reading books or watching videos at one in the morning and my wife has nudged me saying ‘Go to sleep’. The thing that astonished me was the number of times I read ‘The answer is not yet known’. It’s almost like a frontier science.”

EcoBunker's new business development manager

EcoBunker’s new business development manager

“I have a lot of sympathy for greenkeepers. On top of dealing with Mother Nature and the curve balls she throws at them, they have members to worry about! For me, I’m keen to expand my knowledge of the whole arena of golf. I got to know about the greenkeeping side of things, but I wanted to expand my knowledge of architecture and construction, and understand the world of the general manager. My previous experience in marketing and business development trained mehow to present a proposition to a general manager or a greens chairman, who are usually from a similar sort of background and that’s going to be a very important part of my role.

“I had a number of different opportunities, but I chose to join EcoBunker because I believe it is a company that has almost limitless potential. When Richard Allen first conceived synthetic revetting, it was to provide a new solution to the erosion of low edge parkland bunkers. He wanted to give golf courses the option of building aesthetically pleasing, more architecturally interesting bunker shapes without the worry of introducing an increased maintenance burden. As it turned out, the product quickly became popular on higher faced links pot bunkers and our challenge now is to change perceptions, demonstrating that the product translates extremely well to all golf course styles. It helps that we now have a wonderful portfolio from the tropics to the tundra, Major venues to municipals, featuring parkland, heathland and desert courses. EcoBunker allows greenkeeping staff to spend less time on their bunkers and get on with maintaining the surfaces that really matter.”

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New Infinicut Territory Sales Manager

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New Infinicut Territory Sales Manager: Stephen Shaw has been announced as the new Territory Sales Manager for the INFINICUT® and TMSystem™ product ranges.

A well-known industry face, Stephen returns to the UK after spending the last 10 years of his career in Qatar, to support the continued growth of the collections, in use at leading golf venues and sports stadia worldwide.

New Infinicut Territory Sales Manager

New Infinicut Territory Sales Manager

In Qatar, Stephen worked at a main Toro dealership and Doha Golf Club, before taking on the role of Machinery Division Manager at Nakheel Landscapes which is where, over the last three years, he worked alongside John Coleman of INFINICUT® to spec machinery for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. When travel restrictions came into force earlier in the year, Stephen returned to his roots in Northumberland and the opportunity arose to use his acquired knowledge to support to dealers and customers across the North of England, Scotland and Ireland – along with spearheading exports and the construction of a worldwide dealer network.

“Joining the INFINICUT® team is hugely exciting” comments Stephen. “It is a quality British-built product, driven by technology that demonstrates a real understanding of what is required by today’s turf care professionals. It quickly became evident to me, working together with John and the INFINICUT® product, that this range is very much the future of the mower industry. Their engineering prowess continues across the multi-functional TMSystem™ collection, which delivers versatility, durability and precision to a wide variety of turf maintenance activities.”

Although Stephen only joined in the middle of September, he has already utilised his many international connections to remotely establish dealers in India, Thailand and South Korea and he looks forward to supporting these, and others, with product and sales training as and when travel restrictions ease.

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Avant appoint Sales Manager

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Avant appoint Regional Sales Manager: John Spencer Sales & Marketing Director, AVANT Tecno UK Ltd commenting on the recent addition to the team had these words to share “ With continued growth and expansion, we at Avant Tecno UK have been looking for a regional manager to join our team for the North of the UK, to assist our dedicated dealership network and make sure our Avant owners continue to receive the personal touch that we pride ourselves on.

We have met with many people over the past months to find someone that would meet with our criteria and eventually we have found the best candidate, that upholds our values, vision and understands our customer’s needs.

Avant appoint Regional Sales Manager

Avant appoint Regional Sales Manager

Peter Barfield was introduced to me personally by a contact within our network and came highly recommended. Peter joins us with a vast knowledge and experience of the plant/machinery industry, and I truly believe he is going to be a great asset to the Avant Family.

 I look forward to introducing Peter to our current dealer network and working with him to strengthen our close relationship with our customers, plus he will be assisting in the growth of our already extensive Avant Network throughout Northern England and Scotland bringing Avant closer to the wider audience.”

Peter Barfield Regional Sales Manager for AVANT Tecno UK Ltd upbeat about his new position commented “ I am very pleased to be joining Avant Tecno UK, it’s a family company (Finnish) with family values, every employee is valued the same no matter what job they do.

The Avant product it superb and is made to very high standards, its what you would expect from a manufacture in Finland. The range covers many industries including, landscaping, forestry, agricultural, construction and many more. With the recent addition of the 860 series Avant have raised the bar on compact loaders, this will appeal to even more markets.

I am very excited to be joining an excellent team and hope I can add to their continued success.”

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Manager Praises Departing Groundsman

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Manager Praises Departing Groundsman: Manager Danny Grainger has praised departing Workington Reds groundsman Jeff Curwen after the stalwart ended his 16-year association with the club.

The shock news was revealed on Monday that Curwen, 78, is stepping down.

Manager Praises Departing Groundsman

If Reds had moved to Derwent Park this summer, it was Curwen’s intention to step down. But after the collapse of the new stadium project, he continued in the role, with the proviso he would depart at the end of the 2019/20 season.

Curwen, though, has this week instead opted to leave his position with the current NPL North West Division leaders with immediate effect. Dennis Rossi will fill the void left by Curwen.

“I worked closely with Jeff over the summer. I went over and helped him out as much as I could,” said former Carlisle United captain Grainger.

“He is someone who has played a vital role in terms of how well we have done in the opening part of the season. He is someone that is vital to the club and we can’t thank him enough for the services that he has brought to the club.

“As the statement on the club website said, they are unsociable hours that Jeff is doing, and the amount of hours he has put in can’t be appreciated enough by us.

“He is someone I think very highly of and I can’t thank him enough for making me feel welcome when I came through the door.”

And Grainger, from Eamont Bridge, near Penrith, admits the work volunteers, like Curwen, do for the club is hugely important.

“The volunteers at the club and the people behind-the-scenes are working tirelessly,” Grainger admitted.

“I go as much as I can, to see the guys and the people working behind-the-scenes. At times, it’s unbelievable how many people are there, mucking in, making sure the ground and the club is alright for a matchday.

“People behind-the-scenes go unnoticed at times, but they are the type of people who help the club go forward.”

On the field, meanwhile, Reds are due to travel to Marske United this Saturday as they aim to extend their lead at the top of the table and build on last weekend’s 5-1 home success over Ramsbottom United.

Grainger, who gave his players a night off training yesterday, says he has thrilled with how Workington have started the season.

“As a group of staff, we have set ourselves targets and we want to keep hitting them,” he said.

“On Saturday, if we are being greedy, we could have won by even more. Speaking to some of their [Rambsottom’s] club representatives, they were saying that they felt they got away lightly on Saturday.

“It just shows how far the lads have come in a short space of time.”

Click here to read the original article

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New Regional Manager For AGS

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New Regional Manager For AGS: Advance Grass Solutions is very pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Hendy as Regional Technical Sales Manager for Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Joe brings a wealth of experience to the position starting his career as a seed analyst, progressing to an in-field technical manager for an established amenity business, where he has operated in the same area for fifteen years. Joe has extensive knowledge of both seed and fertiliser and is FACTS qualified.

New Regional Manager For AGS

Sam Honeyborne, MD at AGS said ‘’Joe’s appointment is the result of a comprehensive recruitment process where we had a clear strategy to identify experienced turf specialists to support our growth plan and add value to our existing team. Joe is extremely well known in this area, the heart of our original business, and will strengthen our long-term position with his diverse customer base and knowledge.’’

Advance Grass Solutions is a leading provider of agronomy services, products and customer

support throughout the UK, with loyal customers from lawncare and small bowling clubs to Ryder Cup venues and Premier League football clubs.

Joe Hendy said ‘’I have thoroughly enjoyed my career in the amenity sector and I’m now ready for a fresh challenge. I recognise the need to supply customers with their total requirements in an ever-changing market which is being driven by sustainability. The AGS portfolio is comprehensive and market leading, with a well-researched option to suit all turf regimes.’’

AGS provide a UK exclusive range of high-quality products including: Growth Products, Sustane Natural Fertilizers, Polyon controlled release technology, in addition to well-known UK based suppliers such as DLF Trifolium and Aquatrols. Their staff hold industry recognised qualifications such as BASIS and FACTS alongside honours degrees in sports turf, soil science and sustainable land management disciplines.

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