Tag Archive for: Matters

Turf Matters support #GroundsWeek

/in , /by

Turf Matters support #GroundsWeek: Turf Matters is proud to officially support the Grounds Management Association’s #GroundsWeek, an inaugural celebration week for the turf care sector.

Managed by the Grounds Management Association (GMA), the leading not-for-profit membership body for grounds professionals and volunteers, the turf care campaign will take place 1-7 March 2021 and will celebrate and highlight the vital role that professional grounds staff, volunteers, and the turf sector play in making sport possible.

Turf Matters support #GroundsWeek

Turf Matters support #GroundsWeek

Following a difficult year for the sector due to the impact of Covid-19, #GroundsWeek aims to showcase grounds staff and the amazing work that they do – and have continued to do – despite sport coming to a grinding halt. It also comes after a year where parks and green spaces have been hugely valuable to the public’s health, with increased use for ‘daily exercise’ and physical activity.

To celebrate the week, Turf Matters will be highlighting the fantastic work done throughout the industry.

Geoff Webb, CEO of the GMA, said:

“After a tough year, GroundsWeek is a fantastic opportunity for every part of the sector to come together and celebrate all the hard work that’s gone on throughout the year. We want to inspire sports fans and the general public to realise the vital role we play and get even more people to enter the profession and lend a helping hand at pitches across the country.

“We’re grateful to those officially supporting #GroundsWeek, with businesses and partners helping us champion grounds staff and the amazing work they do.

More information on #GroundsWeek can be found here.

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

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Merry Christmas from Turf Matters

/in , /by

Merry Christmas from Turf Matters: Rarely will a new year be treated with such gusto as 2021. I will certainly not be alone in wishing Good Riddance to 2020, although I am well aware of the fact that the advent of the new year doesn’t wipe the Covid slate clean.

It will be with us for most of the year but at least the vaccines mean that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and dreams of normality are not as fanciful as they were a few months ago.

Merry Christmas from Turf Matters

Merry Christmas from Turf Matters

I’m proud to be associated with an industry sector which has provided so many key workers, and that fact demonstrates just how important the work done in this industry is to the fabric of society as a whole.

Can you just imagine what would have been facing us when we came out of that first long lockdown if no-one had attended to the green spaces – cut the grass and managed the trees? Jungle comes to mind.

And, when we came out of lockdown, what gave us that little bit of hope? Golf courses being open and top class sport returning to our televisions. One of my memories of lockdown was how Saturday afternoons were just the same as every other after. No Jeff Stelling and his posse of television watching pundits!

When that changed, and we had golf, cricket, rugby and horse racing back on the television, it felt right, even given the lack of crowds and galleries.

That couldn’t have happened without dedicated groundsmen and greenkeepers moving back from ticking over mode to full blown, high octane turf management.

Thank you!

Now please enjoy a responsible, socially distanced festive holiday and join me in waving good-bye to 2020.

Scott MacCallum

Editor

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

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Further accolade for Turf Matters in top awards

/in /by

Further accolade for Turf Matters in top awards: Turf Matters proved that last year’s triumph in the International Turf and Ornamental Communicators Awards was no fluke by winning big again in the delayed 2020 Awards.

Turf Matters Designer, Tim Moat, won two categories for Best Cover (May-June 2019) and Best Single Page Design, while Editor, Scott MacCallum, also took two Firsts – a first equal in the same category of Best Writing, for Stadium of the Future (NovDecember 2019) and What a Rush! (Sept-Oct 2019).

Further accolade for Turf Matters in top awards

Further accolade for Turf Matters in top awards

In addition, for the second year in a row, Scott was awarded the Gardner Award for the Best Overall International Entry for his Stadium of the Future, article which focussed on the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium and the great work Darren Baldwin and his team carry out.

“Tim and I are absolutely delighted. We always strive to bring our readers the best possible magazine and we feel that by winning awards our work is rubber stamped,” said Scott.

“Having independent industry experts assess our work is a useful exercise whether we win Awards or not. That said, it is much more gratifying to win!” he added.

Turf Matters was joined in the winners’ enclosure by Greenkeeper International Editor, Karl Hansell, and Designer Libbie Waddleton, who also picked up several awards.

Turf Matters’ winning entries can be viewed at turfmatters.co.uk – magazine

Turf Matters Scoop TOCA Awards

/in , , /by

Turf Matters Scoop TOCA Awards: Turf Matters won the top award, and a clutch of other prizes, at the prestigious TOCA International Awards ceremony, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier this month.

“A Star in Any Language”, written by Turf Matters Editor Scott MacCallum, on Ryder Cup preparation, picked up the award for Best Writing in a Publication, while it also won the Gardner Award for the “Best of the Best”, selected from all category winners.

Turf Matters Scoop TOCA Awards

Scott also picked up a Merit award in the same category for his article entitled “Demain’s the Name”.

In addition, Turf Matters’ Designer Tim Moat won Best Design in a Publication for a one page design article for “The Beast on the East” and a Merit for “All eyes on Paris” in the same category while he also collected a Merit for Best Design in a Publication for a Full Magazine Layout for his work on “Improving on a Masterpiece”.

“Tim and I are absolutely delighted with our success at the TOCA Awards. It is the first time we have entered and it has given us affirmation that the work we are doing on Turf Matters, and presenting to our readers, is of the highest quality,” said Scott.

“It is particularly pleasing to be the Gardner Award winner for 2019 as it is an international competition. Coming out on top against the rest of the world is very humbling,” added Scott.

Turf Matters Scoop TOCA Awards

It wasn’t just Turf Matters which did the UK proud, also experiencing the sweet taste of success in Charlotte was, Forte Marketing, with Ellie Parry and Helen Willson, collected two Merit Award for their work with Lawn Master and Rain Bird Europe.

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

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters

/in /by

Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters: This issue of Turf Matters marks our fifth full year in production and the time seems to have just flown by.

We first appeared in January 2014 with a major look at St George’s Park. I will forever be indebted to Alan Ferguson for opening his doors to a magazine which while perfectly formed in my mind hadn’t actually appeared in print.

Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters

Since then we have grown issue by issue and covered many of the top sporting events the preparation for two Ryder Cups – Gleneagles and Golf Club National – two World Cups, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, Aintree, Six Nations Rugby, Test Cricket, World Athletic Championships and a host of others. We’ve profiled Hackney Marshes, Loughborough University, and carried out an in-depth examination of the issues surrounding rubber crumb.

While the magazine has developed, so has our accompanying website and the numbers of people visiting the site, or opening our ezines, have increased at an extremely gratifying rate. We’ve also added a number of comprehensive Turf Matters TV interviews within the last couple of years, as well as our fabled 20 Questions, which do draw out some fascinating confessions from the interviewee!

But back to the magazine. I am extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed over the last five years whether that be by submitting to an interview from yours truly, contributing articles yourself or believing in the title sufficiently to take out an advert with us. I know Sinead and Marie have worked very closely with a growing number of you and I hope that your involvement with Turf Matters has exceeded your expectations. If not we would be more than happy to sit down and have a chat about how forging closer relationships can be of mutual benefit.

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to Tim Moat. He’s the man who makes Turf Matters look as good as it does. Tim and I have known each other for close to 25 years and his work designing the magazine has ensured that we stand out from the crowd.

We will continue to strive to make Turf Matters the best publication we possibly can, covering all the important turf related sporting events and delving into the work of the groundsmen who maintain our top schools and universities – the unsung heroes if you like.

Thanks for reading our magazine and don’t hesitate if you feel you’d like to offer a potential feature or some advice which would help us.