Tag Archive for: New

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

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New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost: A switch in management policies at one of Northern Ireland’s leading golf clubs has resulted in a major £160,000 investment in new John Deere course maintenance equipment.

The Blackwood Golf Centre is situated in the heart of the Clandeboye Estate’s beautiful parklands, just at the top of the Ards Peninsula in County Down. Extending to 240ha, the club runs two 18-hole courses including the par 54 Temple and the par 71 championship Hamilton, plus a 26-bay floodlit driving range, putting green and short game area.

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

New fleet gives The Blackwood a boost

Historically the club has predominantly used John Deere machines, but some of the fleet had been faithful workhorses for the past 18 years and so were becoming quite aged. Last August the club underwent some fundamental changes, which included enlisting the help of independent golf management consultant Paul Gray, who has taken on the contract to manage the club.

One of Paul’s first changes was to upgrade the John Deere equipment fleet, directly liaising with course manager Jonny Eager and Ricky Neill, sales manager at the local John Deere turf dealer Johnston Gilpin & Co Ltd.

With the help of a five-year John Deere Financial package, the club bought a John Deere 8900A PrecisionCut fairway mower, 2500E hybrid electric greens triplex mower, 2653B PrecisionCut tees & surrounds triplex mower and two TH 6×4 Gator utility vehicles. Also included in the purchase were a Trimax Snake articulating rotary mower and a Buffalo debris blower.

Course manager Jonny Eager is very pleased with the new fleet and says the machines have boosted production and efficiency. “We have been using John Deere machines at The Blackwood since 2003 and have always found them very reliable and easy to use.

“With this new deal we replaced two of our older Gators with the TH 6x4s, while the rest of the machines are additions to the fleet, which now consists of 12 John Deere machines in total. They do a great job and the backup we receive from the dealer is first class. All round we think they represent longevity and good value for money.”

Blackwood Golf Centre consultant manager Paul Gray adds: “Machinery replacement in the past had been fairly neglected here, so one of the first changes I made was to embark on a new replacement programme, starting with this financed machinery purchase deal.

“Since changing to the new machines this season, members have been full of praise for how the courses look and play. Given the really difficult spring we had in terms of weather, the members have really complimented the staff for the excellent conditions the courses are in.”

“Part of the deal included full training for The Blackwood’s own mechanic, who came up to the dealership and spent some time with one of our technicians to learn how all the machines are assembled, used and operated,” explains Ricky Neill.

“We are very keen for the greenkeeping team to carry out all their own regular servicing and maintenance, with support from our expert technicians should they require it. Our dealership at Lisburn has had a good relationship over the years with The Blackwood Golf Centre, and we are here to assist them with any future machinery requirements as the club develops.”

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Lawn Association – the brand new ‘True Range’

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Lawn Association – the brand new ‘True Range’: The Lawn Association is proud to introduce a new and exclusive, sustainable product range which will be available via their online shop from the end of May.

The ‘True Garden Range’ is a specifically designed fertiliser and soil conditioner range for domestic use. Formulated using composted food waste, this product will not only keep your plants happy and healthy but also your soils. The composted food waste, creates a stable humus, which is naturally high in organic matter, as well as rich in amino, humic, and fulvic acids and contains all the essential minerals, vitamins and N, P & K required to aid and increase the plant’s healthy growth, root development, disease resistance and overall function whilst also providing a food source for the beneficial microbes within your soils.

Lawn Association - the brand new 'True Range'

Lawn Association – the brand new ‘True Range’

Within the range are three tailored products, for specifically targeting certain areas of the garden:

• True Grass for your lawns
• True Bloom for flower beds, pots, and hanging baskets
• True Yield for the vegetable plots, fruit trees and bushes

The ‘True Garden Range’ offers a completely revolutionary and sustainable way to enhance and support all areas of your garden, including your vegetables and flowers as well as offering a truly unique lawn fertiliser for all year long care and all can be used as often as is necessary.

This exciting new sustainable product range comes in a compostable tube with a recyclable applicator and costs £16.99 per tube. See the whole True Garden Range on the Lawn Association link here: https://www.lawnassociation.org.uk/true-garden-range/ 

For more information or images please contact Francijn Suermondt at rabbitattackpr@gmail.com or on 07895184395.

Our core mission at the Lawn Association is to make accurate lawn care information readily available via our website and through our Free Membership Scheme for gardening enthusiasts. Go to the @LawnAssociation Facebook page to join the Lawn Enthusiasts Group, and get free association membership via the website, www.lawnassociation.org.uk

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Pellenc launches two new products

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Pellenc launches two new products: Pellenc, the world’s leading expert in battery-powered tools for maintaining landscapes, has continued to develop its product range with the launch of two new products to the UK market.

Based on observations and feedback from both end-users and the dealer network, Pellenc is unveiling two new additions to the Green & City Technology catalogue for green space maintenance professionals.

Excelion 2 Brushcutter

The new Excelion 2 professional brushcutter with power to spare. With a rotational speed of 6,600rpm and a cutting diameter of 420mm, the Excelion 2 battery-powered brushcutter offers superior performance for professional intensive landscaping and forestry work.

Pellenc launches two new products

Pellenc launches two new products

Weighing 30% less than petrol-powered brushcutters, it also has a newly designed smart handle that enables agile manoeuvring and displays digital information in real-time including current speed, battery life (as a percentage and in minutes) and power indicator.

The new brushcutter will be available in two versions – loop handle and cow handle. Each come standard with the new ‘smart’ control allowing the user to select the ‘head’ while in use. This then allows the brushcutter to adjust the power for different types of work, enabling users to complete brush clearing, weeding, mulching, sawing or mowing thick vegetation.

The Excelion 2 comes with IP54 water-proof rating, which means it can be used in wet weather and its battery life lasts up to three hours of continual use – depending on the cutting head and battery – making it suitable for profession use.

Airion Backpack Blower

The Airion Backpack blower is the most powerful battery-powered backpack blower on the market. With an airflow of 1,280m³/h and a thrust of 24N, its performance is suitable for day-to-day road green space maintenance work in all seasons.

With its wide, thick shoulder straps and integrated adjustable belt, the Airion Backpack blower offers great comfort during prolonged working sessions.

Its inclined pivot gives full freedom of movement with the nozzle, allowing manoeuvrability reminiscent of a hand-held blower. Its handle can also be adjusted to the user’s height with all controls are always within easy reach.

Pellenc launches two new products

Pellenc launches two new products

The large backlit display on the smart handle provides the user with real-time information including current speed, battery life (as a percentage and in minutes), option currently selected (boost and cruise control) and time worked on the current work site.

The Airion Backpack’s design optimises its aerodynamic efficiency by 15% compared to competing tools and its battery life has been extended up to three hours – depending on the battery used.

As with other tools in the Pellenc range, the Airion Backpack blower comes with IP54 water-proof rating and can be fitted with three different nozzles depending on usage – angled, angled-flat or flat.

Pellenc UK recently announced the launch of an industry leading four-year commercial warranty for all batteries and three-year warranty for all tools.

Pellenc products are exclusively distributed in the UK by Etesia UK.

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.pellencuk.com

You can also follow Pellenc on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PellencUK for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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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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John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

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John Deere’s new apprentice training centre: John Deere and training provider ProVQ have announced plans to open a brand new Apprentice Training Centre this autumn, at a farm site in Upper Saxondale near Bingham in Nottinghamshire. This will mark the 30th anniversary of the company’s first Ag Tech apprentice intake, who were enrolled at original partner Brooksby Melton College in 1992.

Designed specifically and solely for John Deere dealer apprentices attending the company’s award winning Ag Tech, Turf Tech and Parts Tech training programmes, the first John Deere Apprentice Training Centre was established at Radcliffe-on-Trent five years ago. These premises have now been outgrown, due to the programmes’ success and increasing dealer demand.

John Deere's new apprentice training centre

John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

The Ag ,Turf and Parts Tech apprenticeships focus on developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for dealer personnel of the future. Each year group trains at the centre for up to eight weeks a year in four blocks of two weeks. Some of this time is also spent at John Deere’s Langar HQ when working with the largest equipment and the latest technologies.

John Deere appointed ProVQ Limited in summer 2015 as its new business partner to deliver the apprentice training programmes on behalf of its dealers in the UK & Ireland. Since that time the strength of the partnership has allowed the programmes to develop and grow to meet the needs and expectations of a modern John Deere dealership. The current full-time ProVQ staff will continue to be managed by James Haslam at the new Apprentice Training Centre from the autumn.

ProVQ started its apprentice training programmes in 2005, and went on to develop a full range of national services including apprentice recruitment, training, vocational assessment and qualifications. Today the company trains over 600 apprentices and many hundreds of adult learners on technical, parts and customer service programmes.

“We are really looking forward to establishing this new bespoke facility close to our UK headquarters at Langar,” said John Deere Limited training centre manager Allan Cochran. “Our joint investment in the expanded Apprentice Training Centre will be in the region of £1.5 million. This will allow us to continue our growth and ambition to attract more young talent to develop successful careers in land-based engineering through the John Deere agricultural, turf and forestry dealer network.

“As our dealership businesses continue to grow, there is increasing demand for qualified technicians equipped with the correct knowledge and skills to support that growth. We have therefore recognised the need to increase the capacity of our already successful and industry leading training programmes even further.

John Deere's new apprentice training centre

John Deere’s new apprentice training centre

“The new site will feature a purpose-built two-storey unit in addition to refurbished and extended farm buildings, effectively almost doubling our available square footage. The premises will include a bigger workshop space as well as larger classroom and cafeteria facilities.

“Most importantly, this will give us the capability to double our throughput of trained technicians to meet dealer demand. ProVQ will maintain its current staffing levels and continue to provide the full suite of apprentice technician training programmes at the new premises.”

ProVQ managing director Stuart Jones added: “Together with John Deere, we have already jointly developed a very high quality training environment in which apprentices can learn to master the technology that underpins the company’s comprehensive agricultural and amenity turf product ranges.

“We are now looking forward to seeing many more young people come through the doors of our new training centre at the start of what is undoubtedly a very exciting and rewarding career in engineering and parts support. The facilities we are developing will help them to achieve their full potential in a rapidly changing industry that offers a great opportunity to work with some of the most advanced technologies supporting food production, land management and environmental sustainability.”

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