Tag Archive for: One

GMA appoints One Agency

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GMA appoints One Agency: Following a successful competitive tender, Norwich-based marketing agency, OneAgency, has been appointed by the Grounds Management Association (GMA) to lead the marketing communications activity for this year’s SALTEX. 

Now in its 76th year, Europe’s largest sports, amenities and landscaping trade exhibition, SALTEX, will be held at Birmingham’s NEC over two days on 2-3 November.

GMA appoints One Agency

GMA appoints One Agency

GMA commercial and events director, Sarah Cunningham says: “We have every confidence that OneAgency’s digital-led, integrated marcomms approach will help us to realise our ambitions to attract record visitors and make this year’s SALTEX one of the best yet.

“People are keen to get back to face-to-face events, to network with industry colleagues, learn about the latest innovations, and see what manufacturers and industry suppliers have to offer. We are delighted to welcome the OneAgency team into the SALTEX family.”

OneAgency account director, Liz Cooper says: “This is an exciting win for the agency. Our work for the GMA will call upon the distinctive creative, digital and PR disciplines that we have within the agency. We know SALTEX well as we have attended with exhibiting clients for a long time. We now look forward to working with the team at the GMA to boost both engagement and numbers from exhibitors and visitors alike.”

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay.

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic, which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it.

For context, Lee has a team of thirty. Eleven are groundsmen, with two on the college’s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking. Over the summer, the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year, and in November, Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking.

The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options. Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker, he eventually turned to Turf Tank. https://turftank.com/en/

“It was also about helping the team, so they didn’t feel under pressure all the time. With the robot, where it’s taken us six or seven weeks to mark everything, we can effectively do that in a week now. Suddenly, the pressure has gone, and if we have staff on holiday or off sick, it keeps us out of trouble.

“We’ve got some projects lined up this summer that we are going to do in-house, and suddenly, that marker frees up two people, and we can put extra staff on the projects. That’s how we’ll use it as an aid and addition to the team to help plan workload and projects.”

With the Turf Tank One in place, Lee is looking to cut his marking hours by more than half. For him, this will increase pitch quality with additional aeration, cutting and finessing taking place. But choosing a robot and company that could provide everything he needed was critical.

The support from Alex and the Turf Tank team has been exemplary, with all questions answered quickly and I know that there is a full-time service engineer if I ever need hands-on assistance.”

“I think to be fair; the Turf Tank instantly ticked a lot of boxes for us. And it wasn’t just me, my team were there, and we tried other machines a week apart on the same pitch. We looked at line quality, how much paint it was putting out, how quick it was to set up, and there were similarities.

“But then we started to think about the differences. Do we want to be tied into a paint deal? Do we want an annual subscription fee? Turf Tank gave us that bit more flexibility.

“The other factor was the base station. You read a lot about the pros and cons, but to be honest as soon as I saw how it interacted with the machine, and how much more accurate the marking was, compared to those without using a base station, the whole team were like ‘it’s a no brainer, isn’t it?’ It blew us away, to be fair, and we bought the Turf Tank, and we now have base station points installed across the site, and it has worked really, really well.

“The Turf Tank records templates for initial marking and subsequent over-marking. Being able to get those templates was a significant point for us and nothing has been out of the remit of the robot. We’ve got most of the pitches loaded up now, including where the goals are actually smaller than a football goal, but we’ve managed to get the robot between the two posts and mark. Everything we’ve asked for has happened, and it has been great

“We want to teach our staff new skills and using and understanding the latest technology is very much part of Eton College’s ethos. I’m very much won-over and very impressed with the Turf Tank One line-marking robot. And if I were to move anywhere else, it is one of the first things I’d want to have in my fleet.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK) Michael@turftank.co.uk (Scotland and Ireland)

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Turf Tank One makes revolutionary change

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Turf Tank One makes revolutionary change: Bromsgrove School has taken a revolutionary step forward in line marking with their new Turf Tank One.

The co-educational day and boarding school was founded in 1553, with the vast one hundred acre site woven into the centre of Bromsgrove. Among it is the Sports Centre, where there are facilities for rugby, football, cricket, hockey, tennis and a vast array of others.

Turf Tank One makes revolutionary change

Turf Tank One makes revolutionary change

At the beginning of the school term in September, Head Groundsperson Richard Hare and his team have to prepare 15 rugby pitches across three different sites, with three groups of staff taking a week to initially mark out and prepare them.

Introducing the Turf Tank to this process is a game-changer for the Bromsgrove grounds team, and for Richard, they are now working with what he thinks is the future of line marking.

“When I first saw the Turf Tank One at the demo, I was absolutely amazed, and having used it, it’s revolutionary,” Richard begins.

“It just makes the job a hundred times easier, all the lines are dead straight, and there’s no mess, that’s the other big thing, it’s clean, and it is good to use, it’s easy, and for us, it’s been really, really good.

“We’ve marked in five pitches and the training grids which would have taken two members of staff at least three or four days, and we’ve done that in less than a day and to a high standard as well. Every pitch is a different size; there are no two pitches that are the same because of the different age groups playing sport and the way we have to fit the pitches in around the site.

“This makes it into a one-person job who can set it all up, keep an eye on it and do other things as well. And that’s not trying to make people redundant or anything like that, because as everybody will tell you, there’s always lots of things that people can be doing. And because staff can be working on other jobs, it will help us to raise our standards around the site.”

Bromsgrove’s transition into robotic line marking has been seamless with the help of Turf Tank’s Regional Manager for the North, Matt Murray. A comprehensive demo and installation have been key to all staff members being comfortable with the robot and ensuring they get the most from the customisable pitch, grid, logo and number options.

“Matt has been absolutely fantastic from day one,” Richard explains. “We set up a training day, and this is the second full day he’s been here, and he’s on the end of the phone all the time if we need any questions answered.

“When he first visited, he went through all the templates with us and set them up, and it’s superb. It’s the way that we can change as well because, like most schools, we’ll have to change from rugby after Christmas into football, so we have to go through all the pitches again, and change them all to football or training grids or whatever we need at the time. So, it’s unbelievable the changes it’s going to make for us.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK).

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300 acres, one gold service

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300 acres, one gold service: With 300 acres of grass to maintain, there was no doubt that Glenbervie Golf Club in Scotland, needed the support of the Reesink Turfcare’s ReeAssure maintenance plan.

Paul Todd, course manager at Glenbervie Golf Club, opted for the scheme to ensure the club’s large fleet of Toro mowers and machines remained in premium condition in order to maintain the pristine standards the club and its members were accustomed to.

300 acres, one gold service

300 acres, one gold service

Paul comments: “Our course can experience some pretty wet weather so our fleet needs to remain in excellent working condition to face the challenges presented by the elements.

“With a site of 300 acres of mature parkland, reliability and quality of cut are key factors. We implement a full PGR programme across all areas of the course and the Multi Pro 5800 sprayer had been vital for allowing us to do this effectively and efficiently.

“Our excellent relationship with Reesink ensures that we minimise down time and maximise the efficiency of the fleet. If we have any problems I know I can expect to see a Reesink representative on the same day. The quality of the scheme is second to none and it doesn’t matter if we need new parts, routine servicing or repairs, it’s taken care of.”

With Gold, Silver and Bronze package options, Reesink Turfcare’s ReeAssure maintenance scheme gives customers ultimate flexibility to select a service level that fits with their budget.

Paul and his team opted for the Gold package over five years ago and they still reap the financial benefits of signing up to the scheme. Paul continues. “I always know where we are in terms of cost and that’s enormously reassuring. Knowing that the package is so comprehensive means I can be confident I won’t be hit with big maintenance bills.”

Working with Rab Wilson at the Reesink Livingston branch in Scotland, Paul feels totally reassured. Together they have built up a good rapport which Paul cites as one of the most important aspects of the scheme: “I know I can count on Rab and his team to respond quickly if we have any problems. It’s a very good one-to-one service and having people you can rely on is vital to us. It’s a really good relationship – I can’t fault it.”

Rab comments: “The plan provides ultimate reassurance to customers such as Paul who maintain a very large fleet all year round. We take the stress out of arranging new parts and electrical components, servicing, breakdown support and machine health checks.

“Labour, parts and consumables are all included, so this comprehensive package of support provides a manageable upkeep programme which we take care of. It leaves customers like Paul with more time to focus on their day jobs and perfecting the golf course which his members value so much.”

Call 01480 226800 or go online at reesinkturfcare.co.uk to find out more about Reesink ReAssure maintenance plans.

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Two counties, two courses – one seed

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Two counties, two courses – one seed: Jason Connaughton, Course Manager at Yeovil Golf Club, says that he could not ask for anything more when it comes to the grass seed, customer service, and advice he receives from Limagrain UK.

Set on the outskirts of the town of Yeovil, this fabulous golf club boasts two excellent courses: the eighteen-hole Old Course and the nine-hole Newton Course. The two courses are divided by the River Yeo, which uniquely separates the two courses into two counties with the Old Course located in Dorset and the Newton Course in Somerset.

Two counties, two courses – one seed

Two counties, two courses – one seed

The experienced Jason Connaughton, who has worked at some top courses in the UK, Ireland, and Australia, is the man responsible for the upkeep of both courses. Now in his fourth year at Yeovil, his work across the 189 acres and 27 holes has been widely recognised, but he admits that due to the club’s location, it is not always plain sailing.

“The Newton Course is built on a flood plain which can cause issues,” he said. “The sixteenth green and seventeenth tee are at that same level, so they flood fairly often. When this occurs, there is a temporary green we use but this also tends to get very wet.

“On this small green we were commonly finding issues with moss and other problems – we also needed a grass seed which would be better for wear tolerance. I was not about to use a bent or a fescue because in the past I have found these too hard to establish on this site.

“Therefore, I spoke to both David Bevan from Agrovista Amenity and Matt Gresty from Limagrain UK – and they both suggested I try MM50.”

Limagrain’s leading MM50 mixture is a 100% ryegrass formula which is perfect for achieving consistency throughout a course. This hard-wearing mix has rapid germination, very fine leaved appearance, high shoot density and is tolerant to very close mowing, along with high disease resistance. All these attributes together produce a fantastic sward that has great colour all year round.

“We put MM50 down and it established so quickly – it was incredible,” said Jason. “There is more work to be done on the temporary green, but we’ve got the right seed now and the coverage is so much better – there is a huge improvement.”

After being impressed with the results he achieved on the temporary green with MM50, it led Jason to evaluate other areas of the course.

“After seeing how good MM50 was, it made me realise that we were not getting much out of the other brand of seed we were using,” continued Jason. “I soon made the decision to exclusively use MM50 for divotting and overseeding on the tees, fairways and aprons – and the results have been fantastic.

“It is such a lovely fine rye – the wear tolerance is fantastic, and the establishment is perfect. It ticks all the boxes for me, and the members have noticed the difference.”

Two counties, two courses – one seed

Two counties, two courses – one seed

In further pleasing the members, Jason revealed that he uses a range of Limagrain UK’s Colour Splash mixtures. The range has a floral arrangement for every requirement – whether it be a golf course, a local authority green space or any other establishment that has an area which needs brightening up.

“We have them spread out in visual areas across the course and the members and visitors absolutely love them,” said Jason. “Not only are they aesthetically pleasing but they are great for the environment and it’s lovely to see so many bees around the place. They are cost effective too – especially when you consider the impact that they have.”

Jason concluded by praising the support he receives from Limagrain UK.

“With Limagrain, it shows that you don’t have to be a big high-end golf course to receive the best support. They listen intently to what we want to achieve, and it means a lot to me when someone invests their time in talking to me and helping. I want to work with people who have our best intentions at heart, and I get exactly this with Limagrain UK.

“I couldn’t ask for more.”

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/amenity – you can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed and Instagram @mm_seeds

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