Tag Archive for: Regional

GMA Connect Returns With Six UK-Wide Regional Events

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GMA Connect Returns With Six UK-Wide Regional Events: The Grounds Management Association (GMA) will expand GMA Connect in 2026, rolling out six UK-wide events designed to bring practical, accessible learning directly to grounds staff and volunteers.

Following two successful pilot events in 2025, the 2026 GMA Connect programme will take place in Oxford, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds, Southampton and Ipswich, ensuring grounds people can access hands-on learning closer to home.

GMA Connect Returns With Six UK-Wide Regional Events

GMA Connect Returns With Six UK-Wide Regional Events

As a core GMA member benefit, GMA Connect brings the Association’s learning experience into regional hubs whilst also welcoming the wider grounds management industry. Each one‑day event offers a mix of targeted seminar sessions and live demonstrations from leading suppliers, giving attendees the chance to see products, equipment and techniques in action.

Designed around real‑world challenges faced by local grounds teams, GMA Connect focuses on practical solutions and takeaways that can be put to use immediately on site.

2026 Schedule:

  • Abingdon School (Oxford) – Thursday 16 April
  • Cardiff City Stadium (Cardiff) – Wednesday 22 April
  • Joie Stadium, Manchester City (Manchester) – Thursday 14 May
  • Headingley Stadium (Leeds) – Tuesday 19 May
  • Stoneham Lane Football Complex (Southampton) – Thursday 21 May
  • Ipswich Rugby Club (Ipswich) – Thursday 4 June

What Attendees Say:

Sean Smith, Groundsperson at Croke Park, said: “Events like this are important because they’re accessible and give you the chance to see things outside your everyday routine. You can chat with different people, see what they do differently and share what you do differently. I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about attending.”

Ticket Information:

  • Joie Stadium, Manchester City: £10 for GMA members | £50 for non-members
  • All other events: Free for GMA members | £35 for non-members

“The two pilot events in 2025 were a huge success, so we’re delighted to be rolling out six events across the UK in 2026,” said Sarah Hunter, Head of Events at the GMA. “It’s all about delivering high-quality learning closer to home and making it more accessible and easier to fit around the busy lives of grounds people. GMA Connect is a core member benefit and these events allow us to bring the GMA learning experience directly into the regions.”

GMA Connect is open to grounds professionals and volunteers working across all levels of the sector, from grassroots to elite sport. The programme is supported by GMA Platinum Supporters MJ Abbott, Kubota, Howardson Group, ISEKI, Cramer and GKB, working in partnership with the GMA.

For more information and to secure your place, visit thegma.org.uk/connect.

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Beth Gibbs Joins GMA As Regional Pitch Advisor

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Beth Gibbs Joins GMA As Regional Pitch Advisor: The Grounds Management Association (GMA) is proud to announce that Beth Gibbs has been appointed as the new Regional Pitch Advisor – Rugby Union, for the London and South East region, making her the first female to hold this position in the organisation’s history.

Beth began her grounds management career at Wellington School where she joined as an apprentice and undertook her Level 2 qualification in Sports Turf Maintenance. This early hands‑on experience has laid the foundation for her rapid progression in the profession and remains a defining part of her journey into grounds management.

Beth Gibbs Joins GMA As Regional Pitch Advisor

Beth Gibbs Joins GMA As Regional Pitch Advisor

A rising talent within the sector, Beth brings a track record of leadership and advocacy for early‑career professionals. She is an active member of the GMA’s NextGen group, championing pathways for young people entering the industry.

Her achievements were nationally recognised when she was named Young Groundsperson of the Year by the GMA in 2023.

In her new role as Regional Pitch Advisor for the South East and London, Beth will play a pivotal part in shaping and supporting professional standards across one of the most diverse and dynamic regions in the grounds sector. Her appointment shows the GMA’s continued dedication to improving representation and supporting future leaders in grounds management.

Beth Gibbs said: “It’s an honour to take on this role and to be the first female representative. The GMA has played an important part in my development and I’m excited to help others access the same opportunities. I’m passionate about supporting our community, especially young people starting their journey in the industry.”

Geoff Webb, CEO of the GMA, said: “Beth’s appointment is a significant moment for the GMA and for the wider grounds management industry. Beth brings a fresh perspective and real credibility which is why we’re proud to see her step into this role.”

Jason Booth, COO of the GMA, said: “Beth is an exceptional example of the future of our profession – dedicated, knowledgeable and inspiring to others. Her contribution to NextGen and her achievements to date show exactly why she is the right person for this role. We’re thrilled to welcome her to the team.”

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New Regional Specialists Join Turf Tank

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New Regional Specialists Join Turf Tank: Svenstrup, Denmark, October 31st: Turf Tank – the leading provider of autonomous robots for pitch marking – has expanded its UK team with two key regional appointments to support its growing customer base across the country.

The company has welcomed Cameron Brooke as Field Service & Support Specialist for the North, and Atwa Somobwana as Regional Sales Manager for Central England – two roles designed to bring fast and localised support to customers.

New Regional Specialists Join Turf Tank

New Regional Specialists Join Turf Tank

“Having people on the ground across the regions means our customers get help from someone who understands their conditions, their challenges, and their pitches,” said Mike Thomsen, Operations Manager at Turf Tank.

Cameron Brooke joins Turf Tank with over a decade of engineering experience, including international roles in Vietnam, Australia, and across Europe. Based in the North, Cameron will focus on customer onboarding, training, and service.

“I’ve always loved the outdoors and staying active, so being part of a company connected to sport feels like a natural fit,” said Brooke.
Atwa Somobwana, based in Central England, brings more than ten years of experience in sales and business development, previously working with BMI Group and MSX International. His focus will be demonstrations, new partnerships, and regional growth.

“What drew me to Turf Tank is its blend of sports and technology. I’m passionate about how automation and AI can improve efficiency in real world settings, and Turf Tank is a perfect example of that.” said Somobwana.

Atwa attended SALTEX on 12-13 November in Birmingham, Europe’s premier grounds management show, where Turf Tank showcased their line marking robots to an ever increasing number of groundscare professionals.

Turf Tank’s line marking robots are used across the UK, from Premier League stadiums to grassroots clubs and local schools. The robots eliminate the physical effort traditionally involved in pitch marking, allowing one person to paint e.g. a full-sized football or rugby pitch in around 25 minutes, freeing up staff for other tasks.

The expansion of Turf Tank’s UK team ensures customers benefit from dedicated regional expertise and rapid response times for support and service needs.

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Lee Burton Joins Harrowden as Regional Sales Manager

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Lee Burton Joins Harrowden as Regional Sales Manager: Not content with a new website Harrowden has also recruited a new regional sales manager – for the Midlands to the West. In what Lee admits has been a whirlwind few months he has joined a new team, visited both Harrowden farms and seen sedum growing and on a green roof application.

His role is all about strengthening customer relationships whilst developing new ones along the way. That means regular communication through site visits, head office meetings, emails, and calls—whatever it takes to stay connected.

Lee brings extensive experience from the broader horticulture retail sector having held positions with Jewson, Wickes and most recently Huws Gray. Lee also brings a host of skills gained from more than twenty years in the business.

Lee reports into another Lee – Lee Andrew, and joins Chris Carr and Tony Clapcott as key members of the Harrowden sales team.

Lee B – as he is already known – is based in the Midlands so within easy reach of the region’s landscaping businesses:-

“I’ve spent nearly 30 years in building materials – I was ready for a change, and Harrowden really stood out. The passion, pride and strong team spirit felt like the perfect fit. It’s definitely different selling a live product compared to one that simply comes off the shelf!

The scale and detail of what we do is incredible—from maintaining big machinery to hand sowing seeds across multiple sites. It blows my mind… I’m convinced there’s some wizardry involved”.

For more information on Harrowden please visit: https://harrowden.co.uk/

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MSC Regional Expansion and New Strategic Partner

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MSC Regional Expansion and New Strategic Partner: John Deere and DeLaval announce the Milk Sustainability Center expansion to dairy farmers in more countries and welcome dsm-firmenich as the next strategic partner.

Designed to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of dairy farming operations, the Milk Sustainability Center offers a unique solution by integrating data on crop, animal and feeding performance into one unified platform.

MSC Regional Expansion and New Strategic Partner

MSC Regional Expansion and New Strategic Partner

Developed through a joint effort initiated in September 2023, the Milk Sustainability Center empowers farmers to optimize their operations, reduce environmental impact and become more profitable.

Dairy farmers can use the Milk Sustainability Center to monitor nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) across their farm, herd, and fields. It provides insights to help farmers manage nutrient utilization effectively and reduce the need for manual data input. Today, dairy farmers can already choose to create automized data flow to MSC from 30 herd-, milking- and feeding software. Farmers can also invite their consultants, dealers, veterinarians and other partners to access the platform.

Regional Expansion

The Milk Sustainability Center is designed to serve dairy farmers, independent of their farm machinery brands, feeding technology, milking equipment brands, or herd management software. It is now fully available in 13 countries across North America and Europe (full list of countries see below). Farmers can easily subscribe free of charge at

www.milksustainabilitycenter.com.

The highly innovative digital ecosystem addresses evolving sustainability standards and the growing demands for sustainable practices in dairy farming.

Alexander Berges, Production System Manager at John Deere says, “We’re already working on future additions like benchmarking and recommendations functionality. This will further help farmers being more profitable while improving their sustainability.”

dsm-firmenich New Strategic Partner

dsm-firmenich joins the Milk Sustainability Center as a Strategic Partner. It’s software Sustell™ is the industry leading lifecycle assessment (LCA) solution that helps the agricultural industry measure and improve sustainability performance. This partnership will allow primary data to flow from MSC to the Sustell™ software, if the farmer agrees. This will further enhance MSC functionality with extra Sustell™ data sources and certified carbon footprint calculations, supporting the customers to drive profitable environmental improvements.

Dr. David Nickell, Vice President of Sustainability and Business Solutions at dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, commented: “The partnership between the Milk Sustainability Center and dsm-firmenich makes environmental impact assessment scalable and easier to implement. This will enable value chain partners to regularly track sustainability performance and to understand where and how to make profitable improvements with credible and transparent data and insights.”

Lars Bergmann, Executive Vice President of Digital Service at DeLaval, explains: “We aim to unify the industry to support dairy farmers improving their sustainability footprint. Partnerships like this will provide farmers with integrated tools that simplify automatic data flow, and enhance herd and field performance, which will support long-term sustainability goals.

Processors and consumer goods companies will benefit from a more transparent supply chain, strengthened by verifiable sustainability credentials.”

The Milk Sustainability Center welcomes partners in addition to Dinamica Generale and dsm-firmenich to join its mission to provide farmers with the comprehensive data and insights needed for a holistic view of the efficiency and sustainability in their dairy operations. For more information, potential partners are welcome to contact us at:

inquiries@milksustainabilitycenter.com

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