Tag Archive for: Scotland’s

Scots Turf Show Scotland’s inaugural event of 2023

Scots Turf Show Scotland’s inaugural event of 2023: The 1st of March 2023 marks the inaugural year of a major new turf care event in Scotland, with The Scots Turf Show opening its doors at Hamilton Park Racecourse.

Devised by 17 of the industry’s most influential companies, The Scots Turf Show strives to give back to the Scottish turf community by providing a local event.

Scots Turf Show Scotland’s inaugural event of 2023

Scots Turf Show Scotland’s inaugural event of 2023

It is thought that almost 50% of the grounds industry in Scotland, be they groundsmen or greenkeepers working in football, rugby, golf or at schools or councils, have never attended an industry event.

A primary reason for this is the time and cost of travelling to existing exhibitions in England. This had to change for Alan Thompson of AllGrass Turf Care, who had the original idea behind reviving a Scottish Turf event.

“Back in 2019, I went to Richard Heywood at Campey Turf Care with an idea to create an event in Scotland that gave back to the Scottish market,” Alan explained.

“There used to be Scots Turf, and we’ve not had it for roughly 15 years, and as a result, almost half of the Scottish turf industry has missed out on educational opportunities and seeing machinery that could help them in their day-to-day work.

“Clubs can’t afford to let their staff go to current events, which means two days away from Scotland, financially they can’t do it, and there are various other reasons.

“We held a trial event in 2019 with seven companies at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club and had 118 people turn out. The clubhouse was probably only big enough for 50, so it was great to see that there was something there.

“After a delay due to Covid. We got back to the vision of how big we could make this. We had to bring it back to earth a little because we’d love to have 40 companies there and make it a big grand event, but we want to grow at a steady rate that works for the visitors and companies involved.

“So, this is another step. There’s a market, and there is a demand. This year we have a fantastic venue at Hamilton Park Racecourse. There’s plenty of parking, an onsite hotel, various marquees and live demonstrations outside.

“As well as the 17 companies, we’ll have seminars in one day consisting of twenty-minute sessions, so people stay engaged. We have devised everything to benefit those attending, and we’re looking forward to their support so we can continue to provide this for them.”

A significant difference between this event and others already on the industry calendar is it is purely financed by the companies, which in 2023 includes Campey Turf Care, AllGrass, Dennis, SIS Pitches, John Deere and more.

This allows for every discipline of turf care to be covered in a focused one-day event that engages visitors and makes it financially viable for whole teams to attend.

Please RSVP by 20th February to scotsturfshow@gmail.com to register your attendance.

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Pellenc maintains Scotland’s most exotic garden

Pellenc maintains Scotland’s most exotic garden: The team responsible for maintaining the incredible Logan Botanic Garden have noticed several benefits since investing in a wide-range of Pellenc battery-powered equipment.

Regarded as Scotland’s most exotic garden, Logan Botanic Garden is located at the south-western tip of Scotland on the Rhins of Galloway. The Garden is warmed by the Gulf Stream which enables plants from Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, Mediterranean and Southern Africa to thrive.

Pellenc maintains Scotland’s most exotic garden

Pellenc maintains Scotland’s most exotic garden

Garden Supervisor Colin Belton has been working at the Garden for 23 years and there are many reasons as to why he has stayed in the job for this amount of time.

“It is a great part of the world to be in,” he said. “It is very quiet, laid back, no rush to life and I’m part of a great team. We all work together as one unit.”

Colin revealed that plans were already in place to reduce carbon emissions after being encouraged to do so by the government. In fact, Logan Botanic Garden unveiled the first carbon neutral glasshouse in the UK. This was five years ago, and Colin’s attentions then turned to battery-powered equipment as an alternative to petrol machinery.

“I first became aware of the Pellenc equipment about 20 years ago,” he said. “I was at a horticultural show, and I saw the Pellenc chainsaw in action. I thought it was modern and different and so I took a brochure away with me. I still have that brochure to this day!

“A lot of other companies started bringing out battery-powered equipment, but to my knowledge, Pellenc has been around the longest and it was the one brand that really stuck with me.”

A forerunner when it comes to lithium-ion technology, Pellenc has established itself as the number one choice in the ‘zero emission’ professional power tools market for the maintenance of urban and green-spaces.

Light, odourless, noise-free, with no starting problems and enough power to enable professional users to work for a full day on a single charge, it’s no wonder more and more professional users are turning to Pellenc. It is an attractive alternative to those who have, for several years, been relying on fuel-based machinery.

Colin arranged for a demonstration of Pellenc equipment to be carried out at the Garden and he now boasts a fleet consisting of Airion blowers, Helion compact hedge-cutters as well as the Helion telescopic model, an Excelion strimmer and Excelion brushcutter, and the Selion T220/300 telescopic polesaw as well as the Selion C21 HD pruner – which were all supplied by Allan Wright of Agrovista Amenity.

“At the demonstration I think the light weight and the quietness impressed everyone the most,” said Colin. “We no longer have to endure an engine tucked under the ear droning away. Generally, it felt as though the petrol machinery was starting to take its toll on all of us.

The Pellenc equipment has certainly made our lives easier and safer.

“Take the Helion telescopic hedge cutter for example. The Helion enables us to reach the full height of the hedges, so we no longer have the hassle of assembling, moving, or relevelling our scaffolding tower. It’s a huge time saver and we can cut those hedges in half a day rather than a full day now.

“In fact, we can complete a lot of jobs much more quickly now and this is because we can work without disturbing our visitors. Previously we would get complaints about the noise from the petrol machines, and so we would be limited to a two-hour window to carry out jobs like hedge-cutting and strimming, before opening to the public. We can use the Pellenc equipment all day now because it is so quiet.

“There are just so many benefits to using this equipment,” continued Colin. “The Airion blowers, for example, have a huge advantage over the old petrol ones. Many of our paths are gravel based and trying to blow the leaves without taking the gravel with it was impossible with our old petrol blowers. However, the Pellenc Airion blowers have that low setting which is just enough to move the leaves along without interfering with the gravel.

“Then we have Excelion brushcutter with the City Cut head, and this enables us to work in the Garden without fear of debris flying towards visitors. In the past we have had to be extra careful and wait until no visitors were around.”

All the Pellenc tools at Logan Botanic Garden are powered by two ULiB 1500 batteries – the most powerful in the Pellenc range.

“We start work at 8am and we finish at 4.30pm and we get a whole day’s use out of them without the batteries being anywhere near flat. Some of the lighter pieces of kit we have run for days.

“To be honest, I think that initially, we were all sceptical as to whether the Pellenc products would be as powerful as a petrol engine – but they are.”

Pellenc is distributed exclusively 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.

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

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