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Baroness makes the cut

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Baroness makes the cut: Cowglen Golf Club, based just outside of Glasgow, run a fleet of Baroness Machines to help keep their greens in perfect condition for their customers.

Their fleet includes the LM2400 Fairway Mower, the LM315 Greens Triple Mower, the LM66 Pedestrian Tees Mower and the LM56 Pedestrian Greens Mower.

Baroness makes the cut

Baroness makes the cut

Local dealer, the Hamilton Ross Group, speak to Course Manager, Michael Slack, to find out how the Baroness Machinery makes the cut for Cowglen!

Can you tell me a bit about what you use your Baroness machines for?

“We use the LM 66 Pedestrian Tees Machines for cutting tees three times a week.

We use the 56 for mowing greens three times a week, the LM315 for mowing greens three to four times a week and the LM2400 for mowing fairways two to three times a week.”

How has the machinery helped with your day to day tasks?

“The quality of cut saves time and offers golfers a better experience by presenting nice greens.”

What made you choose Baroness?

“I have a good relationship with Paul, and he introduced me to Baroness. I liked the machinery, and it gave a really high quality cut. The price and availability played a factor as well and the machines are all user friendly and easy to operate.”

What kind of finish do you get with the Baroness Machinery?

“A lovely finish on our tees and fairways.”

How did you first become aware of the Hamilton Ross Group?

“I have been dealing with Paul for 14 years as we inherited a fleet of machines from Hamilton Brothers.”

How has the sales and service support been?

“Really good, Paul has always been there to help straight away when we need him, and the response time is speedy.

Overall, Paul makes us feel like an important customer, which is great.”

We wish the team at Cowglen all the best with their Baroness Fleet!

Looking to find out more about the range? Get in touch with the Bishopton depot today on 01505 862010.

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phs Greenleaf sweeps the board

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phs Greenleaf sweeps the board: phs Greenleaf has won five industry-leading awards, including a special ‘Good Will Leaf Award’ for its unique rainbow Christmas tree which was created during the pandemic to bring hope and raise money for a mental health charity.

The Plants at Work Awards, run by the association representing interior landscapers, also awarded phs Greenleaf with gold awards for its maintenance work at the Trafford Centre in Manchester and its Christmas designs at Studley Castle Hotel in Warwickshire. It awarded silver awards for its design and installation work at Barton Square in Manchester and its contract work with Sodexo across the UK.

phs Greenleaf sweeps the board

phs Greenleaf sweeps the board

The coveted Good Will Leaf 2020 award was presented to companies whose work had a positive impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of Christmas 2020, despite a difficult trading time, phs Greenleaf tasked its staff with designing a Christmas tree that could act as a symbol of hope during the lockdown festive season. The Rainbow Tree was created from the winning design and was quickly commissioned by Nationwide Building Society, which put one in each of its offices across the UK, raising over £1000 for MIND in the process.

phs Greenleaf was also awarded gold in the Christmas category for its elaborate festive designs at Studley Castle Hotel in Warwickshire. The Greenleaf team created over 20 different exterior and interior Christmas trees, as well as countless Christmas displays, each designed to match the existing themes of the hotel’s rooms.

They ranged from traditional red and golds, to an Alice in Wonderland theme and even a pink feather tree for the hotel’s unique flamingo-themed room. The trees, which ranged from 20ft to 7ft and were both live and artificial, were carefully sourced, designed and decorated by phs Greenleaf’s dedicated Christmas designers and operators, who curated items from around the world to ensure guests experienced that special ‘wow’ factor from every room.

The third gold award was for maintenance services at the Trafford Centre in Manchester where the team care for over 250 different plants and trees over 207,000 square feet in one of the UK’s busiest shopping centres.

Emily Vernon, Managing Director at phs Greenleaf, said: “We are incredibly proud of our team. They work very hard to provide our customers with the best possible designs, installs and servicing and it’s wonderful to see that recognised with these fantastic award wins. 2020 was a difficult year for everyone so it’s great to see the positives being celebrated.”

phs Greenleaf took silver awards in the design and installation category for its work with Sodexo, planting in three large government buildings in difficult circumstances, and for its work at Barton Square, an extension to the Trafford Centre, ensuring the design carefully matched and complimented the original shopping centre, including 36 large interior palm trees.

phs Greenleaf has been providing planting and landscaping services to businesses for over 25 years, including indoor and outdoor plants, artificial and live planting, living walls, grounds maintenance and Christmas trees and decorations.

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Future proof the UK’s green spaces

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Future proof the UK’s green spaces: There is an urgent need to recruit young volunteers to care for and maintain UK parks if they are to meet the needs of current and future generations, according to Future Proof Parks – a partnership between Groundwork, Fields in Trust and National Youth Agency.

They say it is vital that we act now to recruit the next generation of volunteers, representative of the communities that enjoy and benefit from the UK’s parks and green spaces. A new series of free How-To guides have been published supporting friends of parks groups to recruit more young volunteers.

Future proof the UK’s green spaces

Future proof the UK’s green spaces

Our parks are amazing places. Across the country, volunteers work tirelessly to care for and protect their local green spaces, improving our towns and cities. They have been crucial as places to exercise, meet friends and relax during the Coronavirus pandemic. As council funding becomes further stretched, more work maintaining and improving our precious parks is being picked-up by friends of parks groups. However, these volunteers are not always representative of the whole local community that use the park – and they could benefit from a wider range of volunteers to support their growing workload.

Future Proof Parks is a National Lottery Heritage Fund programme – part of the £10m ‘Kick the Dust’ initiative –which aims to get more young people involved in preserving their local park and green space heritage. Throughout the programme young people have learned about their local historic parks and have been encouraged to join their local ‘friends of’ groups, volunteering to preserve the local spaces that matter to the communities they live in.

The project is also working with friends’ groups to give them the tools, encouragement, and support to get more local young people involved in their work and benefit from cross-generational working. To support volunteers inexperienced at involving young people, a series of How-To guides has been published introducing Friends of Parks working with young people in green spaces. The in-depth How-To-Guides which look at key areas including Recruiting young volunteers, safeguarding young people and how to fundraise with young people.

Fields in Trust Chief Executive Helen Griffiths said: “We are all thankful to the volunteers who helped maintain our parks throughout lockdown and now, coming out of the pandemic, we can all play our part to make sure local green spaces will remain a healthy part of the local environment contributing to our wellbeing, our community connections and mitigating the impact of climate change. Local parks have been vital over the last year, we must make sure they will always be there for the whole community and for future generations – helping to restore the natural world and providing safe places to meet friends and neighbours. To make that happen we have to ensure the next generation of volunteers are included and empowered to get involved now and become future leaders”

The wellbeing value associated with frequent use of parks and green spaces is worth £34.2 billion per year to the UK adult population and is estimated to save the NHS around £111 million per year through a reduction in GP visits. Parks are one of the most universal of our public services used by all members of our communities and multiple generations – so it is important that they deliver something for all the groups that use them.

Earlier this year, a report published by Groundwork drawing on contributions from 23 organisations recognising the need to reimagine parks for the 21st century, found major inequalities in people’s ability to access parks and other open spaces.

The ‘Out of Bounds’ report demonstrated the extent to which certain groups are not getting the benefit of regularly accessing ‘urban nature’ – citing evidence that girls and young women feel unsafe in public spaces, some disabled people feel uncomfortable in parks and young people from minority ethnic backgrounds have fewer opportunities to connect with green spaces.

The How-To Guides are available for free download www.fieldsintrust.org/future-proof-parks

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Dunblane New replaces the old

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Dunblane New replaces the old: Dunblane New Golf Club’s course is located in the centre of the cathedral city of Dunblane in one of the most picturesque areas of Perthshire. The course’s elevated position provides beautiful panoramic views over the Forth Valley, the Campsie Fells and beyond, including Stirling Castle, the Southern Highlands and the peaks of Ben Lomond and Ben Ledi.

The ‘New’ name came about because until 1922 golf was played on a small nine-hole course adjoining the River Allan on what is now a public park. History states that play started on the new course in April 1923, after a horse, cart and harness with a roller box and two mowers were bought and Mr J C Ross was appointed as greenkeeper at £3 10s a week.

Dunblane New replaces the old

Dunblane New replaces the old

Almost 100 years on, course manager Wes Saunders has taken delivery of 11 new machines from local dealer Double A, the club’s first John Deere fleet deal, as part of an ongoing landscaping and maintenance programme designed to continue the enduring quality and appeal of the course to members and visitors.

The latest fleet comprises two 2750E triplex and three 220E walk-behind hybrid electric greens mowers, two 7700A PrecisionCut fairway mowers, 9009A and 7400A utility TerrainCut rotary mowers, plus a Tru-Turf RB70 greens roller and a Campey Turf Care Air2g2 air injection machine.

These were bought using a tailored John Deere Financial agreement with six-year PowerGard Protection plans for full maintenance and servicing, allowing the club to have a fixed machinery budget with no extra costs. This is the first part of a replacement programme that Wes and Double A’s golf key accounts manager John Bateson are working through together, with tractors and utility vehicles being looked at this year to complete the fleet.

Originally hailing from Sydney, Australia where he did his greenkeeping apprenticeship at Elanora Country Club north of the city, Wes Saunders has 27 years’ experience working on golf courses across the world. After leaving his home country, he spent several years in the US and Canada before joining Dunblane New Golf Club six years ago as course manager.

“I first put a proposal to the club two years ago to update the equipment fleet, but the timing wasn’t quite right for the finance so the idea was postponed for a year,” says Wes. “The board then agreed what we could spend on a monthly basis and we held a competitive tender with the main manufacturers, bringing in various machines for demonstrations and assessment by the greenkeeping team.

“We made the decision based on whether the kit was fit for purpose, our likes and dislikes, serviceability and previous history with the suppliers. We chose John Deere, not just on price – although that was a prime consideration – but also on the key aspects of quality and reliability of the equipment and, most importantly, the strong relationship with the Double A dealership and their parts and service backup. The terms from John Deere Financial were also very flexible, which enabled us to get what we needed to meet the club’s budget.

“All the machines were in place by the end of April this year, and everything’s working out a treat now. We use the 2750E hybrid electric triplex mowers to cut the greens for most of the year, and the 220E walk-behinds for special tournaments when we need a little more refinement in the finish, then these are used on the greens throughout the winter.

“The new A Model mower technology is also proving particularly useful – even though we’re still experimenting a little with its capabilities, the use of the programmable TechControl system to achieve the desired results consistently across the course is proving to be a game-changer.

“Overall I am very pleased with the performance of the new machines. We have quickly seen improvements to the course as well as labour savings with the extra control provided by the new mowers’ advanced technology features.”

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A pitch fit for the Premiership

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A pitch fit for the Premiership: Formartine United Football Club boasts a pitch to match its ambitions thanks to an experienced groundsman and two Dennis mowers. 

The club from Pitmedden, Aberdeenshire is currently playing in the Highland Football League but has its sights set higher.

A pitch fit for the Premiership

A pitch fit for the Premiership

“It is a success story so far, but we’re not finished yet,” said Head Groundsman Paul Fiske.

“We were in the amateurs, then progressed through to juniors and are now in the Highland League. The ambition is to reach the Scottish Professional Football Leagues and I don’t think we are far off.”

It is safe to say that Paul already knows how to prepare a pitch worthy of the professional leagues after spending 22 years as the Head Groundsman at Aberdeen FC. His work at Formartine has already been widely recognised and most recently by another Scottish Premiership team.

“We played Motherwell FC in the Scottish Cup and they were really impressed with how good the surface was – the manager and a lot of the players were saying that the pitch was as good as anything they have played on in the Premier League.”

Aside from his groundsmanship skills, Paul also believes the success of the pitch is down to Atholl Cadger, the chairman and Sandy Sinclair vice-chairman, who he says are “key to the club’s ambition” and “backs me to the hilt” when it comes to pitch maintenance.

This certainly rings true when you consider that the club has recently invested in a new Dennis PRO 34R. This innovative rotary mower is ideal for sports pitches and lawns producing the enviable ‘Dennis Stripes’ whilst a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.

Paul claims that the PRO 34R has been an absolute “gamechanger” and has saved him an incredible amount of time.

“I previously had a 26-inch rotary mower and to clean-up after a game it would take me six hours,” he said. “When I found out Dennis had brought out a 34-inch rotary I just knew that it would be ideal, plus it has the brush on the front of it as well which is brilliant.

“I would say that the PRO 34R has cut those six hours in half – and therefore it allows me more time to get on with other jobs.”

To accompany his new PRO 34R, Paul also relies on his trusty Dennis G860 cylinder mower – which he was pleased to see was already in the shed when he first arrived.

“I’d used the G860 a lot at Aberdeen FC, so I was over the moon to see that machine already here,” he said. “It is so light yet powerful and, in my opinion, is the best cylinder mower out there.”

As Paul says, the G860 is lightweight at just 166kg and it is also easy to manoeuvre and comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for the throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive.

The mower features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish on every occasion. The Dennis G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide range of tasks such as including scarifying, verticutting, brushing, spiking, and slitting.

“We have pretty much all the cassettes which help with a wide range of tasks,” said Paul. “The Sorrel Roller cassette is fantastic to use in the winter as it helps to get some much-needed air into the surface.

“We cut to a height of somewhere between 26-28mm in the height of the summer, and then taking that up to maybe 30-32mm in winter. I’ll cut everyday with the G860 including a double cut on a Friday and then a final cut on the morning of a matchday.

“The 8-bladed cylinder provides the perfect finish,” he continued. “It is a great machine and ticks every box for the club.

“I would not hesitate to recommend both the G860 and the PRO 34R to anyone.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers

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