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Dan Walker To Host IOG Awards

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Dan Walker To Host IOG Awards: Tickets are now available for this year’s Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) Industry Awards, so book now to secure your place at the industry’s biggest celebratory event –  hosted by the BBC’s Dan Walker on Wednesday October 30 at The Vox, located in Resorts World at the Birmingham NEC, on the evening of the first day of the SALTEX exhibition.

The awards – now in their 11th year – have continually grown in status for acknowledging the achievements of volunteer and professional grounds teams, as well as community clubs and national stadia. They recognise the passion, dedication and challenges faced by grounds staff at clubs of every size and from all corners of the UK.

Dan Walker To Host IOG Awards

BBC sports presenter and BBC Breakfast anchor Dan Walker will bring a new dimension to this year’s event as the 20 award categories are presented.

He currently hosts BBC One’s Award-winning Football Focus and regularly presents Match of the Day. He has also covered Wimbledon, The Grand National, Royal Ascot, The Derby and the Six Nations, as well as continuing to work on domestic, European and international football. He has also co-hosted Open golf coverage for the last 10 years and was an integral part of the BBC’s Olympic broadcasting team for both London 2012 and Rio 2016.

To secure your seat – which cost £95 each for IOG members and £190 each for non-members – please contact the IOG by email (awards@iog.org) or call 01908 312 511 where you can also gain details of how to become an IOG member.

It’s not too late to nominate an individual or team for a 2019 Award. Visit: www.iog.org/awards and click the nominate button. This year’s categories include:

  • IOG Toro Most Promising Sports Turf Student 
  • IOG Rigby Taylor/Top Green Young Grounds Person
  • IOG Volunteer Sports Grounds Team/Individual
  • IOG NGB Community/Grassroots Sports Club Grounds Team/Individual 
  • IOG AMS Robotics Public Sector Sports Grounds Team 
  • IOG Bowling Grounds Team/Individual
  • IOG SCH Supplies Best Managed Artificial Surface 
  • IOG Ransomes Environmental and Ecology Strategy 
  • IOG Headland Amenity Professional Cricket Grounds Team

  • IOG Cub Cadet Infinicut Professional Tennis Courts Grounds Team
  • IOG John Deere Professional Horse Racing Grounds Team
  • IOG Professional Rugby Football League Grounds Team
  • IOG Compo Expert Professional Rugby Football Union Grounds Team
  • IOG Professional Football Grounds Team
    For English Leagues 1 & 2, National League, National League North/South, Scottish Championship & Leagues 1 & 2, Ireland & Wales Professional Leagues.
  • IOG SGL Professional Football Grounds Team 

For Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premier League.

  • IOG Redexim Charterhouse/Kubota University/College Grounds Team 
  • IOG Growth Products Independent School Grounds Team
  • IOG SISGrass International Award
  • IOG Grassmaster Outstanding Achievement Award.

There is one additional award for which nominations are not sought: the IOG Ransomes/DLF Alex R Millar Award – to the person chosen as the outstanding winner across all award categories.

The NGB Awards are sponsored by the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club), ECB (the England and Wales Cricket Board), The FA (Football Association), the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association), the Premier League,  the RFU (Rugby Football Union) and the RFL (Rugby Football League)

For information on how to sponsor an award, please contact Karen Maxwell on 07866 736 597 or email: kmaxwell@iog.org

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Council Turns To Charterhouse

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Council Turns To Charterhouse: A Verti-Quake® and Rink Topdresser have become the latest additions to the machinery fleet of Oldham Council.

The redevelopment of a number of sports pitches has seen the purchase of machinery necessary to meet the maintenance specifications. For District Supervisor David Barlow, the latest investment compliments his existing stable of Redexim Charterhouse equipment.

Council Turns To Charterhouse

“We’re very fortunate as a council to be investing not only in our facilities, but in the machinery needed to keep them at their best” explains David, who together with another Supervisor, head up a maintenance team of 40. “Over the last 10 years, 13 pitches mainly used for football, have been redeveloped and converted from soil to sand-based surfaces. This has changed the maintenance programme required to keep the pitches performing to a certain specification, and the machinery we had was struggling to do the job.”

With an Overseeder, Carrier and Verti-Drain® from Charterhouse already in their fleet, David knows it’s kit that can be relied on. “When funds became available, top of my list was equipment to assist with the tasks of slitting and topdressing the pitches, which we should be conducting at least once a year. I spoke with Richard Lucas of Charterhouse and Steve Massey at our local dealer Sharrocks and following impressive demonstrations, and ruling out other machines, we purchased a Rink DS3800 topdresser and Verti-Quake 3825 earlier this year.”

“The Rink gives us a fantastic, even spread across the pitches, making the job much quicker and easier than it was with our previous spreader. It is also fitted with an agitator which prevents material sticking, ensuring a good flow of sand. This machine is already coming into its own as we undertake our football pitch renovations, helping us to fulfil the requirement of applying 50 tonnes of rootzone to each pitch, each year. The Verti-Quake meanwhile will become a key tool to help improve aeration not only of our new sand-based pitches, but across a range of surfaces under our remit.”

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Bayer To Appeal Glyphosate Ruling

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Bayer To Appeal Glyphosate Ruling: Bayer shares continued to fall on Tuesday after a California jury on Monday awarded more than $2 billion in damages to a couple who alleged that the company’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused their cancers.

The third successive loss by Bayer in US courts and highest award to date by a jury after finding glyphosate to be carcinogenic highlights the legal risks and mounting cost to the company of the burgeoning litigation it faces over its widely-used herbicide.

Bayer To Appeal Glyphosate Ruling

Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto for $63 billion last year, denies the allegations, saying decades of studies and regulatory approvals have shown glyphosate and Roundup to be safe for human use.

But the company faces more than 13,400 similar US lawsuits and shareholders have rebuked Bayer’s top management over its handling of the Monsanto acquisition and the litigation it inherited. Adverse jury verdicts have wiped more than 40% from Bayer’s market value since August.

Bayer on Tuesday said the litigation will take some time to conclude as no case has been subject to appellate review to assess key legal rulings in the trials. The company has vowed to appeal or already has appealed the verdicts.

The following is a summary of upcoming dates in the US glyphosate litigation:

– The first Roundup jury verdict, a $289 million award in San Francisco state court last August, later reduced to $78 million, is currently on appeal before California’s Court of Appeals, First Appellate District. Bayer in late April asked the appeals court to throw out the judgment, saying there was “no evidence” glyphosate could cause cancer.

Plaintiffs and Bayer will file additional briefs over the next few months and oral arguments in the case are unlikely before the second half of 2019, with a decision likely in the fourth quarter at the earliest.

– Bayer is still waiting for US District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco, who oversaw the first federal Roundup trial, to enter final judgment of an $80 million verdict in March. Following that formal legal step, the company has 28 days to ask the judge in post-trial motions to reverse the verdict or order a new trial.

The case before Chhabria was unique for its structure, limiting the amount of evidence the plaintiff could present in a first trial phase. Bayer had hoped the trial structure would focus jurors on the strong scientific evidence showing Roundup to be safe rather than on company actions or behavior. The jury decision against Bayer upended that strategy.

– Bayer said it will appeal Monday’s $2 billion jury verdict in Alameda County state court in Oakland, California. In a first step, the company is expected to ask Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith, who oversaw the trial, to reverse the verdict or order a new trial.

Smith is likely to reduce the massive award as rulings by the US Supreme Court limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9:1. The jury awarded a total of $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages.

– The next glyphosate trial is scheduled in Missouri state court on Aug. 19, the first such trial outside of California. The trial, involving a single plaintiff, will take place in St. Louis County, where Monsanto’s former headquarters and research facilities are located.

– Another federal trial could take place before US District Judge Chhabria in August or September. Chhabria currently oversees some 900 federal cases consolidated before him. The trial would mark the second bellwether, or test trial, to help determine the range of damages and define settlement options for federal cases.

Chhabria in April ordered Bayer to pursue mediation with the plaintiffs and said he will determine which cases should be dismissed or sent to other courts for further proceedings. He scheduled a status conference for May 22.

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Trime To Support Water Aid

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Trime To Support Water Aid: Trime UK, the manufacturer and supplier of advanced wash bay systems are delighted to announce that will be supporting the charity Water Aid.

Paul Hay, managing director of Trime UK explains, “Since becoming established in 2016, we have been looking to support a charity that has compatible aims with our own. As the X-SPLASH wash bay system is designed to limit the amount of water it uses through its’ recycling system, we came to a natural conclusion to approach the leading water conversation charity, Water Aid.”

Trime To Support Water Aid

Trime UK has undertaken to make regular donations to Water Aid, based around the number of X-SPLASH systems installed in the UK. There are upwards of one hundred X-SPLASH units currently in operation throughout the country.

Trime UK have a large advance order book for all of the four X-SPLASH systems. In particular, they have repeat orders from a national equipment hire firm to install X-SPLASH wash bays into all of their depots. In addition, a separate tool hire firm has given Trime the go ahead to replace all their old wash bays with the new X-SPLASH system. This could result several hundreds of pounds being donated to Water Aid.

The X-SPLASH is an ecological, flexible cleaning system for plant and machinery. The system prevents soil pollution and contamination of drains, from oil, grease, and similar chemical contaminants.  It has an inbuilt recycling process to ensure that all the water is contained and reused. The filtering system that also ensures no contaminates are discharged accidently, resulting in an overall water usage reduction. The X-SPLASH is relocatable and features a modular section drainage base with a micro-switch in the rear solids collection tank set to activate the drainage pump when the water reaches a pre-set level.

Water Aid is a globally operating charity with a strategy to make water, toilets and hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere. Their mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Trime UK Limited is an environmentally conscious company that supplies many of the leading UK firms with eco-sensitive LED site lighting equipment. The Trime Group is regarded as one of the leading suppliers of powered LED lighting sets to the worldwide construction and event markets. The company is now extending its line of equipment to encompass a range of environmentally sustainable equipment built specifically for industry. The X-SPLASH is their flagship product in this expanding range.

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A Tribute To Eddie Seaward

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A Tribute To Eddie Seaward: There are some people who leave a mark. Eddie Seaward was definitely one of those people.

He was the man in charge of the All England courts at Wimbledon from 1990, until the London Olympics in 2012 – fittingly taking his final bow as Andy Murray was taking the applause and a Gold Medal.

A Tribute To Eddie Seaward

It is a mark of the esteem in which he was held that his bosses had requested that he put his retirement on hold until after the Olympics, knowing that there was no-one better to peak the iconic courts twice within the space of 20 days.

However, while he shone on the greatest tennis stage of them all – he picked up the monikers of the “Guru of Grass” and the “Grass Whisperer” among others – it was behind the scenes, with his work at the IOG, helping aspiring groundsmen, that really marked him out as a special person.

You often find that the people with the biggest jobs have the biggest hearts and no-one epitomised this better than Eddie.

His lasting legacy are all the young, and now not so young, Head Grounds people, who he mentored and who went on to achieve great things within the industry.

Indeed, there are many others, who didn’t have the good fortune of meeting Eddie in person, but who have been able to witness what is possible, through hard work, dedication and by a genuine willingness to help others.

You can be sure that Eddie will be looking down on the great work that Neil Stubley and his team have continued to produce during the Championships, proud that his legacy is being continued.

Eddie. Thank you for all that you did for groundsmanship.

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