Only a brief piece from me today, as my main job this week is to seamlessly hand over the baton - because as you may have already seen, there will be a new face here at the top of TurfPro every Monday from next week.

Well I say new face!

Many of you will already know Laurence Gale as one of the most recognisable, knowledgeable and respected figures in the UK turfcare industry. And if you don't already, you most definitely will very soon.

Laurence will be out and about, all over the country representing TurfPro, with his camera (probably with more than one in fact!), visiting grounds, clubs, parks and trade shows with his ear to the ground, searching out the stories which matter to turf professionals.

Laurence is the man who will help the team to take TurfPro on to the next level, generating opinion pieces, interviews, advice columns and articles, which will make the publication your go to source of information on the UK groundscare industry - every Monday at 12. We will of course still bring you all the latest news each week as well.

For those of you who don't know Laurence, he has enjoyed a long and varied career in professional turfcare, beginning in 1972 as a parks apprentice with Birmingham City Council - a start which led to him working on three gold medal winning Chelsea show gardens in the late 1970s.

Also a keen sportsman, Laurence represented school, club and county at rugby union culminating in the chance to play for several clubs notably, Moseley, Worcester, Nuneaton, Portsmouth and Newport to name a few.

After completing his apprenticeship in 1977 he was promoted to supervisor and worked in various parks and golf courses. In 1983 he moved south to take up the post of Head Groundsman at Portsmouth FC. In 1985 he then became GMO for the MOD looking after several large Navy, Army and Airforce bases.

In 1990 he returned back to the Midlands’ and took on the post of Parks Manager at Telford & Wrekin Council. In 2003 he took the opportunity to complete an MSc In Sports Surface Technology at Cranfield University before taking on the role of Editor at Pitchcare in 2004.

In recent times he has written for several industry titles including Professional Horticulture + Landscape Design, Turf Matters and our very own Service Dealer.

So that's quite an impressive CV he's built up there. One which arms him with the experience and skills required to provide you, our turf professional readers, with fascinating, timely and comprehensive content, each and every week.

As for me, it's been a pleasure addressing our readership for the past four years. I won't be disappearing completely however. I now have the grand title of Head of Editorial, so I'll be contributing news stories and overseeing all published content. I'll also continue to act as editor of our sister title Service Dealer, both the printed magazine as well as its Weekly Update.

If any of our readers would like to contact Laurence with ideas for articles, please email him on laurence@turfpro.co.uk

All that's left for me to do is to wish Laurence the best of luck and to thank you, our loyal readers, for your continuous hard-work, professionalism and expertise which makes the UK turfcare industry one which generates much admiration and respect worldwide.

TurfPro is delighted to announce that it will, from next week, be edited by Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR - one of the most recognisable and respected professionals in the industry.

Current editor Steve Gibbs will move into overseeing role on the title as head of editorial, whilst also continuing to act as editor for TurfPro’s sister publication, Service Dealer.

Laurence brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience having spent most of his working life (46 years) working in both the horticultural and sportsturf sectors - latterly spending the last fifteen years working for other leading turf industry magazines.

TurfPro owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke said, "We are delighted to welcome Laurence on board at this exciting time for TurfPro.

"Having been well established over the past four years as a consistently highly read, weekly digital publication which represents all facets of the UK turfcare industry, we felt the time was right to push on and invest in broadening TurfPro's remit. 

"Steve Gibbs and I believe that Laurence is the right person to achieve this. We are both excited at the potential we see for TurfPro under Laurence's editorship." 

Laurence Gale said, “I am excited as the new editor, to use TurfPro to bring so many practitioners and professionals together every week through a central media platform.

“My aim, along with Steve Gibbs, is to bring to the table a variety of interesting case studies, articles and more importantly provide educational material that will help our readers become better practitioners and managers.

“The aim of the publication is to promote the work you do, thus sharing this wealth of information with the wider industry.

“My past working experiences coupled, with my vast network of contacts and current roles that include being a Green Flag Judge and RFU Pitch Advisor for the Midlands, will no doubt help initiate some interesting reading material for TurfPro.”

I am sure July will be a very challenging month for many groundsman and greenkeepers, particularly those faced with producing playing surfaces during this period of very hot weather.

A recent pitch inspection for the RFU in the Wirral enabled me to see the difficulties facing community club groundsmen who have no watering facilities and are at the mercy of the weather. Their soil based pitches where suffering from heat stress with the grass turning brown and dying off.

However, there are some turf management steps to help reduce drought stress, such as changing cutting heights, use of organics, wetting agents, spiking regimes and effective use of water whilst it is available. Early, preventative action is critical, as there are limited things you can do once the drought is underway. A couple of good tips are:

• Try to keep as much grass cover as possible by raising the height of cut by a few millimetres.
• Control warm-up and training activates by rotating them around different areas of the pitch to reduce wear.
• Ensure you cut the grass with sharp mowers, leaving a clean cut.

The use of plant growth regulators (PGR) can also be a useful tool to help the plant combat drought conditions. PGRs will slow the plant's growth, thus reducing the need to cut so often. However, a programme of growth regulators is not cheap.

Depending on the soil type, some pitches will dry out at different rates; sandy soils will be very quick to dry out, whereas clay soils retain moisture and are more likely to help sustain plant growth over a longer period. There may be a need to cancel games if the pitches become too hard. However, grass is a very resilient plant and will recover quite quickly once it receives adequate moisture.

If you are able to water, please ensure you conserve and do not waste it. Do not irrigate during the hottest part of the day, you will lose most of the water you are trying to put on by evaportranspiration; irrigate in the evenings, and also ensure you water to depth.

When choosing an irrigation system you will need to get some advice on which one will suit your needs, generally this will be dependent on what water resources you have available. Are you on mains water, borehole or extracting from a river/pond resource?  You will need extraction licences to take water from boreholes, lakes and rivers. Many self-travelling sprinklers require a certain pressure of water to operate effectively.

Never forget, irrigation equipment is an essential tool for managing natural turf pitches.

Training apprentices requires commitment, giving them the resources and time needed to become a fully trained and capable team member making a contribution to the local authority environmental services sector.

Some local authorities are doing this every day and APSE say they want to highlight the training organisations and the individual apprentices who are leading the field within the UK. They are now asking where do your apprentices fit in? APSE say give your apprentices the chance to prove themselves as winners and see what they can do.

The APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) local authority apprentice and trainee of the year awards are specific to front line service areas and support excellence in training standards within local authorities and their partner organisations throughout the UK, including members and non-members of APSE. The awards scheme is open to candidates from all stages of training and have been running successfully for 17 years. The awards are open to every authority and their partner organisations in the UK.

Entry to these awards is free of charge and successfully short listed candidates and their local authority receive individual awards to recognise the achievements of both the apprentice and the employer.

APSE will be running two award categories at this ceremony:

• Horticulturalist (e.g: Gardener, Horticulturalist etc)
• Street scene /Waste collection (e.g:. street cleansing , fly-tipping and graffiti removal, waste and recycling collection etc.)

The finalists will be contacted directly and then announced on the APSE website in September.

To register your interest online for the awards, and receive a portfolio template, click here and complete the form.

Campey Turf Care Systems has assisted contractors Turf Tonics with the first in-house renovation of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club’s award-winning pitch.

The Buckinghamshire club enjoyed success on two fronts on the pitch during the 2017/18 season, not only achieving automatic promotion to League One but also scooping the League Two Grounds Team of the Year for the work conducted by Turf Tonics, led by full-time groundsman Sean Woodley.

Steve Gardener, Turf Tonics and Ben Taylor, Campey Turf Care at Wycombe Wanderers

Preparations are now underway for the Chairboys’ first campaign back in League One since the 2011/12 season, with the playing surface playing an integral part to the team’s aspirations of an-other successful year, as Wycombe Wanderers general manager Michael Davies explains:

“We aspire to have a pitch which complements the football team rather than inhibits them, and it worked extremely well for us last season. Naturally, the players and the management staff request the best possible pitch that we can provide with the resources available to us, and our long-standing partnership with Turf Tonics enables us to meet those requirements with an outstanding surface.

“It’s testament to Turf Tonics and their hard work, expertise and dedication that we won the League Two Grounds Team of the Year award. It’s a phenomenal achievement and it is something we will be striving for again in League One.

“Last season we staged 50 games on the pitch, including 28 of our own in league and cup fixtures, plus Reading Ladies and Reading Under 23s matches as well as tournaments after the season had finished.

“Our club president, Ivor Beeks, is effectively the custodian of the pitch and carefully manages its usage and availability to ensure it remains in the best possible condition. The pitch is a highly sought-after commodity, and we receive many requests for private hire for matches or commer-cial use, but football comes first and it’s vital that we strike the right balance,” he added.

Bringing in additional income via third party pitch usage is important to the club, and whilst it’s clear that they respect the limits of the surface, the recent success has led to expectations and for Steve Gardner, a managing partner of Turf Tonics, a successful first in-house renovation is vital for the club’s financial and football plans.

Working on the annual renovation at Wycombe Wanderers

“We’ve seen the renovations Premier Pitches have done at Adams Park in the last two seasons and they used what I’d regard as the industry standard machines by Campey,” he said.

“Because it was our first in-house renovation, it was important to us that we used the best equipment and Ben Taylor at Campey has really helped us out. We used their new 1.6-meter Ko-ro FTM with Universe Rotor because it’s a Desso Grassmaster pitch and that went one direction across the pitch yesterday and took a majority of the top off.

“We also used Campey’s Raycam TB 220 brush, Raycam Speedresser and Raycam Aeraseeder to complete the rest of the work. Our first game is on 14th July we’re making excellent progress to be able to provide the highest quality of surface for the season ahead.”

As part of the renovation, groundsmen were invited to attend and view the machines in action to gain the first-hand experience of best practice and learn more about renovating a hybrid pitch as they continue to grow in popularity throughout all professional tiers of football and rugby.

Woodhall Spa Golf Club, has signed its fourth five-year exclusivity agreement with Reesink Turfcare and Toro.

Sam Rhodes, courses manager for 12 years and at the Lincolnshire club for 23 years, says it was the complete package offered by Reesink that sealed the deal: “The machinery is obviously a very important aspect to the deal, but it’s one element in a very big package. We signed on again for everything Reesink offers, but especially the back-up and service. We’ve really enjoyed building a relationship with Fineturf Machinery, the new dealer for the area, too, which played a part in the decision.”

L-R: Reesink’s Nigel Lovatt and Trevor Chard, Woodhall Spa’s general manager Richard Latham, sales manager for Fineturf Machinery Tom Moor and Woodhall Spa’s courses manager Sam Rhodes.

The deal coincides with the club’s three-year restoration project to return the course back to its original heathland appearance. Leading architect Tom Doak is overseeing the project, which has become known as being one of the biggest in-house renovation projects in the UK.

Sam says: “Working alongside Natural England we’ve removed a large number of trees to allow the site to regenerate and restore the course to its original heathland state. Not only is this important work to maintain our course as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but the removal of some vegetation and scrub will open up the course and provide new strategy for the players, who in recent years were having to play around the encroaching trees.”

With these site changes come new requirements from the machinery maintaining the course, as Sam explains: “Things are different with this order. Because we have different requirements now with regards to the finish and feel we’re after, we’ve moved away from rotary mowers, opting for cylinder mowers instead. The Reelmaster 3100-D will be one of our main workhorses. The DPA cutting units were a real draw as they hold adjustments well and will give us the tightness of cut around the heathland landscape.”

Joining the RM3100-D in the order are two Workman GTX utility vehicles, a Greensmaster 3250-D, Reelmaster 5010-H, TriFlex Hybrid 3420 and a Groundsmaster 4300-D, the only rotary mower.

Sam explains some of the reasons why he went for this selection: “We’ve been using the Toro TriFlex 3420 for some time and it’s performed so well and given us such fantastic results that I had 100 percent confidence in choosing hybrids again with the TriFlex 3420 and the RM5010-H. What’s interesting about the RM5010-H is how maintenance-friendly it is. The maintenance team often comments on how well it stays on cut, and it’s making us big savings on fuel.”

Also included within the renovation work is the repositioning of some tees which the GR3250-D is now tasked with looking after.

Sam went on to explain: “In this project we’ve reopened old bunkers, reshaped many of the existing ones and built new ones. We’ve always been renowned for our bunkers and this work ensures we maintain that reputation. The project as a whole will ensure we retain our status as one of the ‘Top 100 courses in the world’, and the decision to stick with Toro for another five years ensures we will maintain the course, in its refreshed form, to the standards for which we’ve been known for the last 15 years.”

Sam concluded, “When you undertake such a big project as this, which spans years and is all-encompassing, it really is vital to have the right back-up and support, and the reassurance that there is always someone on the end of the phone should you need them. It’s a partnership of many elements and there’s no question that Reesink and Fineturf are the best choices to partner us on this journey.”

The Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) have grant funding available from the Department for International Trade (DIT) for the Golf Industry Show (GIS) 2019 which takes place on the 6th and 7th February 2019 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.

The Golf Industry Show is the world’s largest golf course and facility management event and attracts attendees from 63 different countries including golf course superintendents, owners, chief operating officers, architects and builders, equipment managers, and distributors.

The AEA have grants of £2000 available for UK SMEs to exhibit at GIS 2019 and while there are still grant available, the uptake has been fantastic so companies are urged to act swiftly if they are interested.

If you would like more information on the grants available for GIS 2019 contact Kayleigh Holden. Email kayleigh.holden@aea.uk.com or Telephone: 01733 207603.

Magic Distribution showed off the Ambrogio L400 series autonomous mower at the The Lincolnshire Show recently - which they describe as being suitable for commercial usage and "the largest capacity autonomous lawnmower on the UK market".

Ambrogio L400 at the Lincolnshire Show

Offering coverage of 30,000m2 (7.5 acres) and the option to operate without a perimeter wire, the machine had never been seen in the UK before.

Described as being suitable for those with extensive grounds, sports pitches, playing fields, golf courses, schools, turf farms, parks and other very large areas of grass to maintain, it features three independently floating cutter arms, which give a cutting width of 84cm.

With three models in the L400 range, the company says the machines feature advanced cutting and navigation systems and a continuous cutting cycle of 11 hours. Full GPS connectivity means the mowers can run off a combination of perimeter wire and GPS navigation or on the top of the range model, GPS navigation only, with a localised beacon giving accuracy up to 1cm. This means there’s no need to install a perimeter wire.

John Hall, managing director at Magic Distribution, said, “The Ambrogio range has already brought enhanced mowing performance and unique features to the domestic market and the addition of the L400 will enable landowners, groundsmen and landscapers to also take advantage of the technology on offer. The L400 is such a leap forward in terms of what’s on offer in the autonomous mowing sector and we think it’s a really exciting proposition.”

The Groundcare Division of Thomas Sherriff, based in East Lothian and with a further six branches has now become an official GKB Machines dealer, taking delivery of the first three machines, a Combiseeder, Sandfilller and SP100 Sandspreader.

L-R: Jan Willem Kraaijeveld GKB Machines bv; Tom Hobbis sales representative, Thomas Sherriff; Tom Shinkins, GKB Machines Operations Manager and Richard Scott, Groundcare Manager, Thomas Sherriff

“When we met GKB they came across as a forward-thinking company,” says Thomas Sherriff’s Groundcare Manager, Richard Scott, “and with a background in contracting and maintenance they have an exceptional insight into what groundsmen and greenkeepers need from products for maintaining sports turf and golf courses.”

Thomas Sherriff arranged with GKB’s Operations Manager, Tom Shinkins, a series of product demonstrations for customers locally where the three machines were put through their paces.

“Seeing the machines in action the results were obvious and the quality exceptional,” says Richard. “From the day Tom came and met us we have all got on well and he’s always there with support should we need it. We’re very pleased to be selling the product as GKB dealers.”

Thomas Sherriff Groundcare Division covers the Lothian’s & Borders regions.