Firstly today, I'd just like to mention how I was recently fortunate to attend this year’s Service Dealer Conference and Awards at the Crown Plaza in Stratford upon Avon. It was amazing day with over 200 delegates attending and as usual a very entertaining evening celebrating the annual awards with Charlie Baker hosting the evening’s event.

This year saw the conference move to a new venue that proved to be well liked and provided a better ambience for the whole day. A full account of the day can be read here from my colleague, Service Dealer editor, Steve Gibbs. 

And a details of the winners can be found here.

Laurence Gale with TurfPro owner Duncan Murray-Clarke and comedians Rob Rouse and Charlie Baker

I personally enjoyed the day as there were plenty of informative speakers. I particularly liked the presentation by Daryl Feilding a renowned branding expert, who spoke about the importance of having a quality brand that represented a company’s culture, leadership and understood their customers’ needs and aspirations.

Daryl Fielding

I also thought it was good to see on stage, James Mead ex head groundsman from Rugby School, talking about the importance of having a good relationship between dealers and end users. Without that bonding neither party would gain the success they both desire. 

James Mead presenting at the Service Dealer Conference 

However, for me, the success of the event is centred on bringing together the vast array of people who work tirelessly in our excellent UK dealerships.

Dealership showroom 

The role of these businesses cannot not be underestimated. Without their expertise, vision and commitment, we as grounds professionals would struggle to maintain the land assets we have to manage. I wrote an article on this in a recent edition of TurfPro to explain how important the development and production of machinery and equipment has been for our industry across the last fifty-plus years. Therefore, we must not take for granted the role these servicing dealerships provide. They are a vital cog in our diverse grounds industry.

Winter grounds management

With Christmas only two weeks away, spare a thought for all the grounds professionals who will be busy gearing up for the fixtures over the Christmas period. Especially those working in professional football where they have a lot of matches to fulfil, with many working long hours, weekends, and evenings to ensure the pitches are fit for purpose. 

Preparing and repairing pitches at this time of the year is time consuming and the weather often plays a major role in influencing the outcomes, especially when we have periods of heavy frosts and snow.

The advent of better undersoil heating systems, watering and lighting rigs coupled with better feeding regimes, wetting agents and seed varieties have certainly played an important role in improving the condition of pitches during the winter months.

Lighting rigs are used to promote grass growth in certain situations, particularly in areas where natural sunlight is limited or where additional light is needed to extend the growing season. This can be relevant for various applications such as agriculture, landscaping, or sports field management. 

We now have a few different lighting systems on the market with SGL being one of the market leaders, who were in fact the first company to develop and produce effective lighting rigs back in the 1990s to help promote grass growth to improve the quality of pitches during the winter months. The concept was brought to market by Nico van Vuuren, a Dutch rose grower and avid football fan who saw the potential of the using lighting rigs to help grass growth.  In fact, I went on a press trip to meet Nico and visit his rose nursery and see his lighting rigs working at Bayer Leverkusen FC.

SGL LED440 lights at Hampden Park 

That first system was trailed in the UK at the Stadium of Light (how fitting), in 2002 home of Sunderland A.F.C. The results were simply mind blowing. The grass was growing in winter like it had never done before. This was the beginning of what a few years later proved to be a revolution in pitch management.

SGL now offer a wide range of products to help promote healthy grass growth and provide specific lighting rig systems to accommodate all different environments. There are now several companies offering a range of lighting and optimum growing products for the turf professional.

Small lighting rig at Edgbaston CCC 

We are now seeing lighting rigs working in all manner of sporting facilities, including cricket stadiums, golf courses and rugby grounds. They have become an integral part of the grounds maintenance schedules in professional sporting venues.