Last week I had the opportunity to visit Rugby School to meet up with my good old friend and past work colleague, James Mead, who on the 1st of September celebrated his fifteenth-year work anniversary at the school.

It only seems like yesterday since he took up the post of estates manager at Rugby School. The purpose of my visit was twofold. Firstly to catch up with James and talk about the achievements of the grounds team since his appointment. Secondly, to take the opportunity to see at first hand the demonstration of the new automated robotic line marker that was being demonstrated by Alex Robinson and Matt Murray, the UK sales representatives of the Danish Turf Tank company.

James and I both started our working careers as parks apprentices with Birmingham City Council in 1972 and over the years have gone out of our way to keep in touch with one another. James has always been an innovator and invested in the best machinery and equipment he can afford, with the aim of improving the efficiency of his staff and quality of his playing surfaces.

James Mead (left) with members of his grounds team

James has always been a supporter of demonstrations as they help the staff try out the latest equipment and machinery and see it working first-hand. I was quite excited myself as James was keen to see it working on the school’s first team rugby pitch on the famous Close grounds.

This pitch is particularly famous as it was the pitch on which the Reverend William Webb Ellis, an English Anglican clergyman is said to have invented rugby football while a pupil at Rugby School. According to legend, Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a school football match in 1823, thus creating the 'rugby' style of play.

James arranged for all of his staff to attend the demonstration and see for themselves the accuracy and efficiency of this robotic line marker. A full report on this demonstration will appear in a forthcoming edition of TurfPro along with a in-depth piece on the achievement of James and his grounds team at Rugby School during the last fifteen years.

As for this week, I am pleased to announce we are publishing another machinery testing piece – this time on the EGO battery powered STX3800 Strimmer with RTX2300 Rotocut head and battery backpack.

As for other news, I’m not sure how some of the latest Covid-19 Lockdown instructions will affect our industry in the coming weeks.

From today, (14 September) it is against the law to meet people you do not live with, in a group larger than 6 (unless you are meeting as a household or support bubble). The police will have the powers to enforce these legal limits, including to issue fines (fixed penalty notice) of £100, doubling for further breaches up to a maximum of £3,200.

For the full details visit the governement’s site.

Elsewhere, I read an update from Paul Rabbits of the Parks Management Forum who had the following to say - “What the pandemic has shown us is the importance of what we do, the impact we have had on communities, people’s lives and the local authorities or sectors we work for. It has been incredibly challenging. Personally, in Watford, where I am responsible for parks, the levels of usage in them has been phenomenal during lockdown and post lock-down. Litter has been significant, increased use of BBQs, users visiting parks who in some cases, have no idea how to behave. However, they have been sanctuaries for many – places to escape and find peace and solitude.

“The Parks Management Forum has grown over the last few months. We have had positive meetings with Fields in Trust, Green Flag Award, The Landscape Institute, Lantra, the National Trust, Future Parks Accelerator and Nesta. APSE continue to support which we are thankful for.

“There are challenging times ahead and with the spending review due this September, it is very unlikely we will see any funding coming our way. The challenge will be to protect our budgets, upskill and champion the cause of parks but most of all, work together with our partners.”

Some fine words of encouragement from Paul that will only be achieved by good dialogue between all parties.

And finally, I just want to remind cricket clubs to invest in a decent end of season renovation on their squares. Even though many squares will have had very little use, it is still important to carry out a thorough renovation of your square to remove any dead fibre / thatch that has been produced during the growing season.

The key points of a decent end of season renovation centre around the following:-

• A thorough scarification of the square in several directions
• A thorough cleaning up of surface debris
• Overseeding with a viable seed mixture
• Fertilising with a pre seeding fertiliser product
• Watering during dry conditions

The weather forecast for the rest of September in the main looks sunny and dry, hopefully enabling a good window of opportunity for these works to be completed.