Westgate-on-Sea Cricket Club is the lucky winner of a Toro Greensmaster 800 pedestrian mower after entering distributor Reesink Turfcare’s competition at SALTEX.

L-R: Colin Osborne, Martin Arnold and Raif Kelly from Westgate-On-Sea Cricket Club and Reesink’s Richard Wood

Raif Kelly, who has been at the club for 35 years having worn many hats along the way from president to secretary to community manager and finally, as head groundsman, is “incredibly pleased” with the result from the prize draw and can’t wait to put the machine to work.

Overseeing three groundskeeping teams that work diligently on the square every weekend, Raif explains, “The Greensmaster 800 will come very in handy to cut the cricket strips to the standards to which we have accustomed our members. This is our first Toro machine so we’re very excited to try it and see what it can do.

“We make sure the square is always in good condition. A lot of work goes into it over the year, starting in May and finishing in September, at which point we put it to bed during the winter. There’s only two months in the whole year where we don’t do any work so the Toro mower will be put to a lot of good use!”

Reesink’s South East branch will be delivering the machine to the club and branch manager Jon Cole says of the win: “Congratulations to the team at Westgate-On-Sea Cricket Club. We hope the Toro Greensmaster will help maintain your pitch to the highest level for this season and many more to come.”