CELEBRATING SUCCESS
At the Service Dealer Awards
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR
 
Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

What a week it was for me last week!

 

I was out on the road catching up with some Green Flag judges at a debriefing in Rugby - whilst on the same day, I managed to call in and catch up with James Mead (grounds manager) at Rugby School. Whilst there I was lucky enough to witness an excellent game of rugby being played at the Close between the schools first XV against Hampton School. Following the thrilling conclusion of the match I drove down to Oxford to attend a fantastic Service Dealer Conference & Awards.


As a Green Flag judge, I annually attend one of the three country-wide debriefings, this one being held in Rugby to attract many of the Midlands based judges. The aim of the meeting is to receive feedback and look at ways of improving the delivery of the Green Flag Awards.


Hosted by Michele Walde, Green Flag coordinator and Chris Worman MBE, parks manager for Rugby Council, we spent the morning having presentations about the success of this year’s awards which saw over 1,970 flags awarded in the UK.

 


We also had a presentation from Chris Worman, who was privileged to judge and award Green Flags to two new parks in Mexico City. His interesting talk gave us an insight into the challenges and issues that judges find when working abroad. It was interesting to hear about the major investments and different ways these parks were being managed.

 


You can find out more about Green Flag awards in a recent article I wrote.


Whilst in Rugby I could not miss the opportunity to call in and catch up with James Mead, grounds manager at Rugby School. I arrived at the school only to find James and his staff preparing the first team rugby pitch for a semi-final cup match against Hampton School.

 


It was, in fact, the first time I personally had ever managed to witness a game of rugby being played on the hallowed William Webb Ellis rugby pitch at the Close. Even after all this recent rain, the pitch was holding up well and looked fantastic for the match. With well over 200 spectators the atmosphere was electric and was borne out with a great game of rugby being played between the two similarly matched teams. After a nail-biting end to the match, Rugby, in the dying seconds, managed to score the winning try and beat the opposition 22/ 19. A fabulous achievement in front of an ecstatic crowd.

 


I then drove on down to Oxford to attend this year’s well attended Service Dealer Conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry. Organised by TurfPro’s sister magazine, Service Dealer, the event was packed with dealers attending from across the country.

 


There were representatives of dealerships large and small, multi-branched and single premises, and retailers of garden, professional turfcare and agricultural machinery. I feel confident in saying that all would have left the conference, enriched and enlightened by what they had heard across the day.


To read a full report on the day, you can find my colleague Steve Gibbs’s write-up for Service Dealer here.


I personally found what ‘generational intelligence’ expert, Dr Eliza Filby had to say particularly fascinating – especially considering the challenges which our professional turfcare industry is currently facing in terms of recruiting and retaining young people.

 


Eliza broke down the four different generations which employers will encounter - Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z - defining their characteristics and, importantly, their expectations and desires when it comes to interacting with the job market.

 


Eliza's talk truly got the room buzzing. Her insight was fascinating with delegates relating what she said both to their own places of work, but also to their family lives. You could sense in the chatter amongst the delegates as she finished talking, everybody took something of value away with them from what she had to say.

 

 

Following the Conference which offered plenty of marvellous insight for the professional dealers attending, it was time to reflect on a great day and then look forward to the prestigious Service Dealer Awards ceremony held in the evening. The evening began with a pre drinks meeting where many of the dealers and manufacturer's representatives could relax and look forward to the evening’s entertainment.

 

The evening’s entertainment began with TurfPro and Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray Clarke, welcoming everybody to the awards dinner and introduced host Charlie Baker, fantastic comedian and actor, who got everybody in a great mood with plenty of gags and stories.

 

 

Charlie, was also on hand to launch the evening’s raffle prize of a signed Liverpool shirt and goalkeeping gloves that went on to raise over £1500 pounds for a charity in memory of STIHL GB's product manager Andy Paskell, who very sadly passed away earlier this year.


In between dinner courses this year’s award winners were announced – which you can read in full here

 

The evening culminated in the presentation of the final award which was the Outstanding Contribution award that was won by Brian Sangster, recently retired BAGMA president.

 

 

The Service Dealer Conference & Awards were sponsored by:

 

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
Kramp

 

GOLD SPONSORS
Husqvarna

Etesia/Pellenc
Honda
Kubota
Catalyst Computer Systems

Ibcos

 

NETWORKING SPONSORS
BAGMA

uni-power

Hitachi Capital Business Finance

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In this issue
EDITOR'S BLOG
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
NEWS
DEALER OF THE YEAR WINNERS 2019 ANNOUNCED
A 'RECORD BREAKING' SALTEX
BACK TO BASICS
TRIUMPH FOR LEICESTER CITY'S CALLUM ALLSOP
JOHN DEERE COOPERATES ON HEAVY-LIFT DRONE TECH
FAROL INVEST IN FOLEY
GLOUCESTER RUGBY OVERCOME CHALLENGE
ROOT TO SUCCESS
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