Attending this year’s BTME show in Harrogate certainly had a different feel to it in several ways.

Firstly, with the show being moved to March we all knew it would likely be impacted by low attendance numbers compared to the usual January event. This was largely driven by the fact that many professional grounds staff had to remain on site to prepare their facilities for the start of the new growing season.

The recent spell of warm soil and air temperatures for March have initiated a spurt in grass growth, giving an ideal window for a number of essential spring renovation works.  

Origin's stand 

This was borne out by the first day’s attendance figures showing a 37% drop in attendance figures compared with 2020. Wednesday seemed a tad busier, however the real test came at night when a usually packed Wetherspoons at 10.30 was unusually half full.

Further networking at Wetherspoons 

However, with most exhibitors aware of the consequences of the potential of lower attendance numbers, they still felt it important to be in Harrogate, supporting the industry. Many said it was nice to be back having face-to-face conversations with their customers and colleagues.

It was also different that come the end of the day when the show closed at 5pm it was still light. Usually in January it gets dark about 4pm and it’s cold and wet. This year we enjoyed sunshine and a scene of bright colours of the spring bedding dotted all-round, giving us a different feel to the town.

As usual, I always enjoy coming to Harrogate. It is without doubt one of the best venues for both the exhibitor and customer. The opportunity to educate, exhibit and socialise with one another is the real success of the event.

Although there were fewer people in attendance, it certainly enabled the exhibitors to spend more time talking to those who had made the effort to come to the show. As always the BIGGA Education programmes were also well attended, with over 200 hours of education delivered over the duration of the show.  

Around the halls

During the two days, I managed to catch up with a variety of exhibitors and work professionals who dedicate their lives to promoting and working in our diverse sports turf / amenity industry. While on the subject of education, I was delighted to catch up with Keith Kent former HG at Twickenham, Manchester United and Leicester City FC, who has recently qualified to become a Lantra Trainer and will be working for Groundsman Training working alongside Chris Parry and Martin Sampson, two longstanding friends. 
 

L-R: Keith Kent and David Fisher 

As for interesting products, members of the trade press were introduced to several new Campey products on the Campey Turfcare stand that included a new Inmants Shockwave, Verdo D25 series seeder, Uni Scratch, BM50 verticutter and a new Air2G2 324 compressed air aerator.

A visit to the ATT Infinicut stand allowed me the opportunity to catch up with John Coleman and see what latest mowing technologies he has brought to market. Over the last few years they have been focussing on the well-designed, pedestrian battery powered cassette mowers that have become very popular, especially at Premiership level football clubs. However, the company have now produced a new dedicated greens mower to target the golf market.  And to ensure he can provide a quick turnaround on products, the company have started manufacturing their own batteries - a project they had been working on during the covid pandemic. Essentially this means the company have no waiting times for parts of any kind – most, if not all, the parts are now all made at their new Sheffield factory site.

I also caught up with Simon Hutton of Tillers Turf who happened to be talking to retired cricket counties pitch advisor Chris Wood, who now keeps himself busy helping out at Tottenham FC who are now using a hybrid turf system produced by a collaboration between the club, Tillers Turf and Hewitt Sportsturf.  Chris is certainly impressed with the quality of the pitch and how it performs week in and week out.

On the awards front I was very pleased to hear that David Cole from Loch Lomond GC and Richard Ponsford HG at Clevedon GC where among the list of this year’s BIGGA award 2022 winners. You can read more about the winners here.

Recruitment issues

It is always important that industry organisations recognise the hard work and dedication of their members and where possible promote the good work they are doing in the maintenance and management of their facilities. One of the most talked about subjects I came across at this year’s show was centred on the issues of recruitment. Virtually every sector of the industry was finding it hard to recruit new staff. This was principally down to poor pay and the fact that grounds professionals are expected to work additional hours to cover weekend and evening events.

The current rates of pay for a qualified groundsmen / gardener is set at anything between £18-22,000 however, in reality the average wage has been found to be £19,328 as quoted by talent.com. 

It is sad to say that people who drive white vans or stack shelves can earn more than a qualified gardener / groundsman / greenkeeper. So, what chance do we have to attract the next generation of industry professionals? 

We need to change the mindset of people who still only see us as grass cutters. We need a national campaign to enlighten people regarding the remarkable skill set required to be a turf professional and understand the value of the work they do in maintaining some of the most priceless environmental lands assets we have, providing so much amenity and environmental value.

It is certainly something our industry needs to address. I personally think we need collectively to come together to find a way to solve this problem. I personally would like to see a gathering of senior managers /owners of some of our leading manufactures/ turf businesses along with some key industry organisations such as BIGGA, R&A, RHS, GMA, Fields in Trust, Parks Management Association, AEA, BAGMA and some senior colleges / universities to find a way of increasing wages in our industry. 

The next five to ten years is going to be very challenging. We are still just getting over the affects of Brexit, the pandemic and now we are facing the unknown consequences of the current war in Ukraine.  There is no doubt our industry will be facing many challenges in the coming years -however, I believe the biggest will be retaining and recruiting the next generation to come and work in our diverse and wonderful amenity and turf industry.