I have been fortunate recently to be invited to attend a couple of interesting industry events.
The first was held at the old Mitchells and Butlers (M&B) sports ground at Portland Road, Ladywood, that began life as an old, iconic cricket ground built in the 1930s.
The old Mitchells & Butlers ground staged 13 Warwickshire first-class fixtures between 1931 and 1961
In 2014 Warwickshire CCC purchased the ground and began relaying twelve new 4inch depth Onga plus loam pitches and later in 2021 constructed a new net area with 21 x 6feet (8 inch depth Onga Loam plus pitches) of which 11 are hybrid pitches and four completely artificial.
The site is managed by Jonathan Blakeman, Warwickshire County pitch advisor, who with a team of three staff maintain the ground and one of the bowling greens. In partnership with Dennis/SISIS the day was hosted by Warwickshire Bears with Jason Briggs, sales manager from Dennis / SISIS, on hand to demonstrate a range of machinery.
Roger Moore
Invited to the day was 60 plus Warwickshire cricket groundmen, representing many local clubs and schools. I caught up with some of the staff from Rugby School as well as Ian Maddocks of Knowle & Dorridge CC. I was also introduced to Darren McMahon who just taken on the head of marketing at the Howardson Group, replacing the retiring Roger Moore who leaves his post at the end of March.
The day started with an introduction and presentation by Jonathan about the grounds and the work being achieved by the staff. We then had a tour of the grounds which coincided with the opportunity to see demonstrations of some Dennis / SISIS machinery by Jason Briggs.
Also on hand was Mark Allen, sales manager from Agrovista, who gave a talk about Agrovista and the wide range of products they now have. He also mentioned that a bulk buying opportunity can be set up for any Warwickshire cricket club, with the aim of providing a one stop shop experience, with all products delivered to each and every club who subscribe to the new scheme. They have already set up a similar scheme for Worcestershire cricket clubs that is well subscribed.
I really enjoyed the day, catching up with many grounds volunteers and professionals and have planned a few visits. I also managed to talk to some of the younger generation who were at the seminar, asking how they got into the industry? Most had fallen into it they told me, but once they experienced the lifestyle of the job, were happy to embrace it and learn from their experiences. What was noticeable, is that 90% of the audience were in their late 50s and older - with many at retirement age. The worry for me and their clubs, is where is the next generation of turf professionals coming from?
It is a worry for many whom I spoke to. I personally feel that recruitment into our industry is going to be a real challenge for the industry in the next fifteen years. We need to start a national awareness scheme and start providing a new pathway to get into our industry. This was spoken about at a recent Lantra meeting I attended a couple of weeks ago.
New products
My second recent day out was at the impressive Forest of Arden Golf Club where I was invited to attend an exclusive dealer event organised by PSD Groundscare who were launching new products and ranges to their dealer network. The event was over two days with well over 100 dealer representatives in attendance. The day was centred around six manufacturers: SABO, GRIN, Eco Tech Italia, Eliet, Canycom and Koppl who had several new products and innovations to demonstrate and talk about.
All six manufacturers in the morning spoke about their companies and the new products they are selling in 2025. In the afternoon we were allowed to test and see the products working.
Each and every company had some great products. I was impressed with the Eliet range of scarifiers / seeders, For me, one of the standout products, that I had not seen before, was the Grin pulverising mower. Also impressive were the Eco Tech and Canycom products for dealing with long grass and scrub clearance.
All in all, some great new products coming onto the market. I will be writing a more in-depth article on these products and the dealer day in a forthcoming issue of TurfPro’s sister title for the dealer trade, Service Dealer magazine.
