Hopefully, at last, there is some good news to report with the weather recently improving and the rain beginning to ease. This changing front will no doubt help plenty of turf professionals get on with their much-needed pitch preparations and renovations.
On the subject of renovations, last week I attended one of Campey Turfcare’s Pitch Renovation tour demo days at Kidderminster Carolinas Rugby Club. This was one of several that have been delivered around the UK in recent weeks.
The demo day organised by Campeys gave the opportunity for practicing grounds operatives to come and see the plethora of machinery now available to help maintain and renovate natural turf pitches.
On show were over twenty different pieces of machinery and equipment that have been developed for the maintenance and renovation of sports pitches.
Also on hand were a few supporting companies who were there to talk about their products and services. For example presentations included Richard Brown from Germinal seeds on seed selection; Iain Courage from Fleet Linemarkers LTD on line-marking and paint products; whilst Gary Cunningham from Mansfield sands was on hand to talk about sports turf topdressings.
However, the day was centred around the vast range of machinery we now have at our disposal to help renovate pitches to a high standard.
Attending the day were around forty turf professionals / contractors who were keen to see the machinery in operation. Lee Morgado, director of Campeys was on hand to welcome everybody and talk through all the demonstrations.
Lee has been with the company since he joined as a mechanic in 2006 and over the years has worked his way up to his current role.
I asked Lee how the tour had been going, especially considered the poor weather we have being having recently. Lee told me, “Apart from a couple of rain showers, we have been able to get on with the renovation tour and we’ve seen good attendance numbers at each venue.”
Lee continued, “As with any Campey demo day, the logistics involved in transporting and undertaking the work at each of these tour days is mind blowing. It takes several hours to load and unload all the machinery, then we must set it up to undertake the renovation works which, depending on what we are doing, would take a couple of days to complete. We then need to coordinate the transport of material on and off site.”
At each venue Campeys undertook the complete renovation of one of the club’s pitches. The work would involve fraise mowing off the vegetation, spiking, raking / cultivating, topdressing, fertilising and overseeding the pitch.
L-R: Lee Morgado, Mark Hall and Ryan Dawes
These works gave the chance for people attending to see all the major operations take placed while at the event.
I caught up with some of the attendees on the day, including Mark Hall, estates manager at Harper Adams University who specially came to see the machinery, He told me he is keen to invest in some to help renovate the pitches at the University.
Currently they have contractors who come in, but Mark is keen at looking at perhaps the opportunity to do the work himself, meaning he can be more in control, Also, he is mindful that in recent years the winters have become milder and wetter and he needs to better manage his pitches to make them more free draining.
I believe that there never been a better time for clubs to invest in new equipment, with the many grants and loans now available from various sports governing bodies and the National Lottery funds.
The range of machinery we have available for the maintenance and renovation of sports pitches is exceptional. Campeys have, over the last 38 years, brought into the UK a plethora of game-changing and revolutionary pieces of kit that have transformed the quality of natural grass pitches and made the job of groundsmanship ever more professional.
