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EDITOR'S BLOG

THE SHOW MUST GO ON
A feast of football - and stadia - to enjoy
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

The start of the delayed Euros allows us to admire international stadium pitches that have improved greatly in the last few years, due to the ongoing development of management regimes and machinery.

I am sure many of us will be watching this year’s Euros football tournament, especially as we’re able to follow three of our home nation countries, England, Wales and Scotland. And what a good start we had, with Wales drawing their first game with Switzerland and England beating Croatia, whilst playing some attractive football.

Let’s hope all three nations can get into the knockout stages of the competition.

With eleven countries hosting matches I, like so many UK turf professionals, will be admiring the state and presentation of their pitches and seeing some great football being played. The quality of international stadium pitches has improved greatly in the last few years mainly due to the ongoing development of management regimes using the latest technologies and machinery.

Growing and maintaining natural grass, or indeed hybrid playing surfaces, takes a lot of upkeep and maintenance. Over the last few years we have seen a transformation in the quality and performance of these pitches due to the diligence and skills of the grounds staff. No doubt they are going to be kept busy during the next couple of weeks maintaining these marvellous stadium venues and all the training areas allotted to the teams.

It’s now mid-June and I can safety say that cricket is finally getting the summer weather that we associate with the game. On those dry, warm days there is no grander spectacle than a full blown Test match at one of our many county grounds. Last weekend Gary Barwell and his staff were tasked with preparing a test pitch at Edgbaston for the England Test against New Zealand in front of 18,000 covid safe spectators. Unfortunately, England were completely outplayed in every department: batting, bowling, fielding and catching and lost by 8 wickets.

Cricket clubs up and down the country are also terribly busy preparing their facilities for weekend matches. Last week I managed to catch up with a couple of my old council work colleagues who were busy preparing Edgmond Playing fields for a weekend cricket match. Alan was cutting the outfield with a large Trimax Pegasus rotary mower while Tony and Bernie were cutting the square and preparing a pitch using Dennis FT mowers. It was great to catch up with the lads and see the council have retained the fine turf skills required to maintain their sports facilities.

The rest of my week was spent conducting a few Zoom meetings with Husqvarna, Amenity Forum and the RFU, whilst also taking delivery of a couple of long pole hedge trimmers from STIHL who have loaned me their popular battery powered HLA 66 and 86 models for some product testing - of which my findings will be published in a forthcoming edition of TurfPro.

Looking ahead

As for other news, we are still awaiting the announcement from Boris and his government on whether the roadmap for Covid restrictions will be lifted on the 21st June. However, as we’re all aware what seems mostly likely now is a further four week extension of these rules. That will take us to July 19th and that may put many public and social events into jeopardy. It will be interesting to see if this change of dates effects the current BIGGA Festival of Turf event that’s due on the 21st-22nd of July? And also, the Sports & Grounds Expo event 0n the 27-29 July at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern.

It would seem the long-range weather forecast is stating we will have a continued mixed weather front bringing both rain showers and warmer humid periods of weather for the rest of the month and well into middle of July.

The beginning of June is also, traditionally a busy time for local authorities who are busy planting out their summer bedding schemes - usually waiting until the first week in June to ensure the tender plants are not damaged by frost. When I started out as a propagator with Birmingham City Council in the 1970s, nearly every senior town park had its own set of greenhouses and nurseries to grow and produce their own bedding plant materials. Unfortunately today, many of these greenhouses have become old and unfit for purpose or simply demolished or closed due to operating costs.

There are a few left though. In fact Birmingham still have some greenhouses and nurseries one at Kingsheath Park and the other at Cofton Nursery that are able to produce the many thousands of plants used in their wonderful bedding schemes in and around the city.

Most if not all local authorities now buy their plant material from dedicated commercial nurseries.

I personally think it is important to continue to plant traditional formal summer and winter bedding schemes as it helps maintain the skills and plant knowledge that can be passed on to the next generation. We should endeavour to retain as many horticultural skills as we can to ensure our parks are maintained to a high level for many years to come. We also need to adapt and modify planting schemes. In recent years we have seen a resurgence of perennial planting along with the now popular wild flower plantings. All in all this affords us a wider range of plantings in our public parks and open spaces.

In fact with so much talk about climate change and becoming carbon neutral, many local authorities are jumping on this initiative with the redesigning and planting of more native plant species to create wildlife corridors and rewilding of some areas of the town.

NEWS

MAN CITY'S NEW PITCH TO INCLUDE A UK FIRST
Will be able to retain and recycle over 200,000 litres of water

In our first WEB ONLY story this week the Premier League champions also report that the new surface will include an air vacuum system for the first time which can pull moisture out of the pitch against the force of gravity.

EGO AND AS-MOTOR TEAM UP
Collaboration sees new pro battery range

Our next WEB ONLY story is that it has been announced that high grass specialist AS-Motor and the cordless specialist Ego have worked together to launch a cross-brand and cross-manufacturer battery platform range for the professional sector.

ATCO DONATE TO NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
Two new machines

As part of their centenary celebrations, ATCO has donated two mowers to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to help maintain the 150-acre site.

As part of their centenary celebrations, ATCO has donated two of its machines to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to help maintain the 150-acre site.

Left to right standing: Andy Ansell, Head of Estates at The National Memorial Arboretum, Glen White, Area Sales Manager for STIGA UK, Richard Gadsby and Jennifer Clay from Country Services, the ATCO dealership in Barton Under Needwood, who delivered the two machines: kneeling left to right: Adrian Sharratt and Tom Price from the grounds team at the Arboretum.

The Arboretum is part of the Royal British Legion and ATCO has joined forces with them as they also celebrate their centenary in 2021.

The ATCO Liner 22H V and 22 SC BBC, join the stable of lawnmowers used to maintain the extensive garden and woodland site, and went immediately into service.

“With 150 acres to manage, our team is always working hard to ensure that our grassed areas are in peak condition,” said Andy Ansell, head of estates at the National Memorial Arboretum.

“We are incredibly grateful for ATCO’s donation of the two new machines to assist our efforts and they will be well used in our formal areas.”

Gary Tully, sales and marketing director of STIGA UK, which owns the ATCO brand, added, “The beautiful grounds of the Arboretum, complement hundreds of sculpted memorials dedicated to incredible people, who have served and sacrificed on behalf of our country and we are absolutely delighted that our machines will play their part in maintaining them.”

TORO LAUNCH NEW DEMONSTRATION AND SUPPORT TRAILER
Customers can see a range of products on board

Toro says the new trailer means they can bring products to customers and demonstrate what they can do on site.

Toro has launched a new Demonstration and Support Trailer.

Matthew Coleman with the new trailer

The company says this will allow them to bring products closer to the customer for real-life demonstrations. A whole range of Toro machinery can be on board and the manufacturer says the trailer will offer them a new, professional and secure way to transport and showcase their products.

As well as taking equipment for demonstrations or being dropped off for a trial period, the trailer will also be used for trade shows.

Sales manager Matthew Coleman said, “I am excited to get the trailer and Toro products out on the road in 2021, delivering demonstrations and trials to customers new and existing. It’s great to be able to visit customers again and see how Toro can support their landscaping and turf care needs face-to-face.”

MKM AGRI APPOINTED BY STIHL
Authorised dealers for full range of equipment

Following the fire that struck their Bedford branch in April, MKM Agri have announced they been appointed as a new STIHL authorised dealer.

MKM's Anthony Deacon

Owner, Anthony Deacon, said, "We've had a pretty rough time here just lately - but this is some really good news. I'm really proud to say that we are now authorised dealers for the full range of STIHL equipment - at both our Bedford and Suffolk branches.

"We carefully selected STIHL above other manufacturers as we felt they offer our customers the best quality and value for money - and we all know what a great name and brand STIHL really is.

"We are encouraging customers to give us a call or pop into either of our branches and we'll help as best we can with any of their STIHL needs."

IRELANDS OPEN NEW BRANCH
Rutland Depot in Tinwell

L-R: Martin Jarvis, branch manager; Marcus Ladds, service; William Fraser, agricultural sales; Simon Tunn, groundcare sales; Fiona & Jonathan Ireland, directors

Dealers Ireland's Farm Machinery have just opened a new depot which increases their number of branches to four and expands their trading area.

Dealers Ireland's Farm Machinery have just opened a new Rutland depot which increases their number of branches to four and expands their trading area.

L-R: Martin Jarvis, branch manager; Marcus Ladds, service; William Fraser, agricultural sales; Simon Tunn, groundcare sales; Fiona & Jonathan Ireland, directors

The new depot opened in the village of Tinwell last week (June 2nd), following the dealership being awarded the Kubota, Kverneland, Simba Great Plains, Vicon and Grange Machinery franchises for Rutland and the surrounding area.

Already having these machinery franchises in Lincolnshire, Ireland say this expansion will allow them to help and support more customers in this area with a full sales, parts, hire and service facility.

Alongside this the dealership has been awarded the Kubota Groundcare and Industrial Lite range of products for the same area and will also be selling the complete Baroness range. For turf maintenance they will also be selling Wiedenmann, Campey Turf Care and the Spearhead range of mowers. They will also be introducing Agricultural and Groundcare Hire companies.

New recruits

Irelands have also announced that they have undertaken a recruitment drive over the past five months. Martin Jarvis has joined the company as branch manager and will head up the Tinwell site. He joins Marcus Ladds, who recently became service manager and who has spent the last two months preparing the new depot alongside builder, Arthur Johnson.

Paul Clayton who already works for the dealership in the Bourne and Stamford area will still be covering that area and will be working from Tinwell as well as the Sutterton depot. William Fraser has joined the company to work alongside Martin in agricultural sales. He will be joined by Simon Tunn who has come to work on the Groundcare side of the business. Finally, Jake Meakins has also joined to run the agricultural and groundcare stores department.

Irelands say their intentions, as the Covid restrictions ease, is to hold an open day and working day.

JOBS

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Contact Nikki Harrison for details - 01491 837117

Sponsored Product Announcements

EXCEPTIONAL MANOEUVRABILITY, HIGH PRODUCTIVITY
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GIE+EXPO – LOUISVILLE, USA
The international landscape, outdoor living and equipment show

GIE+EXPO returns to the Kentucky Exposition Center, between the 20-22nd October 2021, offering new features including a 4,000sqft hands-on Drone Zone and a UTV Test Track.

Visit the Kentucky Exposition Center, between the 20-22nd October 2021, to take part in GIE+EXPO’s: