It is pleasing to see three British football teams reaching the finals of two major European cup competitions. It’s a credit to the competitiveness of our Premier League and the skills and pace of the players involved. It is such a shame no home crowds could attend these exciting semi-finals.

As for the European Cup semi -finals (Man City and Chelsea home ties), these were played in testing weather conditions with heavy rain and hailstorms affecting both grounds. No doubt there will be a big thank you to both sets of clubs’ grounds staff for their efforts in preparing the pitches for these important matches. 

What would usually be a very long day under normal conditions for all concerned, the grounds staff at the Etihad Stadium faced the added problem of a heavy hailstorm just prior to kick off. It was a case of all hands-on deck to help clear the lines and ensure the pitch was playable.  

Whilst on the subject of major sports, we still have plenty to look forward to this summer with the Loins Tour as well as the Olympic Games, due be held in Tokyo from 23 July to 8 August.

On top of this, the 16th UEFA European Football Championship runs from June 11 to July 11, 2021, and to celebrate the tournament's 60th birthday, 11 cities across the continent have been selected as hosts. Rome's Stadio Olimpico will host the opening match on June 11, while Wembley will stage both semi-finals and the final as well as a last-16 tie that was originally scheduled to be staged in Dublin.

And not forgetting the Wimbledon Championships make a welcome return on 28 June after being cancelled last year - with the men's final scheduled to played on 11 July, the same day as the Euro 2020 final at Wembley. So all in all, we have a fantastic calendar of sport to look forward to this year. 

As for grass roots sport, hopefully by the end of June we should be back to normality with clubs being able to host matches and make full use of their facilities.

On a personal note, I am looking forward to this week where I have pencilled in a visit to Enville Golf Club near Stourbridge, to catch up with Andy Woods course manager to see how he has been coping with both the pandemic and recent poor weather conditions. Also on my agenda is a visit to Olton GC and the Wrekin GC in the coming weeks.  

Parks news

On the parks front, this year’s Green Flag awards have started in earnest with judges being allocated parks and open spaces to assess.

I have three interesting parks and sites to judge during May and I am very much looking forward to meeting the candidates and people involved in managing these important public assets. 

While on the subject of parks, APSE have sent out an important Ash Dieback Survey. Local authorities across the UK could be facing a collective bill of billions of pounds over the next 15 years due to the ravaging effect of Ash Dieback disease. 

The organisation are looking for feedback from parks professionals - find out more about how you can help here. 

Finally, in other news, last week I was invited to attend a product launch Zoom meeting with Karcher along with some other members of the press to hear about the launch of a new range of professional landscape management tools.

You can read more about that here.