This Blog post
was written by Assistant Greenkeeper Tim Kaye.
How do, I hope
you find this article on my experience at the Saltex turf and machinery show
interesting and informative. Thank you for taking the time to read.
On Thursday
November 2nd I travelled to the annual Saltex turf and machinery
show which is something that I’ve wanted to go to for a long time. The event is
hosted at the Birmingham N.E.C. and consists of 2 of the venues halls full of
various stands displaying machinery, fertilizers, seeds etc and many other
products, all related to sports turf and grounds maintenance. Like the BTME
event, there are various lectures and talks hosted, covering a range of
subjects related to the industry.
Upon arrival I was overwhelmed at how many stalls there were fitted into the two halls and how to go about ensuring that I visited all of them, if possible, within a day. After studying a map of the layout I decided to work from side to side as my initial plan of attack. Working my way through the show I stopped at nearly all the stands chatting and picking up information on various products that we use or could make use of both on the course, and products that were of interest to me for my own use at home, as I am a keen gardener and lawn care enthusiast.
One such stand that I believe could be of use at work but also apply at home was the ego battery powered equipment stand, as I use a wide range of their products at home and have been demo’ing at work as I believe there is a place for them on the course. The spokesman I spoke with mentioned that he is a keen golfer and in this day with the development in battery technology he believes that battery powered equipment has a definite place especially for tasks around the clubhouse, which is a sentiment that I share as it would allow us to complete jobs around the clubhouse without causing too much in the way of noise disruption. Although I also appreciate that some jobs such as blowing petrol equipment may be required especially when clearing wet leaves and debris etc.
Other stands
with items of interest were robot mowers and range ball collectors, which I
know Tom is researching for the maintenance of the driving range and certain
aspects of maintenance on the course, such as fairways or wetter areas of the
course in winter where we may not always be able to access with the regular
mowing equipment.
During my travels, I met ‘Jimmy the mower’ who is a ground maintenance worker, who also creates videos and other content for YouTube and social media platforms. Over the years, Jimmy has reached a high level of fame amongst the grounds and turfcare industry for highlighting issues encountered in the industry and raising awareness of some of the challenges we can face. I have had interactions with Jimmy through social media such as twitter etc, and a few years ago was randomly selected as the winner of patch of the day. This is a weekly competition he runs on twitter, where people send in pictures of maintained turf, or your own lawn and one entrant is randomly selected as the winner on a Monday night. Meeting Jimmy was a surreal experience after all of the interactions on social media, It felt like meeting an old friend and I am grateful for the time that he and his wife spent talking to me about the issues currently faced with the relentless rain and the importance of these events and other shows with education such as BTME.
In conclusion, I feel that events like Saltex and BTME are invaluable as we can learn about new products coming out and how they can be integrated into our working lives. The education available for CPD is brilliant and can give ideas on how to improve working routines, or how to incorporate different practices we might not have thought of.
These events
also allow us an opportunity to interact with fellow ground staff as well as
product representatives to discuss ideas, relay feedback and find out if there
are products becoming available that could potentially improve the way we work,
which could cut down on the need of expenditure. I feel that the education and
knowledge you come away from these events with is invaluable and that they
should be held in high regard and used whenever possible to keep staff up to
date with products and current knowledge as well as inspiration of where things
may go in the future.
Thanks for
reading, over and out.
