Oakley's Groundcare Day

Oakley's Groundcare Day

By Laurence Gale Msc

A window of fine weather blessed all the visitors who attended the recent Oakley's Groundcare sports turf seminar held at Shifnal Golf Club. Well over 70 Groundsmen, Greenkeepers and Local Authority Managers attended the seminars and machinery demonstrations. The day started with a welcoming brew of tea and coffee followed by an address from the Managing Director of Oakley's Groundcare Mr Robert Bland. Mr Bland welcomed everybody and thanked the contributions of all concerned. Robert also assured that Oakley's will continue to offer a quality service to all its customers, reiterating that the companies priorities are to promote and continue to build relationships with the industries leading manufactures of turf grass machinery.

Three short informative presentations were made by guest speakers. First up to speak was Mr Alan Halfyear from Total Turf Solutions (TTS) who gave a presentation on the latest techniques in sports turf aeration. This was followed by an introduction to the new and latest developments from TORO by Mr Jeff Anguige, Sales Manager for Lely UK ltd. And finally Mr Robin Boyes, UK Sales Manager for Hayter who gave a summary of how Hayter began and how they have developed their range of turf grass machinery products.

Following these presentations, delegates and visitors were able so see a number of machinery demonstrations that included Toro UK, Hayter UK, Kubota UK, Scag, Blec, Allett and Opico.

Having talked to many of the delegates, they had all found the day interesting and informative and well worth the visit especially as most did not have far to travel, Steven Speed, Head Groundsman from Port Vale FC was keen to look at the Tractors with the aim of securing an additional compact tractor for use on his training grounds.

Demonstrations by Hayter and Blec