After reporting record usage in October, readership of our magazine in November has gone even better! Another 900 readers in the month, taking the total to 16,100. Each reader spends an average of 5 minutes on the site reading 10 pages.

The industry's leading online magazine is becoming even more popular - thanks to you, our members.

Wednesday 11th December is the next date for your diary, when we will be joined by the Managing Director of Tillers Turf, Tim Fell. Amongst other things, we will be talking to Tim about the decision of the Millenium Stadium to replace their existing palletted turf system with a conventional turf pitch. The forum will begin at the earlier time of 3.00pm. Make a note in your diary.

Many thanks to all of you who took the trouble to return the questionnaires. Some interesting results and views on what you want from Pitchcare in the future. Details of the survey results are in the General News section of the site. As a taster here are a few of your comments:
"I like the way it unites people."
"Would like to see more general advice to help the amateur like myself."
"Really informative."

Full results are available here

The winner of the Christmas hamper is George Reid from Hemel Hempstead, who should be tucking into his brandy butter and chardonnay at this very moment.

As ever, we will be improving our services to members in the New Year. Already on the drawing board are:-

Company Review - a detailed insight into the industry's top companies; how they started, current work, turnover, staffing etc.

Weather - a complete overhaul of the service we provide, with a range of choices from a generic forecast to a personalised, site specific report.

Shop - more products, more companies and more offers for Pitchcare members.

Chat Forums - monthly sessions with specialists from across the industry.

Monthly Competition - Watch out for an exciting new feature with unbelievable prizes.

The ultimate stocking filler - the Earthquake 1.5 or 2.1 metre machine, available at a special discount rate. Christmas wrapping and ribbon are included. Remember, any Earthquake purchased through Pitchcare before Christmas will come complete with a free Quakemeter (Penetrometer) worth £199. More details in the Pitchcare shop, contact the office on +44 (0)1902 824392 or email sales@pitchcare.com. The Earthquake is also available for hire through Tonrin Contractors Limited. Free demonstrations can be arranged. Click here for details.

For the man or woman who has everything - a BMS 1 metre Roller Squeegee for £85 (£10 off list price) or the BMS 4ft stainless steel Dragmat for the same price as the 3ft - £140.

For the golfer? You won't go wrong with the BMS telescopic Holemaster with Heavy Duty Blades down to £150 (a saving of £15 off list price).

A man lives on the 15th floor of a block of flats. Every morning at 7.30am he leaves his flat, gets in the lift and goes down to the ground floor. He goes to the bus stop and heads off to work. Every evening he gets back to the block of flats at 5.30pm, gets in the lift at the ground floor and gets off at the 11th floor.
He then walks up the stairs to his flat on the 15th floor.

Conundrum - Why does the man get off at the 11th floor?
Clues - the lift isn't faulty and he isn't a fitness fanatic.

The answer will appear on the website on Monday 16th December

Pitchcare are now able to provide on-site accredited courses on a full range of subjects. The courses include basic maintenance, team building, manual handling, pesticide certification, safe and effective machine training, chainsaw use, turf management and development for all members of staff. The courses are certificated and prices are dependant on numbers attending each course. For further details see our health and safety section on the website or contact David Saltman on +44 (0)1902 824392 or by e-mail: courses@pitchcare.com

You also get a choice of payment methods - either offline or online - so no worries about having to use your credit card if you don't want to.

As we send this newsletter out, our membership now sits at over 2700 members; not too bad at all in 15 months. However, if we want to drive the industry forward, providing advice, shared knowledge, better conditions, education and pay, then the bigger the membership the more strength we have to achieve this. Our industry deserves to be viewed as professional, so we are asking you to recommend Pitchcare to at least 1 of your colleagues. To send this newsletter to them fill in their email address and name:

Pitchcare was designed and is run by fellow Groundsmen and Green keepers for Groundsmen and Green keepers. Remember, Pitchcare is your site.

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