Some very good responses so far to the February competition. There's still a few days left, so get your answers in and give yourself a chance of winning our great monthly prize – and put your name in the hat to win the overall award and a £2,000 luxury holiday.

Remember - we will be publishing some of the best answers to the topical issue question early in March.
John Hacker of PSD has kindly agreed to join our panel of judges.

Full details are on the competition site.

Hope you weren't caught out by the frosty nights. If knowing what the weather has in store is important to you, then take a look at some of the weather services we have to offer.

In association with John Kettley and British Weather Services we can give you the best at unbeatable prices.

Direct access to a duty forecaster costs £1.50 per minute with no minimum charge. The Met Office's minimum charge for speaking to a duty forecaster is £17! Check it out.

As expected, January turned out to be a record breaking month for us. 342 new members compared to our previous high of 196 – an amazing 75% increase! More than 250 people a day are now visiting the site. All our statistics are independently ratified. Referral by an existing member is responsible for one fifth of our new intake, so many thanks to all of you who have been spreading the word.

Diaries – monthly diaries of things to do and tips for each of the main grass sports. Football, bowls, cricket and rugby are already online, the rest are soon to follow.

BTME and Atlanta news – update on the latest developments in the industry from the top shows from both sides of the Atlantic.

Chris Bassett has come on board as our Marketing consultant. Chris has a wealth of industry knowledge and will be the Pitchcare man to talk to about promoting your company with us.

Daily Topical Articles bringing you up to the minute news and stories from Groundsmen and Greenkeepers in the UK and beyond. Recently added articles include the pitch reconstruction at White Hart Lane (Tottenham Hotspur), school maintenance in Manchester, groundshare at Wakefield RFL, green renovation at Wisley and the current big debate on artificial versus natural grass surfaces.

Hot Message Board Topics do you want to be controversial? Have you got a point to make? Or do you just want to share some of your expertise and knowledge with others? Messages posted daily, come and add your point of view.

Something to buy or sell ? It's the time of year to grab that second hand bargain. Many items are added to our Barter Room each week. This week, help out Coleshill CC, they require some Cricket Pitch Sheeting. If you have an item that's rotting in your store, raise some cash by selling it, for free, in the Barter Room.

We ran out of time in January. Our guest expert, ECB advisor Jon Buddington, had more questions than he could cope with, so he has kindly agreed to do another session on Friday 21st February. That's in just 2 days time.

Jon will be in the Interview Room from 7:00pm. Join Jon and put your questions to him by following the link in Pitchcare's Chat Room.

• 8ft stainless steel dragmat for the same price as a 6ft! Only £210 +VAT
• BMS Bunker rake with aluminium handle for only £9.49 +VAT
• Custom made, powder coated aluminium plate sign for as little as 15 pence per square inch. Price includes text and holes as required. Example:- 2'x2' yellow sign with black text - £86.40 +VAT and delivery. Contact us about these.

The latest Offences Report from the HSE shows a marked increase in the number of prosecutions and fines. The average fine is now in excess of £12,000, a 39% increase on the previous year.

Not everybody knows about their H&S responsibilities. In the eyes of the law, however, ignorance is not a defense.

Pitchcare are able to provide on-site accredited courses on a full range of subjects, including basic maintenance, team building, manual handling, pesticide certification, safe and effective machine training, chainsaw use, turf management and development for all members of staff. All courses are certificated.

Need some guidance? Give us a call on +44 (0)1902 824392 and you can sleep easy at night. Also, don't forget the articles written by our legal experts in the Health & Safety section

At Pitchcare, we like to know that the data we store about our members is current or up to date. This not only allows us to target our advertising more efficiently, but also means that we comply fully with the Data Protection Act.

To see the data we have stored about you, and update it go here, and if you would like to change the password that you use to access Pitchcare, click here. If you're not yet a member, then we know nothing about you, so get on the site and sign up now.

As we write this newsletter, our membership sits at 3473 members; not too bad at all in 17 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 Greenkeepers for Groundsmen and Greenkeepers. Remember, Pitchcare is your site.