One-Pint drainage for Cambridgeshire Bowls

Members of the Steeple Morden Bowls Club in Cambridgeshire, called to the pavilion when rain stopped play during the summer, complained that they only had time to down one pint at the bar before the green was dry enough to continue the match.

Vic Purse, of Purse Turf-Care, grounds maintenance contractor for the club explains that 12 months ago the situation was very different.

"I took over the contract in May last year and during the 2006 summer drought we lost the green apart from two rinks," he remembers. "Whatever wetting agents we put on didn't work and the ground was so hard that the Groundsman couldn't spike it. We couldn't get any water on, and when the torrential rains did come we had two inches of water lying on the surface, which we couldn't get rid of."

Vic met up with compressed air de-compaction specialists Terrain Aeration at last year's Saltex and consequently persuaded the club that the company's deep aeration process was the only remedy. Terrain arrived in Oct and aerated the whole green with their Airforce Scamper machine to a depth of one metre injecting dried, milled seaweed on the final air blast.

During this summer's July/August deluge Vic says that once the rain had stopped it took about 10 minutes for the surface to dry out and if dry weather followed they were irrigating after two days.

"Last year we couldn't get on the green to start the season in the 2nd or 3rd week in April but this year we were in full swing," he reports. "The rain drains through, the nutrients are working and the Groundsman can spike."

For further information on the one-metre deep de-compaction services offered by Terrain Aeration contact the company on Tel:01449 673783 or visit their website at: www.terrainaeration.co.uk

Vic Purse can be contacted on: www.purseturfcare.co.uk