Seminar Success
Over 60 turf professionals attended Barenbrug's 'Preparing for the Future' seminar and demonstration day, held at Greenmount College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise in County Antrim recently.
The event focussed on three key topics - the importance of grass species selection, achieving quality construction and surface preparation goals. The diverse turnout included greenkeepers, groundsmen and local authority and schools groundsmen, as well as agronomists and distributors.
Paul Campbell, Greenmount's head of sports turf, described the construction of the college's golf academy, with Jayne Leyland, Barenbrug's research and development manager, providing an insight into the mixtures selected for the course.
Turftrax consultant Tim Colclough and Allan Patterson, head greenkeeper of the new Castle Course at St Andrews Links, also made presentations on, respectively, soils and drainage and the creation of the new course.
With plant pathologist Dr Kate Entwistle from The Turf Disease Centre giving the delegates an insight into the growing problems of nematodes and fungal diseases on amenity turf.
Delegates then enjoyed a practical drainage demonstration courtesy of Tony Patterson Sportsgrounds, with the fine weather providing the perfect ending to this highly informative and successful event.
"It was an excellent day," enthuses Jayne Leyland. "We had a fantastic turnout, with delegates from a wide range of disciplines. In particular, when we inspected the academy course a lot of people were delighted to see the new, innovative mixtures, such as BAR 40 and RTF, some of them seeing these for the first time, and the feedback was really positive. I'm delighted that Barenbrug has played host to such a valuable event."
Barenbrug UK headquarters is based at Rougham Industrial Estate, Rougham,
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 9ND. Telephone 01359 272000, fax 01359 272001, email info@baruk.co.uk
or visit www.barenbrug.co.uk.
Photo caption: Delegates had the chance to examine the Greenmount golf academy's turf.