UK First for Askham Bryan Students

A solar-powered irrigation system for a golf course at a Yorkshire college may be the first of its kind in the UK.

The irrigation is being installed as part of work by sportsturf and horticulture students studying at Askham Bryan College near York. With the help of agriculture and engineering students, they have created three golf holes in a disused field at the College.

With the course being built at little cost, one of the key challenges was to find an irrigation system and course tutor Dan Prest approached supplier Evergreen Irrigation to ask if the company would supply a 100m pipe to get the project going. Evergreen put Dan in touch with Rain Bird which has supplied a state-of-the-art system.

There was one more problem for the students to solve: the irrigation system is controlled by an electronic control system but there was no electricity to the field where the holes have been located. The answer came from CI Solar in California which is converting the power-source to solar power to allow the students to complete the project.

Dan said: "We owe a great deal of gratitude to these companies for helping our students not only to complete these holes but also to use the latest technology to achieve it. Our idea was to give the students the experience of creating a course from scratch, rather than looking only at the maintenance, and this has been a fantastic learning experience.

Around 70 students, who are studying for future careers as greenkeepers and groundsmen, have been involved in the project to date.