PRODUCT SHOWCASE
THE LATEST GROUNDSCARE TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES
GROUNDS TRAINING KEITH KENT JOINS GROUNDS TRAINING Former RFU and Twickenham head groundsman Keith Kent has become a Lantra instructor for Grounds Training. He has joined the training provider’s team delivering Customised Provision courses, which include sports line marking and lawn care. Keith has spent an incredible half century in the grounds industry. He joined Leicester City FC as a 16-year-old trainee and spent 17 years at the club, becoming head groundsman in the early 1980s. In 1987, he was appointed head groundsman at Manchester United FC, overseeing a team of 10 who were responsible for pitch maintenance at Old Trafford and the club’s training facilities. He moved south to join the RFU as head groundsman in 2002. While overseeing the playing surface at Twickenham Stadium, Keith was equally passionate about the grassroots game. He toured the country visiting more than 500 community rugby clubs to advise and guide club staff and volunteers in the maintenance of their pitches. Keith says: “Retirement has given me more time to give back to the industry I love. I find it very rewarding being able to pass on my knowledge to people who are keen to learn new skills and progress their careers.” n groundstraining.com
AMAZONE
Groundkeeper and Profihoppers make light work of turf maintenance At this time of year, it’s all about managing grass growth, renovating certain areas and contending with patches of moss that need scarifying, and raking poor-quality grasses that need to be thinned out. The AMAZONE SmartCut flail system offers the solution to all these turf issues, which includes the wide range of Groundkeeper tractor-mounted flail collectors, or either of the Profihopper self-propelled models. It doesn’t matter whether ‘cut and drop’ or ‘cut and collect’ is required: either can be selected, giving total flexibility in any application or operation. In addition, when cutting in wet or dry weather, the unique chevron blade layout ensures a full overlap of cut for a clean finish, irrespective of the length of material being handled, with the longer stalks shredded into manageable lengths to ensure that the maximum capacity of the collection hopper is used and that any material taken away composts as quickly as possible. High-lift hopper emptying also means that tipping into a skip or trailer is no problem, making it simple and convenient to clear a site – and where a dethatching operation is required, fitting a set of scarifying knives takes just a few minutes. n amazone.co.uk
VANMAC TIME-SAVING TRILOS ARE TOP CHOICE FOR ALL-SEASON USE The Trilo S3 and S4 vacuum sweeper from Vanmac can be put to use throughout the year, with optional scarifier and flail shafts making it ideal for year-round operation. The range of interchangeable heads can be swapped in and out in under an hour, with minimal tools, resulting in less time spent in the workshop and more out in the field. The Trilo S-Line’s modular design gives the operator a versatile and adaptable unit with alternative heads suited to a range of maintenance tasks. A scarifier shaft, with a range of knife options, enables it to scarify large areas, with all material collected in the same pass. Alternatively, a flail shaft can be fitted for quick and convenient cut and collection of roadside verges. The material is then vacuumed and collected into the three-cubic-metre or four-cubic-metre hopper, which can then be emptied with ease, thanks to Trilo’s high-tip facility. n vanmac.co.uk
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SUMMER 2022
