U P D AT E
NEWS
PETER GREEN OBITUARY
Just a few weeks after receiving the 2017 IOG Special Recognition Award for his services to the club and the groundscare industry, Peter Green sadly passed away
PETER GREEN’S PASSION and dedication as volunteer groundsman at Holmfirth’s Honley Cricket Club meant he tirelessly ensured that the club’s playing surfaces were always in pristine condition. Indeed, his unrelenting efforts were recognised last November when he received the 2017 IOG Special Recognition Award in front of an IOG Industry Awards audience of almost 700 of the UK’s and Europe’s leading groundscare experts, as well as dignitaries from the governing bodies of sport and influential sports administrators. Peter has been leading the groundscare work on Honley Cricket Ground for nearly 50 years. He has combined this role with duties as captain of the first and second teams, coach for 20 years, committee member and ground trustee. At the same time, he has held fulltime jobs as an engineer, painter and decorator, and as a postman. He has never been paid for this work at the ground and has always carried it out in a selfless, enthusiastic and professional manner with great attention to detail and desire to improve not only the ground but also his knowledge of groundsmanship. Peter has always had to work within the confines of a tight budget, which has involved working with equipment which at times has been past its sellby date. He has, however, done this without complaint. While in 2016 Peter’s decorating
“Peter always carried out his work in a selfless, enthusiastic and professional manner”
8 THE GROUNDSMAN January 2018
AWARDS FIRST
TROPHY WIN FOR STEVE
THE HEAD GROUNDSMAN at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club has earned recognition at the annual Business of Cricket Awards. Steve Birks won the Bernard Flack Memorial Trophy, which has been awarded to the outstanding head groundsman in county cricket since 1972 and, for the first time this year, was presented at the black-tie BOCAs ceremony, which has been recognising non-playing excellence in the professional game since 2006. www.ecb.co.uk
MACHINE SUPPLIER
NEW ETESIA DEALER
Peter tirelessly served Honley CC for decades
expertise also came to the fore when the club improved its bar and tearoom areas, last year a major building project involved the construction of additional new changing rooms and the refurbishment of the pavilion. He was heavily involved in advising on and monitoring the construction process, which was extremely challenging in that the project damaged parts of the ground, which Peter rectified in time for the new cricket season. Indeed, due to his hard work over the past 40 years, the ground has improved significantly and is regarded as one of the two best cricket grounds in the Huddersfield Cricket League. Peter has won the league’s annual groundsman award five times, and has been awarded the prestigious Lady Sykes Candlesticks lifetime award for services to the league and to Honley Cricket Club. Last year, Peter was also presented with Honley Civic Society’s ‘Better Honley Award 2017’ in recognition of his longstanding service to the club.
ETESIA UK HAS appointed Sharrocks, in Arclid, Cheshire, as its new dealer, covering Birmingham, Shropshire and Staffordshire. The family-owned business, which has been operating for more than 55 years, is a specialist supplier of tractors, professional and domestic turf machinery, and both agricultural and arboricultural equipment. Sharrocks will now be supplying the complete range of Etesia pedestrian, ride-on mowers along with the Attila range of brushcutters. www.sharrocks.co.uk
YOUNG TALENT
VOLUNTEER PRIZE A TEENAGE groundsman at Redditch Cricket Club has been named Young Volunteer of the Year at the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sports Awards. Jacob Ottley, 17, began volunteering at the club as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award, but has since dedicated more than 100 hours to the club in 2017. Club secretary Gary Fisher said: “I’m delighted he has won it.”