NEWS
Barenbrug at the Queen’s Club Graham Kimpton, Grounds Manager at the Queen’s Club
Grass seed runs through the blood of the Barenbrug family, since the company was founded in 1904 by Joseph Barenbrug and overseen today by his great grandsons, Bastiaan and Frank Barenbrug. Similarly, groundsmanship runs in the blood of the Kimpton family. Graham Kimpton is Grounds Manager at the Queen’s Club in London, where he took over the reins in 2010 from his father, David Kimpton. For over 15 years, the choice of grass seed for the courts at Queen’s has been Barenbrug. Graham’s family association with groundsmanship is impressive. His uncle Peter worked at the nearby
“It is an all-round outstanding variety for close mown turf which complements our existing varieties, Barsignum and Barolympic, very well.” 6 | Turf Matters | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2020
Hurlingham Club for 50 years, his father worked at Queen’s for 43 years and his cousin Adam Tester is Grounds Manager at The University of Leicester. With Graham’s eldest son, Sam, now working at Queen’s, he becomes the third generation of the Kimpton family to tend to the famous West London grass courts. As well as managing 12 grass courts, Graham and his team also manage 15 other outdoor courts alongside all the gardens and hedges on the site. By Graham’s admission, even with seven full time staff they are never short of things to do when it comes to maintaining the high standards of the club. Barenbrug grass seed was the originally the choice of Graham’s father, David. But since taking the helm Graham has continued this partnership through his supplier, Paul Buxton of Collier Turf Care and with Barenbrug through Luke Hunt and Dr David Greenshields. What sets Queen’s apart from most other grass courts is that they are composed of and oversown with a blend of Bent, Fescue and Perennial Ryegrass. Grass court tennis is now predominantly played on 100% Perennial Ryegrass surfaces and in some cases subject to a full annual renovation and re-sowing.
Graham’s father, David, was an early adopter of ‘dwarf’ varieties of Perennial Ryegrass and was quick to recognise the benefit of the significant gains in wear tolerance the specie brings over Bent and Fescue. The courts at The Queen’s Club are oversown twice per year, with two different mixtures; Spring mixture – Barenbrug Ultrafine 50% Perennial Ryegrass – Barolympic 20% Perennial Ryegrass – Barsignum 30% Perennial Ryegrass – Eventus Autumn mixture – Queen’s Special Mix 25% Perennial Ryegrass – Barolympic 25% Perennial Ryegrass – Barsignum 22.5% Slender Creeping Red Fescue - Viktorka 22.5% Chewing’s Fescue – Barlineus 5% Browntop Bent – Charles In his time at The Queen’s Club Graham says there has been many advancements that have contributed to improving the standards of the surfaces. Improvements in machinery, particularly aeration and scarification equipment, as well as developments in grass
breeding from Barenbrug. “We have used Barenbrug for over 15 years. I feel they offer the best out there, they give me good service and are always pushing the boundaries to create improved varieties”, said Graham. 2020 will see a first in Graham’s time at Queen’s, with one of the blocks of courts receiving a full surface renovation, relevelling and re-sowing from scratch. Graham intends to maintain the consistency and will use a bespoke blend to replicate the existing courts as close as possible Looking to the future, Graham plans to incorporate Barenbrug’s latest variety of ryegrass, Barprium, into the courts. Regional Manager for Barenbrug, Luke Hunt, said that having watched Barprium come through the breeding programme and various European trials, they were excited to see it become available to the UK market. “It is an all-round outstanding variety for close mown turf which complements our existing varieties, Barsignum and Barolympic, very well. Barprium has many properties that make it an elite variety, we are certain it will be a high demand variety for years to come.”