Steve Whiting has been Head Groundsman at Girton College, Cambridge, for nineteen of his thirty years in the industry.
Girton’s main site has the best on-site sports facilities of any of the University of Cambridge colleges with fifty-five acres of sports and formal grassed areas that cared for by Steve’s team of two Groundsmen and five Gardeners.
He describes himself as having: ‘always been an Allett man’. The grass sports catered for at Girton College range from football to rugby, cricket, tennis and croquet, as well as hard courts for basketball, netball and tennis.
The College has recently purchased a new Allett C34 Cylinder mower from the professional mower range, to add to their ‘Allett fleet’ which includes two RM34’s, a Tournament 20 and two ‘vintage’ Regals.
“I’ve done many, many miles on an Allett,” says Steve, “and purchasing the C34 was an easy choice to make. You know with an Allett they will never let you down. I have never had one breakdown in all these years. They are easy to use, reliable, professional, and we have a great relationship with Allett.”
The Allett C34 mower features the ‘Quick Cartridge’ cylinder, with interchangeable cartridge heads for a variety of turf maintenance tasks. There is the choice of six or eight blade cylinder and the machine can swiftly convert to a turf rake, powered scarifier, verticutter, brush and sorrel roller. Power comes from the Honda GX200 engine, the working width being 86.4cm/34” and the handlebars are adjustable with anti-vibration mountings. The cut height is adjustable between 8mm/0.32” and 55mm/2.17”
“We use the C34 on all the grass pitches, football, cricket, and formal lawns. The finish is brilliant and the turf rake is great for cleaning up.” Steve adds, “it’s exactly what we want, all in one mower.”
Sport plays an important part in the life at Girton. The College fields men’s and women’s teams in football, rugby, hockey, cricket and tennis and the facilities are also hired out so it’s especially important to maintain these to the highest standards. Steve Whiting and his Alletts are ensuring that remains the case.
