Sherriff Amenity recently hosted the very first
myTurfClub event at Syngenta UK’s Jealott's Hill Research Centre in Bracknell –
and by all accounts it was a huge success.
myTurfClub is a new initiative from Sherriff Amenity
which has an ultimate goal of helping to improve the UK turf amenity sector
stewardship of pesticide and products.
The event proved a great opportunity to meet other
like-minded individuals, share and gain knowledge, learn best practices and
ultimately enhance their education. Every delegate also gained 6 BIGGA CPD
points by attending.
Following an introduction by Sherriff Amenity’s Joseph
Dormer; Dan Lightfoot, UK and Ireland business manager for Syngenta, proceeded
to provide a fascinating industry update and a great insight into fungicide
planning.
Next up was Rod Burke, Syngenta’s portfolio
development manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, who offered some
extremely helpful tips in his presentation entitled “Pigments
– a first look”
Prior to lunch, Joseph provided a virtual tour through
the online mySherriffAmenity platform. Sherriff Amenity has always been a big
advocate of education within the turf and amenity industry and many have
benefited from using mySherriffAcademy which is a feature of this platform.
mySherriffAcademy is ideal for learning more about the amenity business as
users can participate in courses to enhance knowledge on a wide range of topics
such as disease and the correct products to use.
Lunchtime offered all attendees a great chance to
network before they embarked on a tour of Syngenta’s impressive, state of the
art facilities. Jealott’s Hill is a key site in Syngenta’s global research and
development network and key activities include research into discovery of new
active ingredients, new formulation technologies, product safety, technical
support of products and seeds research.
To conclude the event, Joe Kinder (Sherriff Amenity
Technical Manager) advised on tank-mixes before Johnny Beck (Sherriff Amenity
Amenity Specialist) delivered a captivating insight into trial work as well as
revealing key results.
Sam Evans, Head Greenkeeper
at Fulwell Golf Club in Middlesex, was in attendance and believes that an event
like this is essential to the future of the industry. “I came along today
because I wanted to develop my spray-tech knowledge and have a look around the
impressive Syngenta site. There are some really exciting products coming out
and it is good to know that companies like Sherriff Amenity and Syngenta are
looking to the future and are passionate about developing products. Events like
these are vital for head greenkeepers and course managers; it’s all about
enhancing your knowledge and planning for disease prevention because it is so
critical in our industry.”
Ben Mills-Reed, Assistant Greenkeeper at Rustington Golf Centre
in Sussex, is currently working his way through the mySherriffAcademy modules
and felt that by attending the seminar, he gained a greater knowledge of the
products he is using on a regular basis.
“I attended the
event to find out more about the products we use, why we use them and how they
are made. It has been really informative. I’m doing the mySherriffAcademy
modules at the moment and I’m piecing all the bits together so today has been a
big help.”
Commenting on the successful day, event organiser
Joseph Dormer said: “We put this event together specifically because there is a
need to become more pro-active in our industry. We need to be able to predict
what is going to happen and have a plan in place because we are slowly losing
all of the fire-fighting products.
“This event is all about giving something back and to
not just host an event where everyone is sat there staring at a presentation on
a screen. We wanted to create an event which is all about getting the delegates
to be a bit more interactive and ultimately try to ensure that everyone leaves
here with something - from the assistants all the way up to the course
managers.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the turn out today,
considering the pressure everyone is under at the moment with the weather. Plus
a lot of people are trying to get greens renovations done and get their courses
up to scratch for spring.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to Syngenta for
hosting the event. I’m planning on partnering up with all of our key suppliers
so there will be a number of different subject matters in this myTurfClub
series. I’m sure this will be the first of many great events.”
