After a
complete fleet renewal at Merchant Taylors’ School, grounds manager Richard
Ayling has continued to put his trust in Dennis by purchasing a G860 and a G30D
cylinder mower to add to the two G860’s and Razor mowers the school already
had.
Merchant
Taylors', one of the 'Great Nine' schools of England, has provided an
outstanding education to boys since 1561. As well as boasting exceptional
academic results year on year, sport is central to life at Merchant Taylors’.
There are
over 80 acres of magnificent playing fields with an additional 200 acres of
estates providing outstanding opportunities for a wide range of sports
including rugby, football, hockey and cricket.
The school
is a regional centre for England hockey and also hosts a number of elite
sporting teams such as Middlesex County Cricket Club, Saracens and Wasps rugby
academies and has previously catered for the Australian and South African
national cricket teams.
The
presence of such sporting teams surely is testament to the quality of pitches
produced and maintained by Richard and his team of ten. With exceptionally high
standards to adhere to and a multitude of sports surfaces to maintain, it is
vital that the team has the most reliable and best performing grounds
maintenance equipment in their armoury.
Therefore,
as a long term user of Dennis equipment, Richard was delighted when he had the
opportunity to bring in a range of brand new Dennis machines as part of a
complete fleet renewal.
The new
Dennis G860 cylinder mower is lightweight at just 166kg; easy to manoeuvre and
comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for -
throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive. The mower
also features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which
has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent
finish on every occasion.
The Dennis
G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide
range of tasks which gives Richard the ability to use the G860 across more than
one sports pitch.
“We use
the G860’s across all of our winter pitches and they also do our squares in the
summer. With cricket squares you need to get across them fairly quickly and
these mowers allow us to do just that. As one person cuts the square another
person follows behind with the Sorrel Roller and opens the top up slightly to
allow a little bit of air movement. It works really well. It has cut our algae
and other bits on the surface down and allows a bit more drainage through the
surface.
“The
option of having all of the different cassettes is great. We use the
Verti-Cutter, the Brush, the 8-Bladed Cylinder and the Sorrel Roller – so we
are building an armoury of attachments too.”
With over
30 acres of lawns and other grass areas to maintain, Richard completed his
Dennis line-up with the purchase of a Dennis G30D cylinder mower. Designed and
built following the same concept as the Dennis G860, the G30D incorporates a
large-diameter eight bladed cutting cylinder to cater for a wide range of uses
to leave a precise cut.
“At the
moment we have two big lawns at the school and another large grass area. We use
the G30D for this work but it is also a good back-up mower for the sports
pitches.
“Previously
we were using a 26” mower for the lawns and it had a fairly small grass box so
we were forever emptying it. Since changing to the G30D we are saving a
significant amount of time and we are getting an incredible finish and
presentation – something that is extremely important here at the school.”
