A Verti-Quake and Rink Topdresser
have become the latest additions to the machinery fleet of Oldham Council.
The redevelopment of a number of sports pitches has seen the
purchase of machinery necessary to meet the maintenance specifications.
For District Supervisor David Barlow, the latest investment
compliments his existing stable of Redexim Charterhouse equipment.
“We’re very fortunate as a council to be investing not only in our
facilities, but in the machinery needed to keep them at their best” explains
David, who together with another Supervisor, head up a maintenance team of 40.
“Over the last 10 years, 13 pitches mainly used for football, have
been redeveloped and converted from soil to sand-based surfaces. This has
changed the maintenance programme required to keep the pitches performing to a
certain specification, and the machinery we had was struggling to do the job.”
With an Overseeder, Carrier and Verti-Drain® from Charterhouse already in their fleet, David knows it’s kit that
can be relied on. “When funds became available, top of my list was equipment to
assist with the tasks of slitting and topdressing the pitches, which we should
be conducting at least once a year. I spoke with Richard Lucas of Charterhouse
and Steve Massey at our local dealer Sharrocks and following impressive
demonstrations, and ruling out other machines, we purchased a Rink DS3800
topdresser and Verti-Quake 3825 earlier this year.”
“The Rink gives us a fantastic, even spread across the pitches,
making the job much quicker and easier than it was with our previous spreader.
It is also fitted with an agitator which prevents material sticking, ensuring a
good flow of sand. This machine is already coming into its own as we undertake
our football pitch renovations, helping us to fulfil the requirement of
applying 50 tonnes of rootzone to each pitch, each year.
"The Verti-Quake meanwhile will become a key tool to help
improve aeration not only of our new sand-based pitches, but across a range of
surfaces under our remit.”
