THE PC TEAM WELCOME TO DAVE SALTMAN
MD, editor and shyest member of the team. Prefers to keep a low profile. Can occasionally be found at the Millennium Stadium. Likes a challenge as demonstrated by his recruitment policy!
JOHN RICHARDS
Operations Director, oldest member of the team and senior telephonist! Apparently knows a bit about the sports turf industry despite his age.
LAURENCE GALE
Joint Editor occasionally prone to the odd grammatical error. Able to baffle the rest of the team with his technical knowledge (not difficult!). Should have gone to Specsavers!
PETER BRITTON
New boy and new Grandad, responsible for design, production and advertising. Knows that grass is green but knowledge stops there. If you like the style of the magazine then it’s Peter’s baby. If not it’s Dave’s!
ELLIE TAIT
PR & Marketing Guru and glamourous member of the team. Writes many of our words and has advanced her career despite her ongoing relationship with a professional groundsman.
ALASTAIR BATTRICK
Expectant father and baby of the team. Knows more about computers than IBM. However his thick Lancashire accent could hold back his promotion prospects! Did go to Specsavers.
SHARON TAYLOR
Accounts and sensible member of the team. Along with Ellie and Alastair helps to keep the average age of the team under 40 - quite a feat in itself! We have to be nice to her, she pays the wages!
WELL now, a very warm welcome to our inaugural issue of Pitchcare - The Magazine. This new bi-monthly publication has been borne from our team’s ongoing aims: to unite the industry, to enable the easy sharing of information and to promote both our profession and the benefits of sports and amenity turf. Points that can only be for the good of the industry and those who work within it.
With much valued help, I created
Pitchcare four years ago with these very aims and today more than 12,000 members visit us each and every month. Pitchcare - The Magazine isn’t just an ‘add-on’, it is to complement the website and allow those who haven’t yet become conversant with the Internet the chance to see what Pitchcare is all about.
In my capacity as a contract
Groundsman and a lecturer for the FA/IOG I met hundreds of local Groundsmen and Greenkeepers who were desperate for information and support.
The day that I had the idea for
Pitchcare, I was mowing the lawn, otherwise known as the Molineux pitch. I had stopped for a cuppa, with my assistant, who asked me how people made money on the Internet. At that precise moment, the concept and aims for an Industry website were
clear in my head and I rushed in to see
the Club Secretary for his valued opinion. For twelve months I researched the idea, visiting many respected Industry individuals. The majority of those that I spoke with were keen to be involved and happy to put their names to a new initiative that has aimed and struck highly. The ability to get news out in the public domain immediately or have seemingly insurmountable problems resolved by unknown, but nonetheless, fellow colleagues, has changed the way the Industry previously worked. The Internet in terms of communication is second to none in this respect.
My original business plan was to
provide every resource that I needed as a Grounds Manager on the website. This included the weather service, recruitment, trade counter, used machinery access, soil analysis, technical information and importantly member interaction. While the message boards, and also the chat room, can sometimes be controversial, they are largely used for the right reasons. We defend the right for freedom of speech and to that extent, we have seen members public condemnation on such subjects as the re-introduction of synthetic surfaces in professional football, changing the pitch marking laws for the same sport and the more recent consternation of the published salary for the next Wembley Head Groundsman. We will continue to bring all the serious issues to the fore and allow members the opportunity to collectively unite and make turf management a truly great profession to be involved in. Finally a big vote of thanks to our contributors and advertisers who have made this possible. I hope that you enjoy our first installment of good technical information and ‘from the horses mouth’ articles.
Best wishes, DAVE SALTMAN Managing Director
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