I’m not suggesting you put glyphosate on your chips as an alternative to salt!
The voluntary initiative, NRoSO, compulsory professional development and the assurance of a rigorous product approval process can give us all confidence that if these tools are used wisely, in the correct way, then the harm that they will pose to Biodiversity, the user and the public will be negligible. They should form part of a wider plan to integrate the methods, both cultural and chemical, to control the problems that occur when managing and maintaining the environment we enjoy for our leisure. It takes between eight and twelve years to develop a new active ingredient from the lab bench to a product in a can that will solve a specific problem. The cost for this development is vast. It can be between $250-$400 million dollars to bring a product to market globally. Roughly half this investment is dedicated to ensuring the effects to the environment or non-target organisms are negligible. This investment, added to the success of the Voluntary Initiative, the increases in biodiversity and raising of professional standards, is all very well, but little has happened to change the perception of pesticides or how they are portrayed in the media. This poor image will only be changed with time and education. All users of these useful tools must be part of the ongoing process which has avoided the burden of a pesticide tax, and which has delivered the tangible results in environmental improvement that benefit us all.
Find out more about best practice and standards at
www.voluntaryinitiative.org.uk.
Days OFF!
Smart move by Ashton
WHEN George Smart first started following his favourite sport he could pay his way through the turnstiles for a few coppers.
Nowadays, football fans can
expect to pay anything up to £70 to watch their team play. But not former Ashton United Groundsman, George. Even though there are no smart cars or girls waving autograph books, this local
legend always gets a hero’s welcome when he turns up at Hurst Cross. That’s because George, who turned 90 in
March, is believed to be Tameside’s oldest active football fan. “My father, Robert Cole, used to be a chairman at Ashton, he’s a former player as well,” said George, whose grandson James is a steward at
the club. George stopped going to the ground recently due to the cold and the fact he couldn’t manage the steep steps without a hand rail.
That was when son Malcolm stepped in to help. He said: “I sponsor a ball for the club and I get a place in the directors lounge. I told them about my dad’s plight and the club now let him sit in the box. It’s warm in there for him.”
George said: “I get tea and coffee and even sandwiches.
They really look after me!” And Ashton United can expect to keep him as a fan because he doesn’t plan on turning his allegiance to higher ranking clubs. “The Premiership players get too much for what they do and they still can’t behave!” said George.
... or what Pitchcare readers get up to out of office hours
CHRIS MITCHELL, Course Manager, Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club, East Sussex: I come from a long line of greenkeepers, both my father and grandfather were greenkeepers here at Royal Ashdown. Also, a relation of my grandfather’s is the figure upon the Ryder Cup, one Abe Mitchell, reportedly the greatest amateur never to win The Open. Whilst my father, in his youth, was a plus 2 handicap and an assistant Pro, I have neatly broken that mould and play of off 18! I have been in this job most of my working life. I was cutting greens aged 10 and started full time work when I left school at 16. My first job was as a horticultural mechanic, but being stuck inside all day was not what I enjoyed, so went to work full time for dad at the club. After two years I took a break from greenkeeping and worked in a home for mentally handicapped children in Switzerland, dug tunnels in London for the underground, and had a stint as a car mechanic. Two years later I was back on the golf course realising it was the place to be. At this point City and Guilds were starting their
greenkeeping courses and I had just met Jim Arthur for the first time - he inspired me to give it a go. Having left school with no formal
qualifications whatsoever I found the
college courses fascinating. When I
finished, I had
managed
to achieve distinctions in nearly all subjects and was awarded a medal by City and Guilds for best student of the year. In the early 80s the Club took over the running of a second course adjacent to us and it was decided that I should be promoted to be in charge of both courses. Dad was more than happy to stand to one side and, indeed, he still worked for me up to his 80th birthday! We sometimes sit and have a chat about the old days, where rats were running around your feet whilst you were eating your sandwiches; sitting on an oil drum full of petrol, in an unheated shed with an earth floor, and no toilet or running water. My how the greenkeeping world has changed - for the better I should add! So what do I do on my days off when I get one? If it is a warm day you will find myself and partner, Hannah, out on my VFR800 Honda touring around the countryside visiting National Trust places. Woodwork is probably my main hobby, particularly woodturning. If you visit my house you will find an array of wooden items I have made, including all the lounge furniture. I have a whole bunch of friends who are musicians and we all meet up once a month for a ‘jam session’ and an occasional gig for a party. It gives me a chance to play my guitar loudly, which is frowned upon at home as Hannah works in the theatre and says she hears it all day long at work. I love meeting up with my children, Damian 22 and Holly 20. We all share the same wicked sense of humour. Sitting at the bar of the local putting the world to rights is always good value! One other great love is cooking. Since Hannah and I have lived together, I think she has cooked less than 10 meals! Makes sense really, I am home a couple of hours earlier than her, so I can have dinner ready. I am fair about it though, I do let her fill the dishwasher afterwards, as well as feeding our dysfunctional Jack Russell, Cheddar, and Marmite, an even more dysfunctional cat! Proudest moment? Seeing my son graduate from uni in Oxford in the afternoon, then driving like a loon to get back to Tunbridge Wells to see my daughter in a film premier. I think the long line of greenkeepers in the family is near its end!
THE NEWS
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