The gardens are a real pleasure to manage; they not only give immense pleasure but are a huge part of the guests experience
presented estate and golf courses, the highlight coming in August with Oulton Hall hosting the PGA Euro Protour which was televised on Sky Sports. “It was, without a doubt, the highlight of our year” said Jim “and a very exciting tournament to be involved with. And all delivered within two years of the acquisition by De Vere, and testament to the great teamwork fostered within the Estate team.” Jim believes that this teamwork is fundamental to the success of any golf course and is passionate about training. “The colleges and NVQ can deliver a good level of qualification, but there is only so much we can do on our own” said Jim. “Over the past twelve months I have enlisted the assistance of our trade partners to assist me with the delivery of training. We have worked with fertiliser manufacturers,
machinery producers, oils/greases distributors and, more recently, irrigation engineers.” “All these companies come with a high degree of knowledge and skill sets, and all are willing to spend their time and share their knowledge in practical and classroom training sessions. The great thing about these sessions are the NVQs. Students get real evidence of training, which helps with their qualification, plus we can involve the already qualified people to keep them up to date and continue their development.” “A great example of this ‘partnership training’ is the recent irrigation session with our chosen irrigation specialists, Enviropro H2O. They are working closely with us to set up an irrigation inventory which will meet all the Estate needs should minor repairs need to be
met. The idea is that Duncan McGilvray and Simon Leathley will work with me to identify the irrigation needs of the golf courses and eventually extend that to meet the needs of the gardens. I am not in a position to concentrate solely on the ever evolving spray irrigation trends,
developments or pending legislation involving water conservation - I can leave that to the experts and they can share that with me.” “At present,” said Duncan “Simon is delivering training to the Oulton Hall team to be able to meet the daily problems that irrigation systems throw up at this time
of the year. The staff at Oulton Hall will be able to deal with the day to day problems that we face on a regular basis as irrigation technicians. With the confidence to identify and remedy faults, they will keep their system in peak operating condition - we will be there to support them with emergency specialist back up, system development and future installation.” The future at Oulton Hall is very exciting for Jim as he is currently spearheading a remodeling project with a view to delivering a challenging golf course of over 7000 yards, all to meet the De Vere Company’s
I am not in a position to concentrate solely on the ever evolving spray irrigation trends, developments or pending legislation involving water conservation - I can leave that to the experts and they can share that with me.
32
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108