Industry
“During my thirteen years in this industry, I have noted, and often bemoaned, a lack of industry support on the island”
investment required. As an island, greenkeepers and
groundsmen have simply had to find ways to ‘get by’. This bred frustration and jealousy within me in the early stages of my career, and so the planning began to put us on the map, attract more industry support, provide more training opportunities, and find more cost effective ways to purchase materials. I recall reading about Saltex some ten years ago, and looked into the feasibility of attending - the total cost would have been in the region of £500 - how was a lowly assistant groundsman going to afford to attend? It soon dawned on me that if I, or ‘we’, couldn’t afford to attend such events, the obvious way forward was to bring ‘the industry’ to the island... a pretty big ask, and one that I was told, repeatedly, would never happen - comments like that just served to reinforce my will.
So, once this big plan was established,
reality hit home. “How on earth do I do this?” It was too late to back out by then,
so I simply had to find a way to make it work. First port of call was to stick my head above the parapet, get people’s attention and make the wider industry realise that there were actually groundsmen and greenkeepers on the Isle of Man, and a fair few of us at that. From there, many contacts have been made over the years, some good, some great, and some not so great. In February 2011, I attended a Dennis/Sisis Cricket seminar at Uxbridge Cricket Club. This was the first time that I had ever attended anything off the island, and I was hooked. At that seminar, I was fortunate enough to meet, and strike up a good relationship with Roger Moore from Dennis/Sisis, and I already had an established relationship with their sales manager, Toby Clarke. In the autumn of 2011, Roger and I discussed the possibility of running a seminar, but being only too aware of how difficult it was going to be, we found ourselves struggling to get things going.
A long held dream of mine was teetering on the edge of failure - Roger, as always, remained upbeat and ambitious, but I found myself questioning whether we could pull it off. A short while later, Toby made contact and visited the island. I spent a good couple of days with Toby, and I think it was over those two days (and several pints!!) that we both decided that it warranted another shot. At a similar time, I was invited to Christmas lunch by one of our suppliers. At this lunch, I was introduced to Peter Craig, the Grounds Manager at the Hurlingham Club. I knew of Peter, and knew that he was a highly respected figure in the industry, but I had never met him personally. By chance (or habit!), we both found ourselves located at the bar, and a brief conversation ensued. Peter and I seemed to hit it off, and he seemed genuinely interested in the vagaries of island life. When it was time to leave, Peter pulled me to one side and suggested that, if there was ever anything that he could do to help the island, he APRIL/MAY 2012 PC 33
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 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156