Industry
would do everything that he could for us. I returned home reinvigorated and with my commitment back. Things then seemed to take off at a furious pace, with plans being put in place for a seminar. Due to the limited size of the island, we found that it wasn’t viable to run a seminar with a specific sport in mind, especially for the sponsors, so we agreed that we would run over two days, with bowls on the first day, and a more general Turf Care show on the second. Two venues were identified, key people were approached, including Mike Caley from Isle of Man farmers. With Mike now onboard, things seemed to become even more realistic.
Now came one of the hardest parts. Dennis/Sisis had placed an awful lot of faith in me to put the groundwork in, with them investing a lot of time and money from their side of the fence, but now it was time to draw up a shortlist of speakers. As I mentioned earlier, I am
lucky to have some very good contacts, but also some who I
simply couldn’t trust, so selecting the right people was a task in itself. Trying to establish contacts from afar is far from easy but, over the years, I have managed to weed out some of the less trustworthy folk. It is difficult to establish what someone’s motives are when communication is limited to email and phone calls - one wrong move here and my dream would be in tatters. I could never forgive myself if I introduced someone to the island whose motives were questionable. Fortunately, I did have a number of people that I could call on who I do trust, people like Keith Kent, Peter Craig, Ian Mather Brewster etc. Before long, we had a list of speakers. In addition to the three aforementioned, we also had, Laurence Gale, Matt Williams, Dave Bracey, James Whittik, John Robinson and Ian Courage. This is where Roger Moore and Alison Pickering from Dennis/Sisis really came into their own. Both took up the reigns and did a wonderful job of
organising everything. All that was left for me to do was to promote the event
as best as I could on the island. Countless phone calls and visits to anyone and everyone later, and we had a list of forty- five attendees for the bowls day, and seventy for the Turf Care day. Given the difficulty of running such events on the island, I was astounded to have such a figure.
So, to fast forward to Sunday, March 18th, and Toby Clarke, along with his willing team of demonstrators, and a trailer that was stacked higher than it was long with machinery, arrived on the island. Yet more machinery was being sourced from all over the island, with a particular mention to Clive Patterson, from Peel Golf Club, who was kind enough to lend us his Sisis Aer-aid along with several other machines, and with Mike Caley working wonders on the logistics of moving machinery to the venues, everything was coming together. Both venues were set out, catering sourced... it was now just a case of dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. Come Tuesday morning, it was over to Dave Bracey... what a wonderful character. Dave’s bowls presentation proved to be extremely informative and stimulating. Dave carried out two sessions, covering a myriad of topics in great depth, and Ben and Andy from Dennis/Sisis proceeded with a fantastic demonstration. Being the designated taxi driver for the week, I had to nip out at lunchtime to collect Ian Mather-Brewster from the airport. I had Pitchcare’s editor, Laurence Gale, with me when I collected Ian. How nice it was to have them both in my car laughing and joking without a care in the world. Back to the seminar. With Dave in full flow, it turned into a day to remember. The feedback from the day was particularly pleasing, and I firmly believe that it will be of great benefit to all of those who were present. Next stop, Ballafletcher Sports Club - a fantastic facility in its own right, which was further enhanced by the team setting out the venue for Wednesday’s seminar. The day started at 9.00am, all of the speakers were fantastic, but I would like to make a special mention to Keith Kent and Peter Craig. This was the second time that I have heard Keith speak, and it just doesn’t get any better. As for Peter, a fascinating insight into his career path that will hopefully stick in the minds of those present, particularly the younger attendees, as it shows what can be achieved with the right mindset. I also have to add that Peter actually took time
Image captions, top to bottom: Dave Bracey, Keith Kent, Peter Craig. Dennis presentation and Sisis demonstration
34 PC APRIL/MAY 2012
“The feedback from the day was particularly pleasing, and I firmly believe that it will be of great benefit to all of those who were present”
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