NEWS Dave Harvey RIP We remember Dave Harvey - our colleague and friend
puzzle of commitments. Even if it meant he personally needed to set out in the small hours of the morning, to get to a customer with serious disease problems on his greens, Dave was there. He always did so with a 'can do' attitude, humour and a cheerful outlook. He was, without doubt, the key player in establishing ALS Contract Services' reputation as a reliable and quality service provider and was highly respected by some of the very best turf managers in the country.
To the very many friends and colleagues of Dave Harvey and, especially, to Jan his wife and his family - Dave's sad passing is a huge loss.
Dave was loved by literally hundreds of greenkeepers, groundsmen, suppliers and work colleagues - who all regarded him both as a friend and as an exceptional organiser and manager. His ability to keep all the balls in the air as a contracts manager and pull rabbits from hats - against all odds - is legendary. No matter how big the obstacles, Dave somehow managed to deliver.
At the very busiest times of year with a full diary of contract bookings, bad weather, a stolen or broken down piece of key equipment, an operator off work ill - all these things would throw all plans to the wind, but somehow Dave coped with it, making sure customers were not let down and reorganising the whole jigsaw
Stephen Campbell RIP
Tributes have been paid to Stephen Campbell - Appleby Golf Club’s head greenkeeper for forty years - who has died aged 65.
Described as a joker and family man who lived life to the full, Stephen, of Bongate, Appleby, with his wife Vivien and was known to friends as Steve, was always a “people person” who got on with everyone.
Paying tribute, Appleby Golf Club president Ray Cousin said: “Steve began his career with the greens staff in March 1981, and for most of the last 40 years has been head greenkeeper.”
“Throughout the years he has produced a course that is loved by all that play it. The quality of the putting surfaces tended to by him are held in the highest regard and his course presentation has been exemplary.”
“Steve will be sadly missed, not only as a fine greenkeeper but as a valued friend to all that knew him at the club. His legacy will live on for generations to come.”
8 PC April/May 2021
Dave started out with ALS in January 1988 following a few years working for Hodges & Moss, mostly contract spraying agricultural crops with some amenity spraying thrown in. His background as a farm worker meant he was adaptable and multi-skilled, was prepared to work whenever needed and he understood how to work with the weather. As the founding workforce of just two staff at ALS Contracts, he quickly adapted to taking on the role of organiser and manager, despite his initial doubts in his own ability to take on that role. He needn’t have worried! It was not long before more staff joined and Dave was key in selecting and motivating the right people for the job. He was good at recruiting staff who were self-motivated, self-reliant and with the right skills. He was also a prime mover in expanding the contracts operation from the highly seasonal spraying activities into groundwork machinery, which extended the working season making the whole operation viable.
Dave rarely took holidays as most people do. He devoted his holiday leave to days off (out of season), to live his passion for training his gun dogs and beating and shooting - all of which were shared by his wife Jan. It is very sad that he did not make retirement to enjoy these interests.
Dave was a great character who will be sadly missed by his colleagues at work, by possibly hundreds of customers who regarded him as a friend but most of all by Jan his wife and long- term assistant in the contracts department. All of us will miss Dave and extend our sincere condolences to Jan and his family at this time.
It is with much sadness that we report the passing of Bill Clutterbuck, a highly respected member of the cricket groundsmen community.
In his early years, Bill was an accomplished cricketer, before moving into coaching, qualifying alongside such notables as Micky Stewart and Graham Monkhouse. He was widely regarded for mentoring a young Matthew Maynard.
Pitchcare’s former Operations Director John Richards said; “In recent decades, Bill was a much-valued member of the Pitchcare family, from when he began as an instructor on our training courses to his subsequent inciteful and humorous contributions on this forum. I attended one of his cricket maintenance courses, about fifteen years ago now, and he loved nothing better than to pass on his knowledge and ideas to anyone who wanted to learn. He was a natural, with a lovely manner, which is why he was so highly respected. Our thoughts are with his family.”
As well as his involvement with Pitchcare, he was the head groundsman at Guildford Cricket Club’s Woodbridge Road Ground, which hosted Surrey County Cricket Club's Guildford Festival every year which, much to Bill’s delight, was later paired with the Guildford Beer Festival.
Head Groundsman at The Kia Oval, Lee Fortis, commented; “Bill was a very knowledgeable man and extremely well respected among the first-class groundsmen across the country. He gave a great deal to Surrey CCC, preparing numerous top-quality pitches for games at Woodbridge Road and winning a series of awards in the process.”
“On behalf of everyone at the club, I would like to pass on our condolences to his family, friends and those in the Surrey cricket network who knew him.”
Like all the best groundsmen, he was unhappy to see players not give his pitches the appropriate respect, resulting in a variable relationship with his club that reached its nadir when he parked the heavy roller on the square to ensure a match did not take place, an incident which made front page news in The Times and was dubbed 'Rollergate'. It was a story that Bill very much enjoyed recounting with his inimitable humour.
Bill is survived by his wife Sue, two children and four grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them.
Bill Clutterbuck 1947-2021
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