On the 14th October at Conwy bowls club, we held the 5th in the series of the green keeper coffee mornings, this
one centred on aeration.
The morning was sponsored by Sisis/Dennis represented by Ben Lloyd with the local dealer Major Owen represented by Glyn Hughes.
15 bowls clubs were represented on the day from across North Wales, which is truly a fantastic and it makes these coffee mornings worth while. We even had a brew boy in the shape of Dave ‘Macky’ Matthias from Beaumaris…but he needs more practice, as he just made one for himself!
Gareth Tibbs welcomed and thanked everyone for their attendance and support. He opened the morning by stressing the importance of good aeration in turf management and without it, successful turf management is impossible.
On show we had the Dennis FT510 chassis with the mower cassette, TT verti-cut cassette and perhaps the best demonstration was that of the sorrel roller cassette and just what its true worth is, in allowing both the air to circulate and for any water to start to percolate, by keeping the green surface open.
Glyn was on hand to show how to correctly set up the cutting cylinder and he touched a little on back lapping. (more on this in the future coffee mornings)
Ben demonstrated the Sisis auto turfman with an assortment of tines and the way that the drum can vertically insert the tines whilst leaving very little surface disruption.
Next to demonstrated was the very impressive Sisis dart machine, this punch action aerator, complete with the very under rated chisel-tine option.
Between them, the three machines highlighted how the different aeration practices can combine together in maintaining fine turf.
At these coffee mornings, it’s great to see everyone interacting and discussing various topics and experiences. This is how we all benefit and how we help each other going forward.
Thanks to Ian ‘eventually’ Pugh and Conwy bowls club for hosting.
The next coffee morning will be on basic mower set up and maintenance aligned with wetting agents and nutrients. Time, date & venue TBC.