Sherriff Amenity recently hosted the first myTurfClub event at Syngenta UK’s Jealott’s Hill Research Centre in Bracknell. myTurfClub is a new initiative from Sherriff Amenity, which aims to help improve the UK turf amenity sector stewardship of pesticide and products. The event was an opportunity to meet other like-minded individuals, share and gain knowledge, learn best practices and enhance education. Every delegate gained 6 BIGGA CPD points by attending.
Following Sherriff Amenity Joseph Dormer’s introduction, Dan Lightfoot (UK and Ireland business manager for Syngenta), provided a fascinating industry update and insight into fungicide planning.
Next up was Rod Burke (Syngenta’s portfolio development manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East), who offered helpful tips in his presentation entitled Pigments – a first look’.
Before lunch, Joseph provided a virtual tour through the online mySherriffAmenity platform.
Lunchtime offered all attendees a hance to network before embarking on a tour of Syngenta’s facilities. Jealott’s Hill is a key site in Syngenta’s global research and development network, and key activities include: research into discovery of new active ingredients, new formulation technologies, product safety, technical support of products and seeds research.
To conclude the event, Joe Kinder (Sherriff Amenity Technical Manager) advised on tank-mixes before Johnny Beck (Sherriff Amenity Amenity Specialist) delivered an insight into trial work and revealing key results.
Attendee Sam Evans, Head Greenkeeper at Fulwell Golf Club in Middlesex, believes an event like this is essential to the future of the industry: “I came along today because I wanted to develop my spray-tech knowledge and have a look around the impressive Syngenta site. There are some exciting products coming out, and it’s good to know that companies like Sherriff Amenity and Syngenta are looking to the future and are passionate about developing products. Events like these are vital for head greenkeepers and course managers. It’s all about enhancing your knowledge and planning for disease prevention because it is so critical in our industry.”
Ben Mills-Reed, Assistant Greenkeeper at Rustington Golf Centre in Sussex, is currently working his way through the mySherriffAcademy modules, and felt that by attending the seminar he gained a greater knowledge of the products he is using on a regular basis: “I attended the event to find out more about the products we use, why we use them and how they are made. It has been really informative. I’m doing the mySherriffAcademy modules at the moment and I’m piecing all the bits together so today has been a big help.”
Commenting on the successful day, event organiser Joseph Dormer said: “We put this event together specifically because there is a need to become more pro-active in our industry. We need to be able to predict what is going to happen and have a plan in place because we are slowly losing all of the fire-fighting products.
“This event is all about giving something back and to not just host an event where everyone is sat there staring at a presentation on a screen. We wanted to create an event which is all about getting the delegates to be a bit more interactive and ultimately try to ensure that everyone leaves here with something – from the assistants all the way up to the course managers.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the turn out today, considering the pressure everyone is under at the moment with the weather. Plus many people are trying to get greens renovations done and get their courses up to scratch for spring.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to Syngenta for hosting the event. I’m planning on partnering up with all of our key suppliers so there will be a number of different subject matters in this myTurfClub series. I’m sure this will be the first of many great events.”
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