Over 100 ground staff were in attendance at Emirates Riverside on Wednesday as the Dennis and SISIS 2020 Groundcare Seminar took place, with an aim to educate and inspire ground staff from around the country.
A wide range of volunteers and professionals representing schools, sports clubs, local authorities and contractors came to the Emirates Riverside as a variety of guest speakers spoke about their experience within ground care.
Durham Cricket, Head Groundsman Vic Demain opened the event and welcomed all to Emirates Riverside.
Guest speakers included Durham Director of Cricket, Marcus North who spoke about cricket pitches on different continents, Dr Iain James on offering invaluable advice in the construction and maintenance of a cricket pitch.
Ian Powell from the Institute of Groundsmanship’s provided a number of helpful tips in principles of decision making for pre-season preparations.
Demain hosted a question and answer session with industry experts including, Keith Kent (Head Pitch Advisor to Rugby Groundsmen Connected), Karl McDermott (MCC, Lord’s), Sean Williams (Gloucestershire CCC), Jim Dawson (Head Groundsman, Murrayfield RFU Stadium) and Gordon Gill (Bath Cricket Club).
Barry Glynn a volunteer groundsman spoke after lunch on the frustrations of being a groundsman with Former Head groundsman for the RFU Keith Kent concluding the day drawing his wealth of experience as a groundsman. Kent looked in to winter sports pitches to cricket outfields and what ground staff must do to prepare for this.
Following a busy day, all those in attendance had the opportunity to network with event sponsors and gain more advice, these included Limagrain UK, Boughton Loam, Thomas Sherriff, Stuart Canvas, Fleet Line Markers, Cricket World, SIS Pitches, Poweroll, Facility and Sports Club Development and Headland Amenity.
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