The TGA staged its biennial turf show on Wednesday 27th June. It was hosted by County Turf at one of its turf farms in North Lincolnshire and was a resounding success. The well laid out and compact site enabled harvesting and forklift demonstrations to be carried out in the centre of the show for everyone to see. Exhibitors’ stands were arranged in a horseshoe around the central arena and a diverse range of companies also displayed stands and products in the marquee. Mowing demonstrations took place in an adjacent field after a lunchtime shower which interrupted an otherwise dry day.

Despite travel problems and road closures due to local flooding, the turnout for the event was superb. In addition to the many UK visitors, the TGA was pleased to welcome guests from as far away as the Czech Republic, Sicily and Scandinavia to the show. It was also delighted to welcome Kirk Hunter, Executive Director of Turfgrass Producers International to the UK. He spent a few days with member growers and the TGA council before exhibiting at the show, taking valuable information on UK turf production back to share with his colleagues in the States.

That evening, more than 140 guests attended the turf show dinner in the impressive new banqueting suite at the Forest Pines Golf & Country Club Hotel. The event was sponsored by Barenbrug UK who welcomed guests with a tropical ‘Bar Mix’ cocktail before they were seated for a superb four course meal.

Before dinner was served, the TGA’s new Chairman Robert Adcock thanked host Andy Fraser for the work he and his team at County Turf had put into preparing the site and the TGA turf show committee for putting the whole event together. He also thanked the many exhibitor companies for their support and extended the association’s gratitude to British Seed Houses, Moffett, Trebro, Leijenaar, Trilo, Fieldens, Turfmech and The Landscaper magazine for their generous sponsorship of the show and to Barenbrug who added great style to the evenings proceedings as dinner sponsors.

The show raised more than £10,000 for the TGA’s research and development fund which is a fantastic achievement. Details of how this will be spent will be available to members and affiliates in due course.