The Official Magazine of the GCSAIl www.gcsai.org l April 2014 GREENSIDE Greenkeeping Training in Ireland feature: Trinty College Dublin Also in This Issue: l The Irish Abroad l Croke Park Education Day Review l Trade News l Protecting Yourself Against Sunburn l New1 Pesticide Legislationgreenside l Regional magazine |Reports December 2010 Trusted by the best courses on earth. Lahinch, Ireland There’s a reason why the best courses trust in John Deere: our mowers deliver unmatched cut quality, creating an ideal playing surface on tees, greens, fairways and roughs. See for yourself. Contact your dealer for a demonstration. John Deere Golf: Trusted by the best courses on Earth – Video on www.johndeere.co.uk/bestcourses/ Freephone 1800 818 667 OFFICIAL GOLF COURSE www.gcsai.orgEQUIPMENT SUPPLIER 2 JohnDeere.com C6003.1 EIE_LET_PGA C_6003_1_LET_PGA_ENGIE_220x307.indd 1 21.06.13 18:20 Greenside From the Editor Contents Education Day Review 8 Kindness in Adversity The Vocation that is Greenkeeping 12 Last February I was indirectly involved with the commemoration of a local tragic event that Registration and Training - happened one hundred years earlier. Pesticide Directive Guidance 14 he commemoration was about the loss Greenkeeping Training in Ireland 16 Tof nine lifeboat volunteers from the ‘Helen The Irish Abroad 22 Blake’ lifeboat as they were attempting to rescue ten Feature - Trinty College Dublin 28 men from the Norwegian schooner ‘Mexico’, which Regional Round-up 34 ran aground in storms onto a small island off the south Wexford coast. Sun Protection in the Workplace 44 Five of the fourteen man lifeboat crew survived by Trade News 50 swimming onto the island. What makes the event remarkable is how the men endured three long days and nights without food or water in such adverse weather conditions and of the many rescue attempts that were made by the three lifeboats involved in bringing them back to the mainland. Huge acts of bravery were made by the lifeboat volunteers, risking their lives to help others, most of whom they had never met before. That story of a century ago strangely reminded me of the present time. Back in the early 2000’s leading up to 2008, Ireland was awash with money. Everyone seemed happy and had what they wanted and more. The tragic collapse of the Irish banking system effected everyone, particularly in the greenkeeping industry as golf clubs bore the brunt of the collapse. Many people suddenly found themselves in massive debts. It is as if they were flung into the turbulent seas of misery and poverty. It was a recipe for total anarchy on the streets with strikes and riots possible. But that did not happen, instead, the Irish people swallowed the bitter pill of austerity and started helping each other to try and survive the stormy seas of economic woes. It was as if material things did not really matter anymore and that acts of kindness and a sense of looking after one another were more important. It seems that somehow, as human beings, we tend to be at our best when faced with adversity. If we ever get back to a healthy economy, I do hope that we do not lose this. Front cover: National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin Photo: Alan Mahon Editor: Alan Mahon Tel: 053 9158606 | Email: [email protected] Greenside designed by: S DESIGN www.sdesign-belfast.com The deadline for receiving advertising and editorial for The views expressed in contributed the next issue of Greenside is: articles are not necessarily the views expressed by the editor of this publication. 25 June 2014 Back issues of Greenside Editorial content and photographs can now be seen on the cannot be reproduced without prior GCSAI website: permission from the editor. www.gcsai.org 3 greenside magazine | April 2014 Dates for Your Diary Dates for your Diary Kildalton College Open Days 4th ETS CONFERENCE - Osnabrueck - Friday 4 April and Tuesday 8 May 2014 City of Peace - Germany | 6 July 2014 Kildalton College is hosting an open day on the 4th of April Every two years, the European Turfgrass Society (ETS) runs its and a horticultural open day on the 8th of May 2014. For scientific turfgrass conference in one of its member countries. further information contact the college directly at: Following Italy, France and Norway, Germany has been chosen 051 644400. to host the event in 2014. The University of Applied Sciences, Osnabrueck is going to arrange the conference from 6th – 9th July 2014. For more information visit www.ets-conference-2014.eu GCSAI AGM Thursday 10 April 2014 GLAS 2014 The Annual General Meeting of the GCSAI 24 July 2014 will take place in Westmanstown Golf Club on Thurs. April 10th at 7:00pm. All members are encouraged to attend. This takes place on 24 July in Dublin Citywest which is now firmly established in the horticulture trade calendar as the event that means business. Supported by Bord Bia, GLAS offers a unique marketing and networking opportunity to Ireland’s horticulture, sportsturf and related industries. Along with its core focus on amenity horticulture for the retail and landscaping sectors, the scope of the event continues last year’s expansion to forestry, greenkeeping and sportsturf. In association with the Irish Institute of Sports Surfaces, the Sportsturf Village & Machinery Park will be a highlight of the event. For more information contact Mark Ryan on: 01 2947765 / 086 8211880 or email him at [email protected] Irish Open 19 - 22 June 2014 Presidents Cup Friday 26 September 2014 After a gap of twelve years, this year’s Irish Open Golf Championship takes While Europe and the USA will be battling it place at the beautiful Fota Island Golf out in Gleneagles for the Ryder Cup, the four Resort in Co. Cork from June 19th Irish regions will be doing the same for the – 22nd. All the top Irish professional 2014 Presidents Cup. This will take place on golfers, along with Europes finest will Friday 26th September at Galway Bay Golf compete for the top prize as well as Resort. Support your region by taking part in trying to earn valuable Ryder Cup points their next golf outings and try and earn your to be included on Paul McGinley’s team. place on this sought after event. FOR SALE Poa Greens Sod For more details contact: Mark Harris of Harris Turf Improvements Mobile: 087 2540166 Email: [email protected] www.gcsai.org 4 President’s Report by Michael McFeely Westmanstown Golf & Sports Club Dear Member, As you read this article we are already well into 2014 and I feel that the GCSAI can start the year on a positive note - the reason being, you the members. In the last issue of Greenside we were promoting our Education Day in Croke Park. We were all hoping and praying that there would be a good turn out as one can never know what the numbers will be until the day itself. We had an almost packed room with over one hundred and eighty people attending. I felt it was a genuine and worthwhile education experience for all those present. We had agreed that we would hold a similar education event in Westmanstown Golf & Sports Centre in January to be followed by another day in Lee Valley Golf Club in February. We wanted to focus again on education by providing speakers and topics that are relevant and of interest. It is great to report that these two events went down really well. These, and the Croke Park Education Day, were entirely planned, managed and carried out by the GCSAI for you, our members. We could not have managed this without the assistance of our sponsors. It is events like these that give the opportunity to network and to meet former workmates and friends. It is that time of year again when we should renew our GCSAI membership. New members are always welcome. Once again we will be putting time and effort into contacting lapsed members over the coming weeks because every member is important to us. Finally, I want to thank our Education Partners for supporting our recent activities and our GCSAI Trade Members for their commitment past and present. 5 greenside magazine | April 2014 News Fota Island Resort to Host 2014 Irish Open Multi Million Pound The 2014 Irish Open will return to Cork for the first time in 12 years after confirmation that the magnificent Funding Agreement Fota Island Resort, which was recently purchased by Chinese investors The Kang Group Worldwide, will Approved for Casement become an Official Sponsor as well as host venue of the Championship. Park Redevelopment Northern Ireland’s Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has approved funding with the GAA for over £62million for the redevelopment of Casement Park in West Belfast. This will allow the GAA to appoint their main contractor for the redevelopment of Casement Park. he Irish Open was last played in in 2002 when Denmark’s Søren Hansen took the title at FotaIsland. The Resort also hosted the Championship in 2001, Twhen Colin Montgomerie won the last of his three Irish Opens. The presence of The European Tour’s new generation of stars, led by Rory McIlroy, will deliver a significant boost to the region, and the World Number Six and double Major Champion is looking forward to the challenge of Fota Island’s Deerpark Course from June 19-22. Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar described the Irish Open as ‘a pivotal event for sport and tourism in Ireland’. “Golf is one of Ireland’s most important tourist activities. Around 160,000 overseas visitors take part in golf during their visit to Ireland every year, contributing €202 million to the economy.