Bernhard and Company and Rugby School: The Preservation of Sporting Legacy
Rugby School in Warwickshire, one of the most revered public schools in the country, has taken the decision to re-lay its hallowed turf almost 200 years after the inception of the sport rugby on its grounds.
As the demands of modern turf maintenance continue to evolve, the school has determined it the right time to resurface its main playing field, ‘The Close’ to make way for a sand-based pitch that will feature an all-new irrigation system. The new pitch will be more weather-resistant and allow the grounds team to maintain the surfaces to the highest possible standards in all conditions.
In addition to its longstanding relationship with Bernhard and Company, Rugby School is also a customer, benefitting from its own pair of grinding machines. A key element to the development of the new turf will be ensuring that the grass is cut with perfectly sharp mower blades. With an Express Dual 400 and Anglemaster 400 in the workshop, the grounds team at the school will be able to limit damage to the new grass blades and promote superior turf health.
Commenting on the project, Grounds Manager at Rugby School, James Mead, said: “This is a huge project that has been in the pipeline for around five years. We started to see that the extremes of weather we were facing were having a detrimental effect on the pitch, and the performance wasn’t quite where we wanted it.
“Working with Bernhard and Company is a great combination for us. Both our mindsets are towards the delivery and maintenance of high-quality performance turf. We’ve never looked back since introducing our Bernhard grinding machines, and they will be crucial for us throughout the course of this project,” he added.
Mark Taylor, Head Mechanic at Rugby School commented: “I find both of the machines we have in our workshop extremely useful and simple to operate. The quality of finish that we are able to achieve on our mower blades with the Bernhard grinding machines is absolutely spot on.”
Check out this video that takes a deep dive into this exciting project.
