Renewal for Radley College
World-class sporting facilities are one of the cornerstones of prestigious boys’ school, Radley College in Oxfordshire, so it goes without saying that maintaining impeccable grounds is a must.
After 10 years of successfully using Toro, Radley College has once again renewed its arrangement with Reesink Turfcare to supply Toro fine-turf and groundscare mowers to keep the school’s 228 acres in pristine condition.
Pitches not only need to be playable but immaculate, says Adam King, and that is achieved by using Toro.
“Flexibility is key,” cites head of grounds, Adam King, who has worked at Radley College for 20 years: “This is the second time we have renewed a five-year deal with Toro and this time we’ve opted for a slightly different range of machines. Rather than having a smaller number of larger mowers, we have gone for a wider range of smaller machines. This gives us ultimate flexibility and enables us to work smarter.”
Radley College ordered two of Toro’s Reelmaster 3555-D mowers in its latest order.
Adam’s 19-strong grounds teams are responsible for maintaining the school’s grounds and gardens, 30 hectares of which are pure sport pitches, including rugby pitches, cricket-squares, football pitches, astroturf hockey pitches and tennis courts. Radley College also has a lake and a nine-hole golf course.
Adam continues: “We have 750 boys playing sport five days a week. Whether it’s rugby in winter or cricket in summer, there are seasonal demands on the facilities. Pitches not only need to be playable but immaculate, so in being able to equip the grounds team with the finest machines and deploy them according to the school calendar, we have the ultimate flexibility. We can work sharper and have more options.
Working with Toro is a no brainer. Clearly we have a duty to look at all manufacturers but we continue to return to Toro based on the fact the mowers are reliable, comfortable and easy for the grounds team to use, and they produce an exceptional cut.
Thanks to the latest renewal agreement, the school now has a nine-strong fleet of Toro mowers, which includes two Greensmaster 3150-Q, a Reelmaster 3100-D, a Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, two Reelmaster 3550-D and two compact and lightweight Reelmaster 3555-D mowers.
Radley College’s groundsman Mark Cummings, pictured on the Reelmaster 3555-D, one of the club’s many Toro machines.
“Downtime is not an option,” Adam continues. “We seldom have issues, but our lease agreement has back-up care built into it. If we have a problem, I know I’ll have a mechanic on site the very next day. We’ve never had a machine down for more than a day and that’s very important.
“It’s all about the machines,” Adam concludes. “The finishing, the quality – it’s exemplary. And with the reliability and performance of our grounds machines taken care of, it’s only Mother Nature we have to worry about!”
Radley College groundsman Mark Cummings, right, with Reesink’s Nigel Stacey.