Conferences & Exhibitions

The annual conference on 6th July 1937 attracted 130 visitors and was very much an international event with speakers from America, (Dr John Monteith from the American Green Section), New Zealand, (Mr Bruce Levy, Director of Research on Greenkeeping) and South Africa, (Mr D Meredith of African Explosives and Industries Ltd).

A party of 37 Americans visited St Ives having attended the 4th International Grassland Congress, held for the first time in Great Britain at Aberystwyth. Unable to make the conference on 6th July they had requested a private visit as part of their extended tour of Great Britain.

A permanent machinery exhibition was established in Bingley in 1937 and officially opened at the Annual Conference on 15th June 1938 by Lt-Col. J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon, M.C.,M.P., President of the English Golf Union. The exhibition was made available to greenkeepers and secretaries attending training courses and to visitors all year round. The station was officially open to visitors every Wednesday without appointment.

Manufacturers were encouraged to send to St Ives new machinery for demonstration purposes or practical use on the trials grounds.

Mechanisation was becoming increasingly important in the upkeep of large turf areas. New machinery was being developed to improve efficiency, speed and economy, at a time when manual labour was declining and wages increasing.

Training

• The first training course for greenkeepers in the science of turf management and maintenance was held in Bingley from 20 – 26th October 1937 and 21 greenkeepers attended. From 1938 5-day courses were held twice annually in spring and autumn. Registration fee for the course was £1.1s.0d which included a certificate of attendance.

• Between November 1938 and March 1939 Institute staff gave four informal lectures to the National Association of Groundsmen at the Horticultural Hall in London S.W.1. The average attendance at each lecture was 70. All members of the Association were later circulated with copies of the four lectures.

Staff & Advisory Work

By 1937 staff at Bingley totalled 23.

In 1938 John Escritt, later to become Director, replaced B.M. Boyns as the Station’s chemist. Since opening in 1929, the advisory service had visited a total of 2,484 clubs and written 22,500 advisory letters. A total of 1,534 golf and sports clubs had benefited from Bingley’s services over this 8 year period.

Books & Publications

In 1939 R.B. Dawson published ‘Practical Lawn Craft’ 300 pages price 15s0d.It was an illustrated volume covering production and maintenance of turf on private lawns, golf courses, bowling greens, all sports grounds, parks, polo grounds, racecourses and aerodromes.

Research

In 1937 the total number of research plots reached 1609.

After 8 years of selection and propagation work the first supplies of Red Fescue bred at St Ives were made available in 1937 for golf clubs. The new variety of grass which emerged from their experiments was later named “Dawson’s Fescue”. The rights to production of the new grass were purchased by a Dutch company now trading as part of Advanta Seeds. The Dutch commemorated the grass on limited edition Delph plates showing a picture of the grass, its name “Dawson, Festuca Rubra var. Trichophylla” and the words “R.B. Dawson, O.B.E., 1903-1969, Great in Grasses”.

War Declared

With the declaration of war on 3rd September 1939 the station was immediately placed on an emergency footing. All activities including staff numbers were scaled down, but work continued throughout the war years with minimum disruption to both experimental and advisory work.

Contributions were made to the Nation’s food supplies, 6 acres of the trial grounds were allocated for growing cereal and root crops and experimental plots that had been discontinued were cultivated with vegetables in line with the station’s war-time effort and in response to the “Dig For Victory” campaign. In addition the walled garden adjoining the trials grounds, (now occupied by the main STRI offices) was given over entirely to crops and a 4 acre field close to the station was planted with potatoes. Much of the labour including potato lifting was carried out by station staff as overtime on a voluntary basis.

In 1940 examples of station produce included:

• 589 lbs peas
• 361 lbs broad beans
• 1093 lbs cabbage
• 709 lbs Brussels sprouts
• 19 tons potatoes
• 598 lbs tomatoes
• 900 lbs carrots

The Institute maintained contact with the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the “plough-up policy” for golf courses and sports grounds. Also the Home Defence Headquarters regarding obstructions on golf courses designed to prevent enemy air landings and the Royal Veterinary College in relation to sheep grazing and lead arsenate. As an Auxiliary Recording Station weather records were maintained as required by the Air Ministry.

Throughout the war years long-term experimental work was maintained and a few new lines of research were initiated including two special war-time demonstrations. One to test the control of sheep on golf courses using electrified fencing, the other producing silage from lawn mowing, to replace imported concentrates no longer available for winter feeding of stock.

The Advisory service continued to provide assistance to golf and sports clubs. This was especially valuable to clubs where their experienced staff were otherwise employed in the armed services or munitions manufacture. Issues included war-time turf policy, ploughing-up policy, sheep grazing, allotments, waste materials for fertilisers, fuel for tractors, destruction of rabbits, potash suppliers, weed control, defending golf courses against enemy air landings, rot-proofing sand bags and sources of information and books dealing with food production.

In 1940, 1,493 advisory letters and reports were despatched: 897 to golf courses, 425 to sports clubs and bowling greens, 171 to private lawns. 251 visits were made: 119 to golf courses, 132 to sports clubs and lawns. 59 visits were in England, 19 in Scotland, 32 in Ireland and 3 in Wales.