History Repeats Itself
Steve Lawson has worked as a Groundsman for Thurrock Borough Council since 1972, and has seen plenty of mowers come and go. But his firm favourite is the Dennis FT610, which he now uses to maintain two bowling greens and a cricket pitch at South Ockendon and Orsett.
Steve had one of the first of this popular model ever built in 1992, and it is still in the fleet as his back up mower, 20 years on. “In my opinion, Dennis mowers are a simple design and superbly built to stand the test of time. When it came to choosing a new mower last year, I chose another Dennis FT610, it was the only one to consider,” he says.
The FT610 has a cut width of 610mm (24in), and is powered by a proven Honda Q9 low noise, low vibration engine.
It is used every day by Steve in preparing the pitch and greens, and throughout the season itself, as it is more than just a grass cutting machine. Dennis’s FT range can be fitted with eleven different cassettes to perform a wide variety of maintenance tasks.
Steve has a Sorrel roller, slitter, verticutter to choose from alongside the cutting cylinder. “The FT610 is always busy with one maintenance task or another, and the cassettes are simplicity itself to swap round,” he comments. “They are as hard wearing as the mower – I’ve still got the original ones for the older machine!”
Working on different types of playing surface, and preparing them for the season, Steve uses a variety of cutting heights, for example working from 10mm down to 5mm on the bowling green and he points out that the new click height adjustment, which offers 0.5mm increments, makes the frequent changes much easier.
Exceptional quality of cut is another big plus. “I always get compliments from visiting teams,” says Steve, “For bowls in particular presentation is everything and the FT610 stripes the green beautifully.”
He has found the mower easy to maintain, with good access to regular service points such as grease nipples. Parts are sourced by the local authority workshops, but Steve comments that he rarely has to call on them. “I change the bottom blade at the start of the season and then it lasts all year.”
The mower is transported between sites on the back of a tipper lorry and has proved to be easy to manoeuvre and handle.
“Dennis really do make sturdy mowers, which they have to be to withstand the local authority workload – they do get some hammer,” Steve says. “If a machine can last 20 years in this job, it has done well!”
“I really can’t praise the Dennis mowers enough,” he concludes. “My wife jokes that I think more of the FT610 than I do of her!”