November was a busy month for visits by current and potential customers to Ransomes Jacobsen, the Ipswich-based turf maintenance equipment manufacturer. 

A delegation of eight turf facility managers from Sri Lanka, hosted by Andrew Clarke of the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG), visited Ransomes Jacobsen’s European headquarters as part of a fact finding and study tour to the UK. The majority of the delegates were from Sri Lanka’s uniformed services as they are the principle providers of sports facilities in the country and supply the majority of the workforce.

The Russian delegation who visited Ransomes Jacobsen in November.

Following refreshment on arrival, they were given a presentation which included an overview of the business, its trading territory and an extensive tour of the manufacturing facilities before taking part in a short ride and drive of selected equipment.

Commenting on the visit Andrew Clarke said: “The visit to Ransomes is part of an ongoing relationship between the Sri Lankan government and the IOG. The two week visit by the delegation involved an intensive training and education programme plus visits to various sporting locations sites to provide them with a comprehensive appreciation of managing facilities at a level comparable to here in UK. We are very grateful to the Ransomes people for putting on a superb visit.”

This was closely followed by a visit from a 15 strong delegation of golf greenkeepers, university groundsmen and football stadium managers from Russia, hosted by Ransomes Jacobsen’s distributor for the region, Golf Technology. 

Their visit was part of a packed three-day intinerary that also included visits to the Castle course at St Andrews in Scotland, and Bernhard Grinders in Haverhill.

Running concurrently with the Russian visit was an 11-man party of Irish greenkeepers. Both groups were given a corporate presentation detailing the Ransomes Jacobsen’s global footprint, a tour of the manufacturing facilities and a round of golf on the company’s three-hole golf course.