Raising Standards in Zurich

Over 70 delegates from our member companies came together in Zurich recently to discuss the concept of raising standards within the synthetic turf industry and also improvements in the general maintenance of the product.

Ably hosted once again by Robin Russell, the event took place in glorious spring sunshine and involved the presentation of the ESTO ‘Gold Standard’ concept and focussed on working towards a European Quality Mark and regulation and compliance issues.

After group work and a short break members then listened to a most interesting talk from Steve Griffiths from the International Rugby Board on the latest industry development and then the group moved to work together on various activities concerning quality maintenance.

Nigel Fletcher, the ESTO Chairman, then detailed ESTO plans and activities for the remainder of 2011 which amongst many things will include the ESTO Congress in September in the Olympic City, Lausanne, Switzerland and the ESTO Gala Dinner and Awards evening in Cologne, Germany.
An ESTO dinner was held in the evening which offered a valuable opportunity for networking and socialising – an excellent meal in very pleasant surroundings.

The following day saw Geoff Webb, CEO from the Institute of Groundsmanship present an informative talk on introducing new concepts to membership, and the event was brought to conclusion by a well-attended and stimulating discussion, lead by Jon Nash from AMI Plastics, on the business of industry regulation – a topic which generated much interest and at times heated discussion from the membership as the full implication and importance of ESTO’s development plans hit home.

Nigel then brought the event to a close shortly before lunch and the delegates were asked to carefully consider the proposals, and the way forward in time for our upcoming Congress in Lausanne in September. All in all a most enjoyable and informative event.