Earning his Spurs - Pitchcare
Earning his Spurs - Pitchcare
Earning his Spurs - Pitchcare
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
AERATION<br />
AERATORS<br />
Full range of Groundsman<br />
pedestrian and tractor mounted<br />
models with all accessories<br />
SALES AND HIRE<br />
Contact Synergy Products on<br />
01380 828337<br />
Dave on mobile: 07971 843802<br />
Email: sales@synergyproducts.co.uk<br />
www.synergyproducts.co.uk<br />
ARTIFICIAL<br />
Artificial turf and synthetic grass supply & installation<br />
We offer a full range products and services including:<br />
Synthetic Grass Pitches • Multi Use Games Areas<br />
Tennis court resurfacing and remarking<br />
Synthetic Cricket Wickets • Sports fencing<br />
Sports pitch maintenance services • Ancillary Services<br />
Fencing • Sport Equipment and Supply<br />
Line marking • Maintenance and Repairs<br />
Tel: 0871 288 3425 Email: info@astrosport.co.uk<br />
www.astrosport.co.uk<br />
116<br />
To advertise in t<strong>his</strong> section contact<br />
Classifieds<br />
Peter Britton on 01747 855335<br />
email: peter@pitchcare.com<br />
TERRAIN<br />
Turf and Trees<br />
10” drill aeration<br />
1m air injection<br />
1m soil coring<br />
Air excavation<br />
ARTIFICIAL<br />
��������������������������������������������������<br />
����������������������������������������������������<br />
�������������������������������������<br />
���������������������������������<br />
�������������������������������<br />
����� �����<br />
����������� ���<br />
Why not visit our<br />
on-line Buyers Guide<br />
for direct links to<br />
suppliers websites -<br />
www.pitchcare.com<br />
AERATION<br />
Tel: 01449 673783<br />
www.terrainaeration.com<br />
terrainaeration@aol.com<br />
WORTH<br />
DRAINING<br />
25 years in<br />
sports turf maintenance<br />
Verti-draining<br />
Blec Groundbreaker<br />
Overseeding - Sanding<br />
Top Dressing<br />
Hollow Coring<br />
Tel/Fax 01476 550266<br />
Mobile: 07855 431119/20<br />
email: worthdraining@talktalk.net<br />
www.worthdraining.co.uk<br />
WORTH<br />
DRAINING<br />
25 years in<br />
sports turf maintenance<br />
Artificial sports surfaces<br />
cleaning and maintenance<br />
Tel/Fax 01476 550266<br />
Mobile: 07855 431119/20<br />
email: worthdraining@talktalk.net<br />
www.worthdraining.co.uk<br />
Dowsing<br />
DIVINE<br />
INTERVENTION?<br />
Is there anything behind the ancient art of<br />
dowsing or water divining?<br />
Laurence Gale reports<br />
Arecent message board thread<br />
on the ancient practice of<br />
dowsing - often referred to as<br />
water divining - prompted me to<br />
investigate the subject further. As<br />
you might expect, members’ views<br />
ranged from “divine intervention”<br />
to “a complete load of b......”. Well,<br />
you get the idea!<br />
My first experience of dowsing<br />
came many years ago when a<br />
contractor came to the golf course<br />
I was working on to undertake<br />
some drainage work. He<br />
confidently pulled out a set of<br />
divining rods and proceeded to<br />
map a number of drainage runs.<br />
I also remember a time when,<br />
as an apprentice gardener, we<br />
were planting trees in Kings Heath<br />
Park, Birmingham, when one of<br />
the lecturers came out with a set<br />
of divining rods to indicate where a<br />
water pipe was, so we did not dig it<br />
up or plant a tree on it!<br />
Over the years I have watched<br />
many of our industry colleagues<br />
use divining, or dowsing, rods to<br />
locate drains, ditches, water<br />
sources and electricity cables.<br />
One such colleague is Berwyn<br />
Evans from ALS. I met up with him<br />
at Shifnal Town Football Club<br />
where he was using a set of rods to<br />
map out some defunct drains.<br />
Here, he was attempting to find out<br />
exactly where the drains were, at<br />
what depth, and where they had<br />
stopped working.<br />
Berwyn was introduced to<br />
dowsing over twenty years ago<br />
when a friend helped him locate<br />
some drains in <strong>his</strong> garden. He was<br />
so impressed he began practising<br />
and, over the years, has become<br />
very experienced in interpreting the<br />
signs and movements of <strong>his</strong><br />
divining rods. He can now define<br />
drains, power cables, water pipes,<br />
French drains and old foundations.<br />
The British Society of Dowsers<br />
represent anyone who practices<br />
the art of dowsing and supports its<br />
Code of Ethics. The Society also<br />
maintains a Register of<br />
Professional Dowsers and<br />
approved Tutors.<br />
www.britishdowsers.org<br />
The definition of dowsing is “to<br />
search, with the aid of simple hand<br />
held tools or instruments, for that<br />
which is otherwise hidden from<br />
view or knowledge”. It can be<br />
applied to searches for a great<br />
number of artefacts and entities. It<br />
is most commonly known in<br />
association with searching for<br />
underground water.<br />
What is less readily known is<br />
that dowsing can be also used for<br />
searching for other underground<br />
features such as archaeological<br />
remains, cavities and tunnels, oil,<br />
veins of mineral ore, underground<br />
building services, missing items<br />
and, occasionally, missing persons.<br />
Although no thorough scientific<br />
explanation for dowsing has yet<br />
been found, it is frequently<br />
acknowledged that there is some<br />
correlation between the dowsing<br />
reaction and changes in magnetic<br />
flux when dowsing on site.<br />
We have to rely on illustrations<br />
and the written word for <strong>his</strong>torical<br />
evidence of dowsing. The mosaic<br />
floor in the ancient synagogue at<br />
Bet Alfa in Israel’s Jezreel Valley<br />
appears to be the earliest<br />
evidence, whilst many references<br />
to dowsing occur during the<br />
seventeenth century, including<br />
reports of one Jacques Aymar who,<br />
starting as a successful water<br />
dowser found, in the 1690s, that<br />
he could also usefully employ <strong>his</strong><br />
gift in searching for missing<br />
persons.<br />
By the beginning of the<br />
eighteenth century it is clear that<br />
enquirers into the modus operandi<br />
of dowsing were divided into two<br />
camps; those who believed that<br />
the dowsing reaction was the result<br />
of a physical influence, against<br />
those who lent support to the idea<br />
of it arising from a mental cause.<br />
T<strong>his</strong> controversy remains with us<br />
today and it is possible that both<br />
may be correct.<br />
During the nineteenth and<br />
twentieth centuries dowsing for