Millfield gets the MM treatment

In 1939 Millfield School, Somerset became one of the first independent co-educational schools in the UK and shortly after the first to teach dyslexic pupils. Today, the school continues to gain widespread recognition for both academic success and an outstanding array of extracurricular activities. It proudly holds the reputation of the best sporting school in the country.

“I can’t think of a sport that we don’t have here,” says Craig Richardson, head of grounds and gardens at the shool since 2016.

Maintenance regimes for all surfaces and gardens across the three school sites are set by Craig and his team. They use a wide range of suppliers to identify only the best equipment and materials. One such supplier is MM Sports Seed.

Craig uses MM10 on the School’s golf greens which offers good, dense putting surfaces; MM50 - a hard-wearing ryegrass mix which is ideal for cricket squares and outfields; Action Replay (from the Designer range) for winter pitches and MM60 – which Craig reserves for the main pitches.

“I solely use MM60 on what I class as my premium pitches,” he says. “These are the pitches where we have installed drainage and irrigation and carry out annual fraise mow renovations, these include our first team pitches for football and rugby.”

MM60 is renowned for producing an excellent playing surface. It is a 100% ryegrass formula which is perfect for renovation and divot repair, has a high disease resistance, fantastic aesthetic qualities and offers extremely fast germination – which is boosted by the inclusion of Headstart GOLD®.

“It’s important that the first team pitches get the MM60 treatment,” adds Craig. “The mixtures are clean, they give me peace of mind, you know what they are going to do, and they perform. Ultimately, I always get good results from the seed.”