tree forks Scotland - Arb' Association talks..or lack there of..

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi all, thanks for your contributions throughout this thread and I sincerely hope enough interest can be committed to make delivering the course viable  (a figure of 20 delegates comes to mind but I stand to be corrected by my colleagues at Head Office.)

Respectfully, the last time I delivered an ARB Approved Contractor 'Preparation Workshop', albeit at the RHS next to Edinburgh airport, I had only 1 delegate, perhaps it was the me factor, perhaps it was the course, perhaps it was the location...perhaps a combination of all those things. To be fair, the previous day I delivered a BS3998 seminar and we had circa 15 people attended that. The upshot is we're just never sure what events will or will not prove successful and I applaud the initiative here in getting this off the ground...hopefully.

 

Best,

Paul

 

PS I will feedback to Head Office your comments and concerns and I would urge you all to get behind your respective AA Branches and initiatives such as this. Thank you.

 

[daltontrees]

Paul, as you probably know the AA has just published its "Arboricultural Association Training courses and events for 2018" calendar.

 

There are NO events proposed in  Scotland this year.

 

This sort of thing doesn't go unnoticed by people up here. I'm afraid it does add to the sense of wondering if it is worth joining or remaining in the AA. The AA is generally anglocentric anyway. As an aside, I am reminded of the time that I pointed out to the AA that one of its website pages (TPOs and Conservation Areas) needed to be changed to point out that it was only correct for England and that there were differences in law in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The pages got changed, for sure. By adding something like 'this page does not apply to Scotland'. Hmmm...

 

If the AA wants to carry Scotland with it, perhaps it should consider subsidising a couple of events that it feels will not be self-supporting?

[daltontrees]

I meant to add, 'or collaborate with other organisations to run joint events' 

[Andymacp]

That would be nearly two years in a row without a single course in Scotland, absolute joke.

[Andymacp]

Hi all, thanks for your contributions throughout this thread and I sincerely hope enough interest can be committed to make delivering the course viable  (a figure of 20 delegates comes to mind but I stand to be corrected by my colleagues at Head Office.)
Respectfully, the last time I delivered an ARB Approved Contractor 'Preparation Workshop', albeit at the RHS next to Edinburgh airport, I had only 1 delegate, perhaps it was the me factor, perhaps it was the course, perhaps it was the location...perhaps a combination of all those things. To be fair, the previous day I delivered a BS3998 seminar and we had circa 15 people attended that. The upshot is we're just never sure what events will or will not prove successful and I applaud the initiative here in getting this off the ground...hopefully.
 
Best,
Paul
 
PS I will feedback to Head Office your comments and concerns and I would urge you all to get behind your respective AA Branches and initiatives such as this. Thank you.
 

I feel this to be a serious cop out statement. A course to encourage people to join the assosiation that clearly doesn’t care for its Scottish members isn’t going to be well attended.
I think there needs to be proper response and a commitment to run some proper courses.

[Gary Prentice]

5 minutes ago, Andymacp said:

That would be nearly two years in a row without a single course in Scotland, absolute joke.

There was a good one in StIrling run by the Scottish Branch, I believe, in September. 

[Andymacp]

There was a good one in StIrling run by the Scottish Branch, I believe, in September. 

Ah cock, I’ll get back in my box

[jfc]

The course in stirling was fully booked up. I wanted to go but was too late. So there is demand up here! Duncan slaters talk in the botanics last year was very well attended too.

[Gary Prentice]

Shame you missed out on it.

 

But generally I'd agree with the sentiments of this thread. Scotland and the north do seem to get the rough end of the stick (similar topics currently going on on the UKTC forum)

 

looking at the AAs email today. At next years CPD events, there's nothing I'd like to attend at Myerscough or further north 

[Gary Prentice]

19 minutes ago, jfc said:

The course in stirling was fully booked up. I wanted to go but was too late. So there is demand up here! Duncan slaters talk in the botanics last year was very well attended too.

Full of southerners well, me from Manchester, a Planner from Hackney, London & a fellow from Durham. 

 

Sorry for for taking places from locals but it was worth going to. I think Chris who ran it would do it again if there was interest, we discussed other subjects for training events. 

 

Pm me if you'd like his email