Andy Collins

I agree to an extent with Ty on the sales pitch. You see an opportunity and take it. Not take the mick, not rip them off. For example, the other day I had to remove a Philadelphus, which was about an hours work. Can't charge OTT for that. Then they wanted another tree planted, the topsoil put into the existing hole levelled and seeded, which was the gardeners domain. But the gardener had to go onto another job. So I txt the client and asked if they minded if I cracked on with it while I was there? My rate was three times that of the gardener, but they were happy to get it sorted out while the weather is fine, the lawn is clean and tidy, holes filled and tree is planted. These are professional people who appreciate a professional service, but a professional service needs selling, it doesn't just happen.

I think we are all the same deep down, though I'm sure Tony will choke on his Rice Krispies to read that! We all have a passion for our work, and trees in particular. Ok Tony has his little moments, but we basically do share the same intolerances too. We can't stand to see waste of our hard earned taxes, much as we grudge paying them, there is nothing worse than seeing it wasted on spongers, illegals, prisoners or handed out to supported a lost cause. We generally have to work very hard for our money, we have a limited expectancy for how long we'll be profitable to our client/employers until the sharp young climber comes along to replace us. tony mentioned turning 40 as being a bit of a milestone, believe me every year there after is a milestone, and nothing short of a miracle . I know I mention my recovery, but to me it's quite a big achievement, I've proved my surgeon wrong, that I won't be able to do my job any more, and I hope that mentioning it here and there on the forum gives encouragement to others to fight their corner when it gets a bit tough, which it will. Today is the first time since last year I've done 3 hard working days on the trot, if I hadn't got hospital tomorrow I'd have tried for four or even the full week. But that will come. Others have their own personal battles, financial, medical, emotional, drink or drugs, they're all tough to deal with. Enough of my ramblings for now.

Well, I can't speak for your area, all my work comes down through a Land Agency, which means its right down to financial management, no mates. What I have seen, is that the keepers have influence on who is working the woods, and it pays to work with the keeper rather than antagonise him, find out the local issues with the woodland. I've found this very true when I work out of area, when I've been onto Earsham and Holkham estates for example.

Tony, I could throw this whole thing back at you, but you'd claim that we're all against you. In you're opening post in this thread, and indeed many of the threads you're involved in, you ask for others opinions. Then when others show and hold onto an opinion that differs to your own, you shout that they don't understand, that they are all part of the conspiracy, just because we don't fit in with your ideals. Everyone is different, see things from different perspectives, this doesn't make them wrong, it makes them individual and free speaking. While your fretting away over something you have no control over, we are quietly getting on with that which we can control, our lives and our businesses. Yes things at government level can stink, but I'd rather be in this country than any other in the world right now, Europe is looking slightly unstable, the good ol US of A is a rocky boat, Middle East, say no more. No Ill make do with little old England and its very small faults.

I didn't know there was only one. But then is this because of a lack of funds, or is this because realistically there is no need for more than one, that the powers that be have already decided that there is actually very little that can be done, apart from try and find and evolve a resistant strain?

I love the idea of portable winches, well all winches actually, anything that makes life easier. I liked the look of this winch at the APF, but I didn't have a real use for it then and not now. Trouble is one day I know I will want one.

I totally agree, and eliminate this leech on society and there will be enough money to go where it is needed. I was speaking to a senior police officer (from an outside force)the other day and he is responsible to sort out those on "light duties" until they retire. They absorb so much money that should be spent on policing our communities.

And learn to read before jumping in, I stated that there should be enough money to do what the FC needs to do, the rest should come from careful management. After all, the FC had a headstart on this, has the experience from Denmark and other to draw upon, as well as all their scientists already working on it. How much more can be thrown into the pot to combat the inevitability of the decline? It's not a bottomless pot of cash.

Yes that was more my point. Woodlands and forests have to be worked, one way or another, they are not something that the FC should just be given mega bucks for. We all pay taxes, we need to see where it goes, and how it's spent, and I mean spent, not wasted. Well-managed, careful budgeting shoukd allow for the handout to the FC to carry on doing what it needs to do, but doesn't leave a lot over to be squandered away on some fat cats expenses. The rest should be possible on clever management of resources. I hope.

Taking the pheasant shoot as an example. One of the woodlands I help manage is directly done in order to hold the shoots. These shoots are £1000+ per man per shoot. This pays for a keeper, the woods to be managed, the birds, the bird feeding and rearing, it pays for the majority of the land that's involved around the hall. Most of the pastures were beef herd until recently, that no longer pays, most of the farmland is arable, which has been pretty poor this year, but the wealth generated from the shoots has managed the woods far beyond what the timbers are worth. Without these shoots, what would become of the woods? In this example they would be left to decline, as they did under the previous ownership (the Hall was a hotel then) and the woods were literally raped of any good timber by a less than scrupulous fellow for firewood. Woods, and forests, need to be run as business these days, whether its for shoots, for sports, or for production, the country cannot keep throwing huge lucrative subsidies at an old top heavy industry that no longer pays its way.

Yes. It's time the FC stood on its own two feet as any other business has to. The government has subsidised it for far too long. We are no longer dependent on forestry to build ships, to make pit props for coal excavation, or for trench boards. These traditionally were the reasons why the trees were replanted after each war. For example the returning troops from the War of Independence would be commissioned to plant up woodland of oak etc, hence the proliferation st that time of woods called "America Woods". This is a very small island, a population of 60+million needs more than just trees, it needs space, it needs food, it needs gravel extraction.

Now I know you're mad, your candle (roomy ) is a candle, not a person.

here ya go Huck

Cut Tony slack??? Have you gone stark raving mad? Tony needs pushing and goading and cajoling into doing something, to keep his brain whirring, otherwise he would just sit and fester in his darkened room. Muttering abut fungi and stress fractures to a flickering candle. This forum is a mixture of many types, many characters from many walks of life, of course we're not always going to agree, but I'm sure we agree to differ.

Tony, you are now realising what I'm sure we tried to tell you a while ago, but you (at that time) wouldn't accept that you could do it. If you want to do something, go ahead and do it, life's too short to wonder "what if" then you reach a time where you dream "if only I'd done this or that". I'm now the stage, physically, where a lot of the work is too much for me at present, I've had to think on my feet, use my brain, and find a solution to my enforced situation. I could have thrown in the towel, got a cushy job somewhere, but I'm too damn stupid and stubborn. Because of this, I am actually earning more now than before, am more content in myself, and enjoying the kind of work more than ever before. It's just a case of finding and doing what you're looking for. So I do sincerely and honestly wish you all the best. Just grab that opportunity with both hands, and do it...now.

Well, if at last that is the case, and you are finally going to move onto bigger, and better things, then good luck to you. I suspect though, sadly, we'll probably be still discussing this way way into the future, while someone else actually does that which you dream off so vividly. I'll wish you all the best, and hope that you prove me wrong, you do after all deserve a break, and a real opportunity to use your enthusiasm and knowledge somewhere it will be recognised fully and that you receive the financial reward for your endeavours.

really Tony? You need to listen to yourself and wonder why your life has stagnated, why you never got your "break", why all your opportunities and dreams have never amounted to much. All this quasi-political posturing does nothing but make you bitter. Life's too short, just enjoy it a little while you save the planet, I do.

I disagree Mick, it's not about being "hard", ihate to see anything or anyone suffer, but if by doing this it helps to advance the treatment of many, then it's not in vain. I don't condone it, or see it as a good thing, but more as a necessity. If there were a better way, I'd sooner see it used. But I can't think of one, barring using paedos or rapists, but that would contravene their human rights. I don't think there is a suitable answer to this really.

How many people do I work for are on minimum wage? Or earn below the basic breadline? Or live in social housing? Or drive a Vauxhall Corsa? Or shop at Asda? Simple answer is none. How many do I work for are in high value houses, drive the latest big 4x4, have Harrods deliver groceries cos they can, employ a gardener, employ a cleaner, employ someone to wash their car, and pay party organisers to organise parties? All of them. That is how they spread their income into the local economy. They will buy the locally sourced free range organic pork and lamb, the single mum can't afford too, and they will buy a locally sourced locally grown Xmas tree, the single mum will recycle the twenty year old plastic tree from Woolies once again. It's not about being elitist, it's not about a caste system, it's not about them and us, it's a case of we all work one way or another to better ourselves, and to have things we wish to have. I'm very much on the Planet Earth, that I share with all of you, I do the same work as you do, only better, , and I share your passions for the trees that I plant nurture and tend, before eventually felling them. FTR, I live in a council house, But I speak to people as they wish to be spoken to, and that is reflected in the way I am treated, and respected, for the work I do. Having a chip on the shoulder is very visible, and people can see this, it's in the way you carry yourself, the way you look at them, and the way you work for them. I don't snub people because I disagree with their point of view, or their social standing, whether they are of a higher social standing or lower, we're all human.

I wonder how many see this in reverse? For example, why should opera suffer at the expense of a few trees here and there? I also recall the furore over the heavily subsidised FC compared to the private sector...can't have it all ways can we?

Sounds as if they may have boiled it with the cork in?

I have the ally Kelly kettle, the base distorts with the high heat on ally, we'll eventually. I'd guess the SS will not distort so easily. I've heard that the SS version takes longer to heat up as the metal is not as conducive as ally. I'm perfectly happy with the ally one, I wouldn't bother with the extra expense for SS. Price wise, I guess you can shop about, but I just bought one from a local outdoors shop, support local business sometimes.

I'm sure it's not ideal, but I know that if my son or daughter is lying there with limbs shot off, or blown away, I'd be grateful to that pig for furthering the surgeons skills. Pigs are used as they are the closest to human flesh to work with, and live flesh reacts differently to dead flesh.

Sometimes it's about having a balance between machine harvesting and manual. I've done some decent plots where I was hand-cutting 60cm+ timber and the harvester comes in to fell the -60cms, the edge trees and the wide hardwoods that the machine would struggle with. This averaged out around £10 a ton two years ago, some trees warranted more, some a lot less. In a long day, you can earn good (for forestry type work) money. In fact it's so profitable that a company from Lincs sold up his property back home, moved himself his business, and staff down here to take on the large volume of work that going begging. It does seem that many in this area don't see what's before their very eyes, yet whine that there is no work out there.

I've recently been doing a lot of hedgetrimming and some tree work for my local Primary Care Trust, which in itself has been quite profitable, but then I have been handing out cards every day I've been to the site, had loads of enquiries of which most have turned into further work. So yes hedgetrimming can be a profitable business, take on mowing and you're onto a winner.