John Hancock

We are now advertising for a Trainer / Assessor at Pershore College, Worcestershire. The position involves training apprenticeship students in a variety of skills, including: Chainsaw Maintenance & Cross-cutting, Tree Felling, Tree Climbing & Aerial Rescue & Use of Chainsaw in Tree Using Free-fall Techniques, ready for their NPTC assessments. The role will also involve traveling to the apprentices to undertake periodic reviews at their workplace. Applicants will be expected to have industry experience and hold the relevant NPTC qualifications for the units you'll be teaching and instructing in. I've fought long and hard to raise salaries in the Arboricultural teaching sector and I'm pleased to say the salary will be £30,275 per per annum Please click the following link for job description and on-line application - https://apps.warkscol.ac.uk/AccessSelect.rEcruit/Recruitment/VacancyDetails.aspx?VacNo=5477 If you'd like an informal chat, please feel free to give me a call on 07789 501336

Admittedly it wasn't today, and it's not a sunset but a sunrise, and I've been away for a while, excuses excuses...

Cheers Rich, All credit to Ben Andrews for being an excellent instructor, I just stuck the GoPro on his head, wired him up with the microphone and off he went....and a little editing of course ;-)

Hi Paul, Thanks for your feedback :-) C&G are due to update their assessors imminently (they may already have - it takes a while for information to filter through to the colleges). Once the update is received then modifications can be made. From a teaching / instructing point of view, it's no bad thing to have two attachment points in the tree while undertaking a changeover, particularly with new students. 'unquestionably reliable'.....bit of a mouthful isn't it!

Good morning, I realise the subject has been done to death and has been much debated in the past but this video has been sat in my Youtube account not going anywhere so I thought I'd share it. Access a Tree Using a Rope and Harness - Two Rope System - We decided to make a series of videos as a learning resource for our students (mainly the new ones), starting with the basics, preparing them for assessment. Interestingly, when teaching and instructing new students, they really don't have a problem with using the two-rope system, they feel more secure and it aids better positioning throughout the tree. The next video will be: Installing a cambium-saver from the ground and undergoing aerial rescue in an open-grown tree.

Hi Pete, In order to get good staff you need to draw from industry, in order to draw from industry, you need to be able to offer an equivalent (or very near) salary. Once you find good staff, you need to be able to retain them, we all know, on the whole, it's an enjoyable industry, it's all too easy for staff to leave and re-join.

Yes, 31k and above was the max, thanks for your input

Hello all! I’m carrying out a survey of typical salaries paid to UK Arborists at different levels (1 – 5). The survey is for a research paper I’m doing as part of a teaching qualification. As many of you know I hung up my chainsaw boot in favour of teaching would-be Arbs of the future. It’s becoming more evident that Colleges are struggling to recruit teaching and technical staff because the salaries have not kept up with industry, in short, I can earn more money feeding brash through a chipper than teaching students at levels 2, 3 and foundation degree. Could I ask business owners to complete the following survey and comment where prompted? Your help would be greatly appreciated! The survey can be found by clicking the following link - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FQW9XQB

Sometimes I wonder what this Oak is screaming.....any suggestions?

Four fingered Ash, Bredon Hill, Worcestershire

Yep, sure is

Not one from today, or yesterday but thought it worthy of sharing....hope you all know the species ;-)

Update – After contacting Wychavon District Council it turns out that the house builders were Bovis, contacted Bovis who said the trees will be replaced in the autumn and will then be looked after by a ‘contractor’. Money well spent then!

On that budget I'd go for a Discovery TD5, great workhorse plus you can get a hell of a lot in the back if you fold the seats down for a trip to the tip!

I've just messaged the local authority, should have an answer by tomorrow...