janey

I thought for a moment there you were about to anounce your imminent retirement to your private island

Aha, that's why it seemed so familiar I had a quick scan through the forum before I posted; obviously too quick! I was only emailed the link myself today, so I didn't realise it was so old hat....

Here's a link for 3 x great job opp's working for The Corp' in Epping. As per usual, it seems to be the better the job, the smaller the salary. Arboricultural Job vacancy offered. APPRENTICE CONSERVATION ARBORIST, Arboriculturalist.

I'm really surprised by the stat's on the number of women in our industry. I knew that the numbers were low in comparison to the amount of men, but only 3%? I know, and know of, plenty of women arborists, TOs and Consultants, plus a fair few more involved in Planning and Landscaping. Perhaps that's because of my location? It must be you lot oop Norf that are skewing the numbers

There's a good article in Hort Week online that's well worth a read. Pest & Disease Factsheet - Bacterial and fungal cankers | Login | Horticulture Week You have to log in or register to see the full text.

Are you aware of this funding stream specifically for your female staff? Lantra scheme boosts women's training | Login | Horticulture Week Every so often, threads are started about help with the costs for training, where to get grants and so on. I don't know the details for this scheme, but any help with financing additional training has got to be well worth looking into. In case the link doesn't work, here's the text in full. Lantra scheme boosts women's training By Hannah Jordan Friday, 08 July 2011 Be the first to comment Lantra funding project for women's training in land-based industry is extended for another year. The announcement that sector skills council Lantra is to extend its Women & Work funding project for another year has been welcomed by land-based industries. It means that this year another 500 women working in a range of sectors, such as horticulture, landscaping, arboriculture and land-based engineering, will get the opportunity to develop their careers in industries in which they are woefully under-represented - in some cases as little as three per cent of the workforce are women. In its first four years the Government-backed scheme has helped nearly 3,500 women in England to develop both technical skills and leadership techniques by supporting employers to help them progress though Lantra-run training courses. Now in its fifth and final year, the £375,000 funding pot has been made available to women in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well. To be eligible for grants employers must commit to spending a minimum of £650 on training a female member of staff between now and the end of February 2012. Project manager Lyndsay Bird said investing in women within the land-based industries was vital for the future of the sectors involved. "These opportunities will result in better retention at a time when we need to be attracting new people and skills and keeping the people we have," he said. "It will also show employer investment and create greater employee continuity, stability and profitability because every time you change a member of staff it costs money," added Bird. He said the initiative addressed a long-term problem in the land-based industry. "Women have simply not been invested in so they don't progress in technical or managerial skills. But it is changing now and this programme has made an incredible difference," he explained. However, Bird conceded that more needed to be done: "Five-hundred places is not a lot really in the grand scheme of things and the funding is going down all the time." Meanwhile, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) this week celebrated its Women into Construction scheme, which has seen the placement of more than 260 women into manual roles in the Olympic Park and almost 600 women receiving individual mentoring. ODA head of equality, inclusion, employment and skills Loraine Martins said: "This project shows that women can be attracted, trained and recruited into construction careers." FIGURES BY SECTOR Female representation by sector: Landscaping/sports turf: 17% Trees and timber: 3% Production horticulture: 38% Source: Lantra 2010/11

Anyone who can get up everyday, and no matter what they have to deal with and how much crap life has thrown at them, can remain positive and thankfull for what they do have, rather than what they don't. And me mam

You just know the kind of comments that you're going to be getting, don't you ?

If I've got nothing better to do that day I may pop along, just to fill the time, like ... It's in my diary. Thanks for organising this again, hon. As you said, last year's trip to WW was a fantastic day out and I'm looking forward to what could hopefully be an annual event.

You've haven't been to a park anywhere in London recently, have you? I agree with you on the "force" point, other than that the article understates the amount of damage being caused if anything. I know from my own experience that dog damage to trees is a huge problem and costs thousands upon thousands to put right and in officer time. One park that I surveyed had some form of damage to 80%+ of the trees from either dogs or knives. Have a look through this the download from the LTOA Downloads | Dog Damage to Trees

Our local Sainsbury is a dangerous place half an hour before closing. Don't be fooled by the sweet and vunerable look of those OAPs, they can be vicious when there's only one cut price quiche to fight over.

Was that the weight of beers in the fridge door that made it so heavy and bone breakingly solid ?

Gorgeous pics . Very Monet-esque. I was inspecting in a park yesterday that had a wild flower meadow area full of multi coloured annual cornflowers. It was so pretty, but also hacking down, so I didn't stop to get some pics.

I was thinking Phillyrea latifolia. Maybe. Possibly. I've looked it up and I don't think it is. Dunno

In that case, bad nasty selfish Rob for not sharing your toys with us.

Oh shugar, T. I'm sad to hear that. As you say, on a positive note is does mean you HAVE to go out to some fab locations to start building up your collection again Have you got the remainder backed up yet, hmmm?

I've already got the NHM on my faves and is great for a whole heap of stuff, albeit on a fairly basic level. The EoL is a new one to me; I think I'm going to lose a fair bit of time on there. Thanks for the headsup

As already said, if the tree has a trunk diameter of 7.5cm at a height of 1.5m above ground level then it will be covered by Con' Area regs, regardless of who planted it. The best thing to do for finding out if an address is actually in a Con' Area - or not - is to look at the relevant Local Authority's website or call one of the Planners directly.

See that minute toothing on the leaves in the pic? Ligustrums don't have that. I have an idea what it may be, I just need to check

When you can't remember when was the last day that you didn't log on at least once...

Haha, yes, that's what I was refering to. I didn't realise there was such an uncomplicated, non technical name for something that a lot of people in tree / planning confrontations don't seem to know exist. I have to say though, that I much prefere the other type of hole in the wall: put plastic in, get paper out, buy shiny new stuff

Because I'm good... And because females have quite different makings on the forewings: more dots and no striations. Edit: hold on... just a min... I've got a link somewhere... Here we go: UK Butterflies - Silver-washed Fritillary - Argynnis paphia

Lovely Male Silver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia

They're really impressive plants and I like them a lot Show us your pics http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/24515-how-get-pics-up.html

It's not an area of the world I know much about. Out of curiosity I Googled a bit and came up with this Gardens in Herefordshire to Visit - Special Herefordshire Gardens. I've never visited any of them, but they might be worth a look.