Freebird

Sorry for not replying, been away for a few days. Cheers for the offer Paul, it's great to know there such helpful people about, though for the momment I think I'll be ok, just a matter of persistance till the oppurtunity comes along and in the mean time I'll save up for the relevant chain saw training. Nice to know theres someone in the same boat Dave, aye it is daft thatthey aren't taking you up on the offer, espeacially as you have a history with grafting outside with the forces, but then again theres the time and money lost at the start while they explain the job and having to keep an eye on us Still best of luck and cheers for the advice about calling in on them, have to admitt my telephone manner is pretty poor.

Sorry Hama my mistake with the location, keep forgetting there's a more well known St.Helens over the water. My location is NW England between Liverpool and Manchester. Cheers for the tip about the ISA though.

Hi all, Hope I don't come across as too much of a numpty but I'm looking for some advice as to getting involved in tree work. Not sure if much of this is relevant but a bit of background info about myself. I'm a 22 year old in the St.Helens/Ormskirk area, I spent a couple of years as an apprentice laboratory technician (applied to be a sheet metal worker but the training company thought I'd be better of in a lab due to science A-levels. Escaped after 2 years to to get a 12 month apprenticeship at an outdoor activity centre, loved every minute of it but eventually came to an end and due to the nature of the apprenticeship being used as way to get cheap labour was left unable to progress in the industry due to lack of NGB's. While visiting a while back one of the old hands (been there for years before the present company took the place over from the council, typical fontain of all knowledge) asked if I'd looked into tree work n reckoned I might enjoy it. Since then I've been e-mailing a few places to see if I can drop by n work as a labourer for free for a few days to get a taste for the work, but so far haven't had much luck yet. Been reading around a bit and think that it could it could be my cup of tea, I enjoyed working outside in all weather, enjoyed physical practical work (being an instructor wasn't particularly strenous, but I enjoyed doing site maintainence) and have a decnt head for heights (I climb when I can, mostly indoor or seconding outdoor as I haven't got much gear or technical experience) which may help in the future. Getting to the point I'd be grateful for any advice you can give towards getting a foot in the door in this industry, ideally I'd like to work towards working with woodlands rather than focusing on gardens but any experience is good experience. In regards to courses I'm hoping to do a 16 hour outdoor first aid course in the near future (working towards SPA and ML awards in my own time just to keep options open) would this be valid for Utility arb work in the far far future? As two birds with one stone would be great. Looking at getting the chainsaw maintainence and cross cutting NPTCs but it looks like its going to be a while before I can afford them as currently I'm only working part time retail, do I have any chance of being able to get experience with out them? Also any suggested books and sites to read to get a basic understanding of the work? Sorry for the wall of text, got many more questions but these are the main ones at present, any help you could give would be great.