Steve AA Marketing Officer

Hello to our ARB Talkers in Scotland, Hopefully some of you enjoyed the recent Scotland Branch Lecutres and AGM Event. We're pleased to confirm the first 2 Arboricultural Association Training courses of the year, taking place at Inverness College. Paul Smith will run a Free 'ARB Approved Contractor Workshop' on Tuesday 20th March: https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=BA7A5FBD-444C-4C68-977F-4212BBB9A379 Then on 21st March Paul will instruct one of our most popular courses 'BS3998:2010 Tree Work Recommendations': https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=7144A50C-D042-41A9-9FA8-F47FAA69B6B6 There will be more courses added by the AA Scotland Branch throughout 2018, but if these are well attended then we'll have the backing to facilitate more events in Inverness and further afield. If there's something you'd like to see then don't forget to take the Scotland Branch Training Survey and let us know: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SJZ68TW Finally if you'd like to get more involved with the Branch then please contact a representative: https://www.trees.org.uk/Branches/Scotland They are a passionate and friendly bunch, the branch gained an unprecedented 30 new members last year so it's a great time to get involved. Many Thanks, Steve

Hello to our ARB Talkers in Scotland, Hopefully some of you enjoyed the recent Scotland Branch Lecutres and AGM Event. We're pleased to confirm the first 2 Arboricultural Association Training courses of the year, taking place at Inverness College. Paul Smith will run a Free 'ARB Approved Contractor Workshop' on Tuesday 20th March: https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=BA7A5FBD-444C-4C68-977F-4212BBB9A379 Then on 21st March Paul will instruct one of our most popular courses 'BS3998:2010 Tree Work Recommendations': https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=7144A50C-D042-41A9-9FA8-F47FAA69B6B6 There will be more courses added by the AA Scotland Branch throughout 2018, but if these are well attended then we'll have the backing to facilitate more events in Inverness and further afield. If there's something you'd like to see then don't forget to take the Scotland Branch Training Survey and let us know: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SJZ68TW Finally if you'd like to get more involved with the Branch then please contact a representative: https://www.trees.org.uk/Branches/Scotland They are a passionate and friendly bunch, the branch gained an unprecedented 30 new members last year so it's a great time to get involved. Many Thanks, Steve

Hi Folks, Thought this might be of interest to many on here. Claus Mattheck will be coming over to give his final UK lecture in Loughborough 12th and 13th June 2018 More details here https://www.trees.org.uk/News-Blog/News/Mattheck’s-final-UK-lectures Thanks, Steve

Hi Folks, I thought i'd pass on this survey from the group who launched the new Arborist apprenticeship standard earlier this year. It takes about 10 minutes so if you've got any spare time please have a look at it. Full press release below. Thanks, Steve Take the Survey here: https://surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8FT53WY Following the successful launch of the arborist, forest operative and horticulture and landscape operative apprenticeships in England, earlier this year, the employer-led partnership behind the initiative is now asking the question, does industry require apprenticeships for managerial or advanced technical roles? The trailblazer partnership, which includes 50 industry employers, is now investigating if there is demand for managerial or advanced technical apprenticeships, by consulting with employers in the sector, to determine if new apprenticeships are necessary, and what skills they should contain. A coalition of arboriculture, forestry, horticulture and landscape industries have already been successfully developing apprenticeship standards since 2015, under the new process, often known as ‘trailblazer’. Trailblazers continue to be at the forefront of Government apprenticeship reforms in England and apprentices are now being recruited to the three new standards, which were announced in the summer. A fourth apprenticeship standard for horticulture and landscape supervisor, is currently in the approval process. Simon Rotheram, Managing Director of Beechwood Trees, commented: “It is vital that the industry provides feedback on the requirement of a new apprenticeship for managers. A lack of informed response now, may result in the wrong decision being made for future generations, resulting in a major skills gap for supervisor level arborists, and other supervisory industry roles, looking to develop their careers into more managerial positions.” If you think your organisation might benefit from an apprenticeship for managers or advanced technicians, it is imperative that you complete the questionnaire, before the 2nd January 2018. Take the Survey: https://surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8FT53WY https://www.trees.org.uk/News-Blog/News/Industry-asks,-should-we-have-apprentices-for-mana

Hi Folks, Sorry I’m a bit late to the party on this one. I’m Steve, AA Marketing Officer and am always keen to hear from all our Members and professionals in the industry – you’re the reason we’re here! In fact if anyone has an issue or something they think the AA should be doing – please do pick up the phone (01242 522152) and talk to us, the CEO is always here and happy to talk to you as are the whole team. Before I continue I’d just like to say that having been with the organisation for 2 ½ years I’m aware that there were a lot of problems with the AA on many fronts particularly an insular mentality and lack of effort to listen to its members; giving them what the AA thought they needed instead of what they wanted. However since 2014 this started to turn around and more quickly during the past 2 years. Unfortunately the AA has not been in a strong financial position recently and is not sitting on piles of cash as some perceive; a quick look at the annual reports will tell you that. If we were, we’d be able to put on courses and take the hit if they didn’t get the numbers needed, as has been suggested. Not sure what’s happened in the past we certainly don’t value one area of the UK over another. The issue I think is a communication problem from HQ, and I certainly believe that in the past not enough marketing effort was put behind courses in the North and Scotland. We haven’t given our branches the support to enable them to have successful events. This has been a key focus of mine as I believe the Branch network has so much potential but hasn’t been given enough attention. This is changing and we’ve already seen results. A few comments have implied we put little effort into doing courses up north and in Scotland or not run any, these are numbers from the past few years: Training Events held in the North: (Not including ArbAC Prep Workshops in these as that doesn’t really count) 2016: 9 Courses (4 had to be cancelled) 2017: 6 Courses 2018: 5 Courses Scheduled Training Events held in Scotland: 2016: 5 Courses 2017: 5 Courses Scotland Branch is doing really well across the board and has got a lot of numbers, so as was the case in this year there will be courses added to the Calendar. The Branches now have stronger marketing support from HQ – so where Cornwall had struggled to get bums on seats this year they’ve had some great numbers including 80 on their Autumn Seminar day! In short, if there is a course you want to see and there is enough interest, then we’ll do our best to facilitate an event locally. Anyway my solution is to see what type of courses you guys want – so I’ve set up 2 Survey Monkeys below so you can let us know. I’m also looking at getting some of our courses digitised which should enable members to Access online Training/cpd and could be a great resource (for example we have 150 members in Hong Kong – and hold nothing for them). North Training Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SDMDD93 Scotland Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SJZ68TW I’ll also include a map which shows the distribution of our members across branches in Mainland UK, thought it may be of interest. There is so much potential to put this profession in the spotlight and I’m passionate about raising our members profile, within the industry, related sectors and publicly. We exist because of you guys, we’re here to support you and this feedback is really valuable. Thanks and look forward to your feedback, if you have any comments, ideas or issues marketing wise i'm all ears, please contact me [email protected]