A week in the life of a Groundwork Land Apprentice
Sitting here in the warmth of the Groundwork office it sometimes seems that as contract manager all the problems in the world land on my desk, it is not until I read something like Keith’s diary of a week on site that I realise how many problems never reach me. Countless every day snags and difficulties are sorted out by the site supervisors without me even having to be aware of them. The backbone of any physical delivery programme is the quality of the on site supervision and we are lucky at Groundwork that we have excellent site supervisors.
At the present time we are running eight delivery teams all working on the West Midlands canal system and all but one of our supervisors originally came through as clients on our Land Apprentice and ILM teams. The quality of these front line staff shows what a reservoir of untapped skills there is out there if only the relevant training is made available. The range of skills being acquired by the staff working on these projects ranges through; hedge laying, construction, grounds maintenance, tree works, herbicide treatment, boat handling and health and safety all being carried to British Waterways very exacting standards
As well as the supervisors we have total of 29 Land Apprentices working on site including for the first time an all female team working on the Staffs and Worcs Canal Biodiversity Enhancements funded by Grantscape, this is a big step forward as in the past we have had trouble recruiting women onto the teams. As well as the two teams we have working on the Grantscape project we have three teams working directly for British Waterways supervisors on their woodland management programme and two teams working on clearance and enhancement of the Wyrley and Essington canal. Keith is working between Wolverhampton and Wednesfield. There is also a team undertaking a quite large construction project in conjunction with the Bilston Development Corporation on the Bradley Arm canal
This range of activities represents a big expansion in our delivery teams and would not have been possible without the dedication of the supervisors of whom Keith is an excellent example. He came to us as a refugee from the stresses and strains of the teaching profession and quickly demonstrated a passion for the environment. His communication skills gained in his previous career are evident in the way that he has closely liaised with the British Waterways supervisors. He is also a human ‘Swiss army knife’, whatever you are doing Keith will have just the gadget hanging on his belt, in his knapsack (which is of Tardis like proportions) or in his pocket. Reading his diary his self sufficiency shows clearly.
Keith is one of seven supervisors employed at Groundwork and each one of them brings their own different skills to the job, each one could tell a similar story to Keith’s.
- Michael Thornes, Contract Manager
Keith's Diary, Vegetation Management
Monday
Brief the team on the day ahead, what equipment needed and where we are going. Meet with the British Waterways Supervisor at the work site on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. Look at the site and discuss the job requirements. What tools needed, special problems, sequence of work, access issues, etc. Encourage all the team to have a good look at the site. Talk with the team and ask for comments on the job, any suggestions about how to approach the job.
Tuesday
Check what we need. Load up with chainsaws, polesaws, hedgecutters, brushcutters, fuel and handtools. Drive to site. Do a “Point of Contact Risk Assessment”. Set up. Start clearing an area that we can work from. Open up the area using the tools. Brash up the material to reduce bulk and keep the towpath clear, creating wildlife habitat with the material. Stop for lunch, brew up, and draw breath. Consider how to proceed on the job in the light of progress.
Wednesday
So much material to remove without blocking the towpath need to take a chipper. Take all the handtools and 75mm chipper. Difficult to get the chipper on the truck and on site and hard to feed material through it. Any suggestions? Lunch and brew up. Get a bigger chipper, with tracked drive! Still need to brash and log up bigger material during the day, to keep towpath clear. Noticable area now opened up.
Thursday
Still need all the hand tools. Take 150mm tracked chipper on a trailer to the site. Drive chipper onto the towpath. Everybody working around the chipper, as lookouts, feeding it and cutting material. Hard work - hawthorn, blackthorn, and dog roses get tangled and are painful to handle. Old dogwood won’t go through chipper unless cut into little bits. Lots of cursing. First compliment, cyclist glad to see the towpath being widened.
Friday
Learnt a lot from Thursday. Take all the same tools. Try to cut everything except dogwood into lengths so as to feed into chipper more easily. The dogwood is cut up and brashed with a chainsaw, much quicker than trying to feed into the chipper. Second compliment, a dog walker feels safer as the towpath is opened up, she can see further ahead (see if anybody is lurking about!). Reflect on the week, compare cuts from this week. Think about next week.
