“If you ask the public if they can name a head groundsman, probably the only one that springs to mind is Eddie Seaward of Wimbledon”
Stefan Sheraton, Cranfield
have risen this year “for the first time in many years”, he says. “So, too, have numbers of students taking horticulture”, he adds.
John has entered his second year of a Stefan Sheraton
The sector lacks glamour, Stefan feels, and those who do good work often fail to receive the plaudits they deserve. “When a golf course plays really well, and the players refer to the quality of the playing surfaces, those who have done the work to make them that good rarely get to hear the positive feedback.” He goes on: “If you ask the public if they can name a head groundsman, probably the only one that springs to mind is Eddie Seaward of Wimbledon. “He is becoming well-known now, but what about all the others. This is a bridge that we have to cross if the industry is to move up a level.” Meanwhile, of more pressing immediacy is meeting the £3,200 tuition fees and £320/month accommodation costs of living on campus at Cranfield University that occupy Stefan’s thoughts.
Student: John Court Age: 21 Position: Horticultural apprentice to Cardiff City Council Place of study: Pencoed campus of Bridgend College
BRIDGEND College (formerly Pencoed College) near Bridgend, South Wales specialises in land-based studies such as sportsturf maintenance and management, horticulture, countryside management and equine and small animal studies. There’s a nine-hole golf course on the estate, which is open to the public as well as students, and football and rugby pitches used by Bridgend Academy. The college offers NVQ Levels 2 and 3 in sportsturf maintenance, HNC in turf management, a National Certificate and an Advanced National Certificate in horticulture and an HNC and HND in landscape design. Annual intake on the sportsturf maintenance course averages between 15 and 20 students, reports Paul Discombe, John’s tutor at the College, but numbers
8
two-year NVQ Level 3 in turf culture and sportsground maintenance. The 20-week block programme runs from the first week in October through to April. “The programme fits in well with the groundsman’s year,” John explains, “because September is a very busy time and so too is April.”
On Thursdays he has day release from his job as a full-time horticultural apprentice for Cardiff City Council, where he works for the rest of the week based at Black Weir playing fields and Bute Park, one of the City’s biggest parks.
He left school at 17 with six GCSEs to move straight into a job at Cardiff Rugby Club as a trainee groundsman, during which time he completed an NVQ Level 2 in sportsturf maintenance at Llandaff College. Already marked out as a future mover and a shaker in the industry, John recently clinched the IOG’s Young Student of the Year Award for Wales and South-east England, also picking up the Vale of Glamorgan Training Board’s Young Apprentice of the Year 2005. His immediate ambition is “to move up the career ladder” in the industry. “It’s a career well worth pursuing,” he says, but he also believes that horticulture and sports turf maintenance is hiding its light under a bushel. “The industry should be more heavily publicised to school-leavers. Unless you are already aware of horticulture and sports turf, this is not an industry that you would think about entering necessarily. There should be greater accessibility for schools to the sector.” His wish is also to see the creation of
more apprenticeships, and he adds tellingly, “I and a colleague were the first Cardiff City Council apprentices in horticulture for about 30 years when I started work there in 2003. Now another four have joined us, with another two due to be taken on later this year.” Like a growing number of councils around the country, Cardiff is realising that it has to make moves to plug a skills gap that had been created after a decade of compulsory competitive tendering, when training in-house had been moved on to the back burner. After completing his Level 3, John hopes to move into a full-time post with
John Court
Cardiff Council. His boss Robert Jones, the Parks Manager, speaks highly of John. “He shows all the qualities needed to excel in his profession. John is a model professional and, in nearly four years, has never lost a day through sickness. His performance in college and in his work placements speak for themselves.”
Jones and a colleague helped re- establish the apprenticeship scheme into the council, he explains, “I wanted to reintroduce a traditional apprenticeship scheme so that we could train young people in the skills they need to move forward in the industry.”
Student: Andy Lee Age: 17 Position: Apprentice groundsman, Coventry City FC Place of study: Warwickshire College
ANDY Lee has held a position as apprentice groundsman at Coventry City FC since August 2005, when he came straight out of year 11 at Cardinal Wiseman RC School in the city armed with nine GCSEs. “At first, I wanted to work as a landscape gardener but, when I visited a Moreton Morrell College open evening in July last year, I read details about greenkeeping and sports turf management. That’s when I changed direction.”
A committed sports follower - “I’m into football (he watches Coventry regularly), rugby and cricket” - Andy knows now that he wants to work outdoors in an
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76