Case studies

Michael Pollock is joint proprieter of Beechill Landscapes, a well established landscaping  company which currently employs 12 staff, based in Belfast.

Richard Welburn, Head of Parks and Green Space Services, part of Leicester City Council’s Regeneration and Culture Department, was once an apprentice himself - and he warmly welcomes the return of an apprenticeship system so Leicester can ‘grow its own’ workers.

 

As Trust Maager for the Living Environment Trust in Coventry, Raffaella Tentindo restores neglected or vandalised green areas through the delivery of a range of community and educational programmes. The 31-year-old Italian biology graduate found the job by chance and has developed her skills with further training to meet the requirements of her fascinating and varied role.    

          

After taking up an outdoors Groundwork programme former unemployed father-of-three Roy Churchman hasn't let the grass grow under his feet.

                              

 

 

David Keegan is Owner and Director of David Keegan Garden Design & Build in the heart of Manchester, changing the face of many blank areas and bringing landscaping to the city. David is fervent about the work he does and has a mission to have cities in harmony with the countryside. “I have always loved the countryside but need to live in the city for many reasons, which I also love,” he says. “There really is no ‘us and them’; it is entirely plausible to live in the city and have a love of greenery and the countryside.”

                                                     

Becoming an apprentice is a very reqarding experience according to Stella Fear, Head Gardener at Holland Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Marcus Harvey smiles when he says that Quadron Service has started a 'grow your own' scheme for the parks and gardens of Southwark. He doesn’t mean flowers or foliage, but a new generation of green fingered apprentices to work across the London borough.

For Haringey Council, cultivating gardeners and helping them grow professionally is just as important as the plants and parks they work in. And thanks to a commitment to apprenticeships, the borough’s parks workforce is set to blossom