Previous
GRASSROOTS APPRENTICES
Added: (Wed May 31 2006)
“You’re hired” are the words Roots and Shoots trainees most want to hear when they start job hunting later this year. With their new qualifications from the South London charity, which trains inner city youngsters in horticulture, a job is their aim. But despite our love affair with gardens and the catastrophic skills shortage of skilled gardeners, there are too few first stage job opportunities and apprentice schemes are as scarce as hosepipes in an English summer.
At its summer open weekend on 10 and 11 June Roots and Shoots will be calling on London councils to bring back horticultural apprenticeships.
Where once every council’s pride and joy was its parks, cared for by teams of professional gardeners, the competitive tendering of the Thatcher years put paid to a system which helped many fine gardeners – and gardens - flourish. Says Roots and Shoots’ manager Linda Phillips, “Knowledge was passed down and time taken to bring the young ones on, much in the way that gardeners nurture delicate plants. Everyone had their niche. Everyone mattered.” And this is the philosophy she has honoured at Roots and Shoots where for twenty years young people, who’ve been low achievers at school and arrive with confidence and self-esteem at rock bottom, have had their lives transformed.
Work placements are a key part of the training process says employment liaison officer Ian Carruthers, who’s found some that would add lustre to any gardening CV. From the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to the Chelsea Physic Garden, some of the top gardens welcome Roots and Shoots’ trainees and as soon as security clearance comes through, one young gardener will be heading for the ultimate private garden - at Buckingham Palace.
Success stories abound. 19 year old Michael Vass’s work experience at Grosvenor Estates went so well he now has a permanent job there and sponsorship for his NVQ Level 2. Where once his excessive energy was a hindrance, his time at Roots and Shoots has helped turn it into a plus “Michael’s a lively young man who adds a dynamism we all find refreshing,” says his boss Stephen Smith, Grosvenor Estates landscape manager, an enthusiastic advocate of horticultural apprenticeships. He went through one himself and went on to run the Royal Parks Apprenticeship Scheme, now sadly defunct.
Michael sees a “proper job” as an essential ingredient for a successful life. It gives him prospects: he has plans for his own landscaping business but is only too aware of the temptations faced by young people in the inner city. “I won’t lower myself to mugging and drug dealing,” he says.
With the gardening market worth around £5 billion a year, surely it’s time horticultural apprenticeships got the Sir Alan touch? Maybe that should be Sir Alan TITCHMARSH?
Unusual plants and edible leaves grown by Roots and Shoots trainees will be on sale at the Roots and Shoots National Gardens Scheme summer open weekend 11am -4pm Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June at Walnut Tree Walk, London SE11. The acclaimed half-acre wildlife garden, alongside the new £1.5 million eco learning centre with its green roof and solar energy powered electricity, will be open. A producers and craft market will take place on the Sunday. For more details tel: 020 7587 1131 www.rootsandshoots.org.uk