2 year woodland apprenticeship

[Mesquite]

Just saw this posted over on FB and thought it might be of interest to some folks over here

A unique opportunity to undertake a 2 year apprenticeship with Smallwoods.

A 2 year full time woodland apprenticeship is on offer to a hard working individual keen to learn the skills needed to begin working within the woodland and craft sector.

Details here

 

[rik_uk3]

A bursary? less than minimum wage? Qualifying you continue to earn not a lot of dosh I presume...not a link I'd spread to my loved ones.

 

[Chiseller]

thanks for that.....sadly i dont think the gaffer/landlord would apreciate me having a two year vacation....hope somebody grabs this oppertunity with both hands....

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[widu13]

Min of £3.30ph by law if it is a Gov funded New Apprentice scheme. If privately offered nothing has to be paid. My boy would love that but he's only 15 yet. Notwithstanding that, we live 200 miles away and the nearest relative is 25 miles from there. A great opportunity for someone.

 

[rik_uk3]

Min of £3.30ph by law if it is a Gov funded New Apprentice scheme. If privately offered nothing has to be paid. My boy would love that but he's only 15 yet. Notwithstanding that, we live 200 miles away and the nearest relative is 25 miles from there. A great opportunity for someone.

Opportunity for what? Perhaps gaining skills that won't feed a family? I'm talking about the real world and not some fantasy land where bushcrafters walk around in a few acres of woodland wearing some minging 'Jedi' robe.

Bushcraft is a great hobby, not a way of life IMHO.

 

[janso]

A minging Jedi robe 😂😂😂

I saw that post via a friend of mine on FB; looks great on the outside but quite rightly said about conditions of work and payment. Quite rightly a skillset that is sadly being lost to industry but as a career move? I know a green woodsman who branches into allsorts to make ends meet as hedge laying, charcoal burning and building chairs, etc pays nowt after expenses and loss of family time.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the interview!!
Fair play for posting it up though for the forum


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[dewi]

And we wonder why the youth of today don't want to carry on proud traditional crafts and professions... £3.30 ph is a complete joke in my opinion... that is an amazing £26.40 per day... a teen can earn twice that working in a fast food outlet and three times that if they take shift work.

Its a great experience, but career wise, what does it lead to? Genuine question btw not rhetorical.

 

[widu13]

Opportunity for what? Perhaps gaining skills that won't feed a family? I'm talking about the real world and not some fantasy land where bushcrafters walk around in a few acres of woodland wearing some minging 'Jedi' robe.

Bushcraft is a great hobby, not a way of life IMHO.

An opportunity to learn and not whinge and whine about everything that does not conform with their sensibilities. Fortunately you bring great balance to the discussion. Working the land does not make you rich.

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[dewi]

An opportunity to learn and not whinge and whine about everything that does not conform with their sensibilities. Fortunately you bring great balance to the discussion. Working the land does not make you rich.

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But with respect, working the land should be something to help to stay alive... I was homeless at 16 years old and the highest wage I could get to help me pay for a flat, food etc was £1.50ph... and prices were somewhat cheaper 24 years ago. I earned £60 per week, my (shared) flat was £45 per week leaving me £15 for everything else. Not all 16 year olds have the bank of Mum and Dad behind them, and shouldn't we be encouraging people from all backgrounds to get into the woods and learn?

 

[Mesquite]

...shouldn't we be encouraging people from all backgrounds to get into the woods and learn?

Not only that but how many times have we all seen threads on here from people saying they want to get into green woodwork etc so what harm is there posting something like this?

 

[widu13]

Mate, at 16 I was in the army (in the mid 80s) and earning less than that. I loved it. My first FIL jacked in a high paid dental technician job to be a tenant farm hand and he was happy as Larry. An uncle gave up an electrical consultant job at 50 to be an assistant gamekeeper with no accommodation (that is seriously low paid!) And now in his early 60s tells me he's having the time of his life.

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[dewi]

Mate, at 16 I was in the army (in the mid 80s) and earning less than that. I loved it. My first FIL jacked in a high paid dental technician job to be a tenant farm hand and he was happy as Larry. An uncle gave up an electrical consultant job at 50 to be an assistant gamekeeper with no accommodation (that is seriously low paid!) And now in his early 60s tells me he's having the time of his life.

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3 meals a day and a roof over your head, plus the wage then? Kind of missing my point.

 

[widu13]

3 meals a day and a roof over your head, plus the wage then? Kind of missing my point.

We've all got hardship cases we can cry about. In the mids 90's after bills but not food, I had £30 a month to spare. I didn't moan about it I just did it.

 

[RonW]

To me this ad sounds like they're looking for very cheap labour to exploit....

On the other hand a job like this actually would teach a youngster how the land works and how to work with it, how it supplies you with everything you need if you treat it right and work with it instead of ruining it.
It also might open his/her eyes to look beyond the dogma of getting a job, earning a pay, run to the supermarket, buy your crap food, go to bed and do the same thing the next day... and the next... and the next. It might just give them the tools and knowledge to break free from that kind of slavery.

 

[dewi]

We've all got hardship cases we can cry about. In the mids 90's after bills but not food, I had £30 a month to spare. I didn't moan about it I just did it.

Well done, have a biscuit... I wasn't whining or whining, I was illustrating a point, a point you've completely missed in your I-was-worse-off-than-you game you've chosen to play. Frankly I couldn't give a rats hoot if you survived a month on three quid and a tin of beans, it doesn't answer the point I was making, nor does it advance the discussion.

When you're quite done with your side show, anything on topic?

 

[Toddy]

At the end of the day, it is what it is. A two year private 'apprenticeship' that is in reality an offer of board and lodging and pocket money for a youngster for a couple of years of hands on experience.

I am clearly minded that the vocational aspect of experience and commitment is now much in demand for admission to many further learning courses. CV's that come without are often simply discarded regardless of just how much academic prowess has been displayed.
I know of students with 6 straight A's refused admission to Vet school because they had no 'vocational experience', while girls with the requisite 5 but with a heck of a load of volunteer work at the local animal rescue charities, etc., quietly waltzed in.
It's the same with those seeking employment as rangers, etc.,
Gamekeeper apprenticeships also most often go to those youngsters with hands on (well feet in boots and slogging on) experience.

Not a living wage. It was not claimed to be a living wage; it is simply food and board and some money at hand.

All that said, I wonder what happens about N.I. and the like though.
Accredited apprenticeships are carefully vetted.

If it was my youngster who was interested in this kind of thing, I'd have a lot of questions, and I'd like to know the people behind it. Otherwise, if it's all sound. Why not ?

M

 

[dewi]

Not a living wage. It was not claimed to be a living wage; it is simply food and board and some money at hand.

Have I missed something M? Can't find where it says about food and board?

 

[Toddy]

Ah apologies Dewi, I heard of this through another (traditional woodlands) source too and was given different information.

M

 

[dewi]

Ah apologies Dewi, I heard of this through another (traditional woodlands) source too and was given different information.

M

No need to apologise M... if its got food and board, thats a whole other matter... the pay is too low to live off, but with food and board, as you say, the wage becomes extra monies.

 

[Toddy]

I gathered that basically it's that they want someone who's prepared to learn, isn't afraid of hard graft and is genuinely involved in this kind of thing, not just someone who's interested but not committed and can't be relied on to turn up regardless of the weather or the work.
From the conversation I heard it's a wide ranging hard work experience but it'll not only benefit SmallWoods but give great connections and skills base to the person chosen.

Probably best if I edit out the food and board stuff. It's not in their advert and I suspect it might just be only if the situation requires it.

Sometimes the cross over of the gossip networks is confusing

M