The Brew Cabin

Tony

Found an interesting comment you made, think in the brew cabin, about apprenticeships.

I did a 16 week OCN basic bricklaying course at our local college (in Nottingham) which was useful, but to do a longer more intensive course was impossible to organise. Nothing was offered on general groundworks.

I have a friend who is looking for a career change and to gain some skills in these areas. Any suggestions?


Thanks
Andrew

The only real option is the National Construction College which is a scam, ooops, I mean 'scheme' run by the CITB - see their website for details on the various courses they run.

Tony

Thanks..I will have a look

Andrew

Hi, i am studying for my national diploma in landscape practice. The college thati am studying at called Myerscough college, Preston( www.myerscough.ac.uk) has many courses, full and part time aswell as short courses usually run on saturdays either a one off or a 6 week course, in landscaping. I know that they do brick laying, paving, block paving etc. I believe that they are very good. I haven't actually been on one myself as i am taught landscape construction as part of my course.
I hope this helps.

Liam Booth

Quite a few of the layabou...err.... students at Myerscough like to see if they can trick me into writing their assignments or provide them with sectional drawings that they can then submit as their own work. Students at other colleges try it, too, but, maybe it's summat in the water around Myerscough, but the crowd from that college are the worst offenders. ;)

The hard-landscaping modules run by Myerscough and the other Landscape colleges are pretty basic. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, as they're better than nowt, but they should not be thought of as providing a full understanding of the skills involved.

Tony,

There are only a small minority from this college, actually who would "trick" you. Most of us would be too clever for that, and going back to Layabouts, at least we are actually doing something with our time, actually learning to become professional landscapers not cowboys. As apposed to most of the landscapers, or cowboys so to speak in the northwest mainly in warrington who call themselves landscapers when they haven't even got any academic qualifications. So don't call us from myerscough layabouts when there are far more layabouts than us!!!

Liam - you need to lighten up! Why do you think I put a "wink" at the end of that paragraph? It was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but you seem to have missed the joke!

If you want to work in the landscape industry, you need to rediscover your sense of humour before you leave the hallowed halls of Myerscough, or you're in for one hell of a miserable time! What do you think keeps us going when it's lashing down with rain, howling a gale, and we've 4 cubic metres of concrete to use up before finishing time??

The ability to enjoy a laugh, even if it's at your own expense, is an essential part of the job they don't teach you in any college - you learn it on site!