Hand-held hedge trimmer course, Aberystwyth - 8th May 2012

Just a short, one-day course at our home venue.

Not the right time of year to be cutting hedges, but we scanned the hedge very thoroughly before starting.

Richard produced a perfect finish and was very easy to teach.  If only all training days could be like this!

Pesticide Application courses, Todd's Leap, Northern Ireland, 30th April - 3rd May 2012

Life is rarely dull, as a Lantra instructor.  Its a mere 5 hour journey from mid Wales to the other side of Northern Ireland!

Many thanks to our hosts, Todd's Leap Activity and training centre, for providing impeccable preparation and transport at all times of the day and night.




The course took place in bright sunshine, in stark contrast to the heavy rain storms over England and Wales!  I learnt as much about lock-keeping from the boys at Waterways Ireland, as they learnt about pesticides.

All of the people I met were extremely friendly and welcoming.  The countryside is beautiful,with lots of rivers and lakes, and the whole place has a feeling of optimism and industry. 

Thankyou to all who attended the course and to Paul who acted as chauffeur and chef all week.  I hope I'll be back soon!

Lantra 5 day chainsaw, felling up to 15" trees - 16th - 20th April 2012

In a week that was forecast to rain heavily every day, we stayed extremely dry!  I ran the first two days back to front to avoid the rain showers that never came.

On Friday morning we were pelted with biblical rain and hail showers - so we did the sensible thing and did some revision in a shed.  However, it was seriously cold for mid April.

Many thanks to Alex and Guy for making the course a light-hearted affair, and my sincerest apologies for the assessor's mix up with the assessment date on Saturday.

It was great to have two students training with us - we do free equipment hire and chainsaw fuel for students as well as a 10% discount by the way!

Lantra 1 day experienced operator Strimmer course - May 2nd 2012

Its the time of year to get your strimmer out again!

We have a good relationship with the local church warden, so we get a fantastic venue with lots of complicated bits to strim around, and he gets his grass cut.

We've been doing this course for a good many years now and some things keep cropping up.  For anyone with a big Stihl strimmer like the one in the picture - the black extension on the bottom of the guard is not optional!  Some users like to remove it so that they can have the cord so long that it grazes their toes.

To be fair to Gwen, this was an inherited machine, and I know she will find the black strip somewhere in the bottom of a dusty box in the workshop and will ensure it stays on the machine!  Thanks for a great day, and I hope your employer will buy you a nice new shiny 4X4 soon.

Lantra 1 day Hand Held Hedge Trimmer course - 30th March 2012

Spring is here!

Had a very enjoyable day training at the BTCV in Penllergaer, just off the M4 near Swansea. 

If you get the chance, go and have a look at the Llys Nini reserve where they are situated.  They only have a small workshop, but they are working wonders with the reserve - creating a truly beautiful woodland walk, complete with boardwalk and benches.

We had a hilarious day with Jayne, Katie, Lea, Helen and Alan entertaining me and each other.  Great weather again, and our enthusiasm wasn't dampened much by the rough hedge or the broken hedge cutter.

It was my second visit to the BTCV this month, and I'm always unlifted by the enthusiasm of the volunteers.  Keep up the good work!

Lantra 2 day Chainsaw Refresher - 26th and 27th March 2012

What a beautiful work site!  Wonderful weather.  Great company.  Courses don't come better than this.

Sorry I didn't take any photos - too busy enjoying the day.  Aled and Josh took a two day refresher to update their training ready for their NPTC assessment.  Many thanks to Iwan and Gwyneth for allowing us to fell in their farm woodland.  It was refreshing to be doing a useful bit of work - felling European Larch to make way for a track.

Absolutely faultless conditions.  Bright sun, but with a cool breeze, and too early yet for the flies, two very rare perfect days to be in the woods!

Well done to Aled and Josh for passing their assessment the next day.

Lantra 2 day Pesticide Application Course PA1 and PA6AW - 15th and 16th March 2012

 Pesticide application is a tough course to learn and a tough course to teach.  It makes it very much easier if everyone is up for trying to make it as light hearted as possible.

Many thanks to Rob, Rob and Mav for making this one of the most amusing courses I have run for a long time.

Also, congratulations to all for getting very high marks in the PA1 test, and flying through the knapsack sprayer practical test.

A particular highlights of the course for me were the curry night we had at the end of the course, and the search for Pesticide related films.  Try these for size ....

'Pestisilence of the Lambs'
'Glyphosfatal Attraction'
'The Da Vinci Code of Practice'

Ho, ho, I hear you say!  Well, you'll just have to come on the course to work our what on earth I'm on about!