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There was a full schedule of training including woodland, craft, technical
and basic training, legislative and health & safety certification,
Information Communication Technology, business skills and personal
effectiveness.
Wherever possible, professional instructors were used, such as Lantra registered instructors or existing trainers in other organisations. This was to ensure that the quality of instruction was as high as possible. In some instances, there were no instructors available for some subject areas, such as Charcoal Burning and Hurdle making. In these cases, we used well-recognised craftsmen who had previously been trained in instructional techniques, or we arranged for a co-tutor to be present, who was able to give guidance on instructional style. I.C.T. training On the whole, the trainees found the desk-based training such as financial management and business planning more difficult to sustain interest in than they did the more physical training. Although all would agree that the business training was necessary if they were to make a success of running their own businesses. A major training milestone was the chainsaw training, which took place over two weeks in January. This was both an exciting and exhausting training experience for the trainees. The site chosen for the training was a plantation situated on a hill in the Queen Elizabeth Country Park where there were enough trees for both trainees and trainers to fell. There was both hard and soft wood and "old man’s beard" clematis to provide challenging experiences when trees were "hung up". Each day the trainees had to climb the hill carrying chainsaw, fuel and wearing heavy chainsaw trousers and steel toe-capped boots. It was felt that this training experience would give the trainees a very real taste of the work of a wood contractor. All trainees were very tired at the end of the week but most of them had a strong sense of achievement when they knew that they had gained their chainsaw certificate. In total 52 instructional days were delivered throughout the life of the project.
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