NEWS & VIEWS
An arborist’s
life for me TOM ENDERSBY SWAPPED HIS FORMER JOB AS A PRISONER ESCORT FOR WORKING WITH TREES IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS. HERE HE EXPLAINS HIS ESCAPE ROUTE
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t’s a chilly February day in grimy Hackney, north east London and Tom Endersby is felling trees on a development site. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to their ideal workplace, but Tom says there is nowhere else he would rather be. He’s with fellow crew members from Artemis Tree Services, a thriving business which was founded in by arborist imon ie. he firm covers Hertfordshire, Buckingham and Berkshire along with many London boroughs and was set up as a sole trader. It is now an Arboricultural Associationapproved contractor, employing 30 people. While tree surgery, both domestic and commercial, is a large part of its work, Artemis also undertakes more specialist tasks such as conducting surveys and conservation projects. Tom, 28, is an apprentice arborist and is learning both on the job and by attending Capel Manor College in nfield. t is a t o year programme and he has another 12 months to go before becoming fully ualified. There is a perception that apprentices are typically 18-year-olds who are straight from college, but for om, the situation is different. He has a partner, Mandy, and two sons aged six and three, so it can’t be easy managing on an apprentice’s pay for two years. This is compounded
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Pro Arb | Spring 2019
Interview.indd 14
I think back to those hours spent in courtrooms and how oppressive it was compared to now, being able to work with great people – you can actually have fun at work and I also really get on with all the staff and lecturers at Capel ManoR WWW.PROARBMAGAZINE.COM
10/04/2019 11:28