Street Works Qualification

The Arb team go on yet another course! Matt and myself did our supervisor qualification for Signing Lighting and Guarding and Sam and Mike were doing there signing lighting and Guarding instillation qualification. We needed to update these courses because of the new requirements to have a "street works card" as of the end of April in order to put any cones out on the highway! This course will enable us to use temporary traffic lights and other combinations of signs inorder to safely guard of areas of the highway! We decided to send all of the Arboriculture team onto the course to ensure there training is up to date and in line with these new requirements. Nigel from Lux traffic management did a brilliant job of training us and we all had two fun days out playing with cones!!! We all passed so apologies if you see us out there holding you up in the roads of Oxfordshire in the near future.

First Country Gardens Event of 2011

On Thursday the 17th of March we held our first Country Garden Event of the 2011 seaon. This was a talk by the very well known and respected sundial designer and maker David Harber. And followed by a brief introduction to Alitex greenhouses.

David Harber Sundials

I had no idea that Sundials were so beautiful and complex. Not only is the concept of a sundial one of the oldest forms of time measurement in mankind, but the design is hugely involved: each sundial is individually made to be accurate depending on the site it is going in. Depending on the longitude, the sun shines at a different angle and hence the angles of the rings need to be correct to show the shadow - the most accurate sundial is accurate to 15 seconds!!David Harber has spent years perfecting the maths and has not compromised on the beauty and aesthetics of his product. A Sundial is a thing of beauty that is timeless.

Alitex Greenhouses

When you want to see a greenhouse that looks like the old Victorain Glasshouses yet has all the features of a modern greenhouse then Alitex is the make to look at. Hence their accreditaion with the National Trust. Their greenhouses are made of Aluminium - 90% of which is recycled - and are beautifully and sympathetically built.

The next event is on 21st April and has James Alexander-Sinclair speaking.

Tubex Tree Guards

'Know your product' - so the business mantra goes. It makes sense. It helps customers understand advantages and time savings when making comparisons with other products on the market.

In the spirit of this, Business Development Executive, Debbie Philippe from Tubex joined one of our teams for a day of tree planting in February - using their guards.


A highlight of this rather grey and misty day was when Debbie broke the shaft on a professional planting spade.....no we hadn't rigged it!

1080 trees and Tubex guards later we had the job completed.

Thanks for joining us Debbie!

Nicholsons in the Ardennes

Forestry Director Tim Shardlow has just returned from Belgium. He advised an Estate on woodland management with particular emphasis on 'pheasants and forestry'.