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The farmer and the drystone waller couldn't be there but a farrier striking sparks in the shadow of Leeds Town Hall was a surprising enough sight to draw attention to a roadshow by Lantra, the Government's training organiser for industries based on the land, environment and animals. Chris Benfield and photographer Gerard Binks looked at what was on offer.
Lantra is trying to draw attention to a shortage of new entrants to agriculture in particular, following a survey which showed farm workers are older, on average, than any other professional group in the UK. Nearly 40 per cent of them are expected to retire in the next 10 years.
A Lantra leaflet points out that the old world order of food production is already overthrown. Spain supplies most of the UK's imported eggs while China is the world's biggest producer of pork and potatoes.
In the midst of this turmoil, British farming is losing nearly 16,000 employees a year – and the government has called on Lantra to reverse that.
Part of the message of the roadshow is the variety of options open in the Lantra sector. So a hairdresser for dogs, from Bradford, and a team from Askham Bryan College, building a putting green, were part of the line-up in Leeds.
The Farrier ... Steve Hewitt left school at 16 wanting to be a professional rider. He didn't make it, but he still works with horses every day – and employs five apprentices and two part-time assistants at the Thick Penny Forge at Moor Monkton, near York.
Georgina Miller, who was with him, is in the third of the four years of apprenticeship required, on top of a blacksmith's certificate, which can take a year.
Steve said: "The metalwork is at least half the job. People pay you to shoe the horse, not to make the shoes, but machine-made horseshoes are never quite right. I charge about 55 to make and fit a set and I can comfortably do about six horses a day. Of course, there are costs to set against that.
"Working for somebody else, I guess, the wage for a farrier with a bit of experience would be about 20,000."
The Dog Groomer ... Joanne Botwood, 35, started as a YTS apprentice and now runs her own business, Classy Cuts, near Bradford Infirmary, with two assistants.
She said: "A dog needs a haircut for its own well-being and for practical reasons for the owner.
"A long coat needs a lot of maintenance. Also, it's just nice to make them look nice. The biggest mistake people make, coming into the business, is to under-estimate the hard work involved. It's harder than hairdressing, because you can easily find yourself dealing with a coat that hasn't been brushed for three months. You feel it in your shoulders at the end of the day. You wouldn't do it if you didn't love dogs. I've got three – a German shepherd and two American cockers, which are my favourite breed.
"People criticised the YTS scheme but it gave me two years of training and a City & Guilds qualification, which you would find hard to get now without going privately. But the colleges do short foundation courses."
She added: "If you are working for somebody else, in this business, you are probably on pretty much the minimum wage – around 6 an hour. But if you run your own business, you can earn a decent living."
The landscaper ... James Richardson, 18 next month, has done a foundation year in horticulture at Askham Bryan College and is about to start work.
"I got five GCSEs at A to C grades but I didn't want to spend any more time inside. I went to Doncaster College for an NVQ1 in horticulture, then to Askham Bryan for the degree foundation year, which finishes on July 4.
"I might go on for a National Diploma later but I've got a job lined up in Doncaster, in landscaping and garden maintenance. I'll be working away quite a lot, doing hotel grounds and that sort of thing.
"It will pay about about 50 a day. That's not bad for a starting wage and there are bonuses and there's always the opportunity to do a bit of work on your own.
"My grandad had a farm and I've always done gardening. I do a lot of shooting as a hobby and I did think of going into countryside management and game-keeping. Maybe I will, later. I suppose what I've learnt so far is how much there is you can learn to do. You can get a ticket to drive a JCB digger, for example, another licence for tree work ... everything comes into it.
"Even gardening can mean anything from greens' maintenance to arboriculture. One thing leads on to another."
For careers advice, call 0845 7078007 or email connect@lantra.co.uk.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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