Kai Day joins the Council’s Groundsteam as a Level 2 horticultural operative apprentice and will gain hands-on experience of looking after the town’s award-winning open spaces and sports pitches. He will help manage Edenbridge’s eight parks and greens, as well as five playgrounds, the Millennium Wood and Edenbridge Cemetery; learning skills such as grass cutting, refuse management, hedge and vegetation management, weeding, planting and sports pitch maintenance.
“I feel really pleased to have this opportunity of being the Town Council’s first apprentice and I’m looking forward to learning new skills,” said Kai.
“The team is very friendly and supportive and I believe I will learn a lot from their experience of grounds work through watching and interacting with them. I have grown up and lived in Edenbridge all my life so this makes me feel proud to look after grounds which people use frequently and to make the town have a nice environment.”
Head Groundsman, Craig Open, said: “We are really pleased to welcome Kai to the team and look forward to supporting him in his career development. We have lots of experience and skills within the team, so it’s rewarding to know that we can help guide the next generation of horticultural experts.”
Town Clerk, Caroline Leet, said: “As a Council we are keen to provide opportunities for all our staff, and this is especially exciting as we are supporting a young person to gain work skills and training through college. Apprenticeships are a great way for young people to gain professional qualifications as well as provide a way to earn while you learn, combining on-the-job training with off-the-job learning.
“Kai joins an award-winning team and will be learning from the best! Just earlier this year our Groundsteam were proud to receive two Silver-Gilt awards at the South & South East in Bloom Awards for Stangrove Park and Edenbridge Cemetery. The Council also achieved a ‘Good’ standard for all five of the football pitches at the Recreation Ground, Lingfield Road following a PitchPower assessment.” (Pitches are rated Good/Poor/Basic).
To find out more about apprenticeships, you can visit the government website: www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
