History of Agricultural Education in Wiltshire - Lackham Countryside ...

students, by Garden Societies and amateur groups visiting the College. A further
use of the material was as visual aids at meetings held throughout the county. In
1975, the Local Government Training Board's Training Modules for the county
grounds staff were offered on a regular basis, occasional residential accommodation
being available to those requiring it. Domestic advice up to the late 1960's included
visits to gardens, but gradually this service was reduced to those few problems
impossible to solve by telephone, letter or by the "client" visiting the College by
appointment. With the rise in interest in domestic food production, there have been
a very large number of soil and plant samples brought in for advice.[i]
GROWTH OF DAY RELEASE IN HORTICULTURE
In 1960/61, the U.E.I. Stage I Horticulture course was offered at the Trowbridge
College to six students. In 1962, this was changed to the City & Guilds of London
Institute Stage I Horticulture syllabus with a class of eight students. The numbers
in the Trowbridge recruiting area stayed static in the region of 8 to 16, apart from
1965 when there was a great influx of school groundstaff for one winter period.
Swindon College and Salisbury College became centres in the mid 1960's with
enrolments from the Parks Departments. Enrolment numbers reached a maximum in
1965 with over 50, but gradually slipped until the mid 1970's when numbers began to
pick up after being at a steady 35 or so. By 1972, all the Horticulture Day Release
classes were held at Lackham with a day for each area. Tuesday for South
Wiltshire, Wednesday for the Warminster/ Trowbridge/Devizes area, Thursday for
Swindon and North Wiltshire. Enrolment numbers for 1976: Salisbury area 15, Mid
Wiltshire 13, Swindon area 14 (42).
The careers office who undertook to provide the information relating to school
leavers entering the industry have so far been unable to produce this latter statistic
up to 1976, though they have been very helpful indeed with first job information.
It is not clear if there has been a decline in numbers entering the horticultural
industry. While there has been a 'shake out' of the staff at nurseries due to
Selective Employment Tax, and the high overheads of employment such as the
National Insurance Stamp contributions, there have been other areas of
development - both in some new glasshouse and shrub nurseries, more jobs at the
Department of Environment (improving the horticultural amenities of the large area
of Army camps, R.A.F. stations and the ancient monuments). Also the more
professional approach to school playing fields and other Local Authority amenity
maintenance has increased the number of full-time appointments - maybe by reducing
considerably the number of part-time personnel. Commercial horticulture has made a
big swing to part-timers - mainly women, as their main labour source.
The largest single employer of groundstaff and horticulturists in the county, the
Estates and Valuations Department, support training courses, as do the Swindon
(Thamesdown) authorities with their own training scheme, all within the guide lines of