Lancashire landscaping firm paves the way for Myerscough apprentices

D Blackburn Contractors in Clitheroe is just one of hundreds of employers Myerscough works with to train the next generation of workers in a range of sectors across the land-based industry.

The building and landscaping company is run by Dan Blackburn, who says a ‘growing our own’ ethos is key to his firm’s success, with two learners soon to become valued members of his team.

Owen Mercer is already learning  the landscaping trade with the company, combined with his work-based assessments through Myerscough, and fellow apprentice Jack Bradley will be joining the team soon to begin his programme.

Dan said: ‘Giving young people real, hands-on experience on proper jobs is a big part of how we work, and it is something I care a lot about.

‘’People sometimes underestimate landscaping, but it is a skilled trade in its own right. There is a great deal more to a good driveway or a garden transformation than meets the eye, from the groundwork and the drainage through to the finish, and you only really learn it by doing it on site, in all weathers, on real jobs for real customers.''

‘’That is the experience Owen is getting with us, week in and week out.

‘’The way I see it, if you want good landscapers in the future, you have to train them now. The trade has a real skills shortage, and a lot of firms would rather not take the time. I would rather bring a young lad through properly and know the work is being done right.

‘’What Owen learns at Myerscough, paired with what he picks up on the tools with us, is exactly the combination that turns a keen beginner into a skilled landscaper.

‘’Myerscough does a brilliant job on the teaching side, and we are glad to give Owen, and soon Jack, the site experience to go with it. It is genuinely rewarding to watch them come on, and I would encourage any local firm that can to take on an apprentice and do the same.

‘’My thanks to the team at Myerscough. Here is to seeing these lads build proper, lasting careers in the trade.’’

You can see the kind of landscaping and driveway work our apprentices get involved in here, where there is also a careers page to find out more about you could join the team in the future.

Click here for the range of horticulture and landscaping apprenticeship programmes offered at Myerscough College