130 apprenticeships for 130 years

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By Paul Forecast, Regional Director of the Midlands and East of England, National Trust

At the National Trust we’re celebrating a big birthday this year.

It’s been 130 years since we were founded by three people who believed firmly that everyone had a right to green space, and who understood just how important that access was for our physical and mental wellbeing. Against the backdrop of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, they recognised the threats to our natural environment and campaigned to save it, not just for themselves, but for everyone.

To coincide with our birthday in January, we shared our plans for the next ten years, in the form of our new strategy. This strategy is rooted in that same bold, campaigning spirit that our founders embodied and it’s why our plans are deliberately ambitious. We want to restore nature, not just on our own land, but everywhere. We want to end unequal access to nature, beauty and history. And we want to inspire millions more people to join us on this journey, creating new opportunities for them to take action for nature and for history.

Inspiring people will be essential. The scale of the nature and climate crisis, the extent of unequal access across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are so extreme that it will be the work of many, not the few, to tackle them.

We want people to be able to choose to take action in ways that work for them, whether that is volunteering, donating, or lending their voice to a campaign. We also hope that some people will be inspired to join our teams on the ground and behind the scenes. This is why, in our 130th year, we chose to launch a new apprenticeships scheme for 130 young people as one of our new strategy’s flagship projects.

I’m particularly passionate about this scheme because I started my own career as an apprentice. I left school at sixteen to begin an apprenticeship in forestry—a decision that turned out to be one of the most formative and impactful choices of my life. Whilst it has been a long time since I wielded a chainsaw it gave me the confidence to enter the workplace. I am now the Trust’s regional director for the Midlands and East of England, with responsibility for amazing places such as the Peak District and Wicken Fen, as well as Blakeney Point, Hatfield Forest and Orford Ness: all National Nature Reserves, SSSis, SPAs and SACs.

To make this scheme a success, we’re collaborating with external partners who specialise in recruiting apprentices and understanding what resonates with school leavers. Together, we’re reimagining what an apprenticeship at the National Trust can look like, focusing on roles that are relevant and inspiring. These 130 apprenticeships will be based at locations round the country, in a range of careers including gardening and countryside management, as well as project management, information technology, finance and HR.

As with all our apprenticeships, we want to open doors that we can keep ajar, supporting people to go on to have successful careers either with the Trust, or elsewhere in the sector. In my own career I was a countryside ranger for a local authority, and worked for the RSPB for 16 years. This wider sector experience is something I’ve found useful myself.

I know that for the 130 people who join the Trust as apprentices, it will transform their lives. The apprentices will transform the Trust too. We want to reach people who might not otherwise consider a career with us because we know that if we are to serve society to the best our ability, we will need a diverse workforce that’s representative of that very same society.

Ultimately, we want to inspire the next generation of changemakers. Whether planting sphagnum moss to aid peat restoration, or managing projects that will protect our historic buildings from climate change, apprentices could play a big part in helping the National Trust deliver our new plans for the next ten years. And the need has never been greater.

Since 1970, the UK has lost a fifth of our plants and animals. According to Natural England, one in six species faces extinction. And not a single stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland meets the criteria for “good” river health.

To give you a sense of the challenge we have set ourselves, over the next ten years, the National Trust is aiming to restore 250,000 hectares of nature-rich landscapes, an area one and a half times the size of Greater London. That’s ten times the amount of priority habitat we restored in the last decade. It’s a huge step up.

Over our last strategy period we made good progress in some areas. We’ve worked in closer partnership with other like-minded organisations and charities to achieve more than we ever could alone. At Purbeck Heath for example, we teamed up with Natural England, RSPB, Forestry England, the Rempstone Estate Trust, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, the Dorset National Landscape team and other partners and local communities, to create the UK’s first ‘super’ nature reserve at Purbeck Heaths. Spanning 3,331 hectares, the ‘super’ reserve at Purbeck Heaths brings together 11 priority habitats and provides a connected landscape for the many species that live here.

Studland Heath

We pioneered new solutions to our problems: at the Holnicote estate in Devon, we’ve carried out the UK’s first large scale stage zero river restoration. This technique aims to restore a river to its original state, prior to human intervention. The project has reconnected 1.2km of modified river to its floodplain, creating seven hectares of waterscapes and wetlands, vital for slowing water flow, storing carbon and providing homes for wildlife. We’ve seen a huge surge in insects, amphibians and various bird species, and have measured that increased floodplain connectivity and storage has resulted in a 38% reduction in peak water flow, protecting downstream communities from flooding.

But there is so much more to do. The projects apprentices would support through their various roles would be critical for ensuring that people and nature thrive across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They could be contributing to establishing green corridors, giving people in towns and cities access to the surrounding countryside. Or creating nature-rich spaces for local communities, like at Lunt in Sefton, where the Trust has recently purchased a 78-hectare area of land. The land will support a new network of woodland, woody habitats, wetlands and grassland, and form part of the local Community Forest.

I’m delighted that we’ve been able to expand our apprenticeships scheme in our 130th year. Creating new opportunities for young people to begin their careers feels like a fitting birthday celebration.

If you are interested in finding out more about apprenticeships at the National Trust, please visit our website. Or click here to register your interest in the 130 scheme in advance of it opening in May.

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