A Lasting Partnership

By Ian Doughty

I first heard about the Skill Mill in late 2013 from one of my colleagues at and the Environment Agency, I didn’t know what to think really. I got just a little but of information so I organised a meeting in Newcastle with Davie Parks. The meeting was wonderful I came out of the meeting really invigorated and wanting to get on board with the project. So we got together and we got some of the Skill Mills team out on our river systems helping us clear blockages, removed trees and carried out grass cutting and brushing works.

My team at Cramlington were absolutely won over straight away by the enthusiasm of the Sill Mills workers. Sean runs the Team brilliantly, he always has good things to say about everyone who’s there and the work that they did was to a very high standard definitely on a par with anyone on our framework contract.

After we’d one that for a while we wanted to see how we could move on and take things forward. One of the people’s names who always stood out was Tony Neilson. The Cramlington team always said that he was always full of enthusiasm, always willing to learn always asking questions and they were really fond of him. So when it got asked if we could take this on somewhere, we thought about taking someone at the environment agency on for a year. We did this through S Construction so it would give Tony twice as much chance of different sorts of training and give him a bit more experience. Tony’s been with us now since August, he’s done a level 2 diploma in Environmental Construction at Houghal College. He’s done on the job training at Cramlington, he’s done on the job training with S Construction and just like he was when we first met him Tony’s still the same, he’s willing to learn. He’ll do anything you ask of him with real, real high enthusiasm.

Looking back at it from two years ago it is nearly now, we didn’t know what to expect when we first heard from Davie Parks. But we went into it with an open mind and it really couldn’t have worked out better. Everyone in my team has enjoyed working together, and they always talk about having a really good time when they work with the Skill Mill team. This is partnership that works for both parties and we hope it continues for many years to come.