Yvette Freeman is many things. But, most importantly, she is now an arborist. Here she tells us about the challenges she faced in changing career from the police to arb, and how she hopes to banish preconceived ideas to the history books.
IT was a little over six years ago when Yvette Freeman was at a loss of where to go next. Having recently walked out on her job at the British Transport Police, she had no idea how she was going to pay her mortgage or even what career she wanted to pursue.
That was until she stumbled upon an episode of Countryfile. Featuring the story of Jess Herbert, it sparked something in Yvette she can’t quite explain, who, despite never having held a chainsaw, suddenly knew what she had to do. And so, at 39, she took the plunge, dusting off her CV and sending it to every tree surgery company she could find in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, hoping someone would give her a chance. Thankfully, one did.
Now 45, Yvette’s journey from policing to arboriculture is complete – she’s a self-employed subcontractor – but it’s one that hasn’t been without its challenges. Challenges she is only too happy to discuss in the hope that she isn’t the last career changer to bring their wealth of talent to the industry.
While spending a lot of her time on the ground, she has also become a skilled climber. (Image: Lantra)
“One thing I was really concerned about was my skills,” she said. “I had never picked up a chainsaw – what could I offer? So, I really focused on the skills I had been using since I left school as a teenager, like dynamic risk assessment.
“I can do those things very quickly. Life has taught us to have those skills, and someone younger may not have them. That’s what I feel I have been able to bring into this industry – a little bit of knowledge from the outside.
“I haven’t been born with a chainsaw in my hands. Some have, and it’s all they know. That can be great for the industry, but you do need to know a little bit outside the industry. It’s about looking ahead and ahead and ahead, and not just seeing the job in front of you.”
That experience of the wider world has been key. Some of the obstacles to beginning a new career in her late 30s have been obvious, others less so. While the possibility of encountering prejudice (from potential employers, colleagues, or customers) might be expected, there are barriers that had to be overcome before Yvette could even be in a position to face preconceived ideas head on.
Yvette one day hopes to run her own company (Image: Lantra)
Take kit. As any tree surgeon will know, that’s potentially a £2,000 plus expenditure prior to getting started, with no guarantee that you’ll make the money back anytime soon. While that’s a daunting prospect for anyone in arb, it can be particularly dispiriting for career changers, given they are usually long past the window for apprenticeships, trainee schemes or equipment grants. Yvette knows that only too well.
“Be prepared to struggle financially,” she said. “I am self-funded, I am self-employed. It was a shock. £300 for trousers. £300 for boots. Then you have your helmet. So even before you get started on climbing equipment, you’ve spent £1,000.
“That is a major barrier. Something has to be done about that. I got a grant for my boots because I couldn’t afford them. I don’t see a lot of promotion of grants and bursaries happening for older people.
“We can’t have age stopping someone from getting a career.
“Why do we have age limits on grant applications?”
As for the gear itself, Yvette has very much become a Stihl woman, using a mixture of the brand’s chainsaws (albeit she, by her own admittance, is less concerned about the individual models and more about the name on the saw).
“Everything has been given to me,” she continued. “I have taken it, got it serviced and fixed up. Everything from my boots to chainsaw trousers were all second-hand, and that was for a good few years.
“With climbing gear, it has to be brand new, but it costs a lot of money. That’s where I have issues. If I do climb, I have to use my colleague’s equipment. At some point I may get enough money to get my own stuff, but I have to make do with the opportunities I get.
“I usually use Stihl. I don’t really like Husqvarnas. If I started using them from the start, it may have been different. I know Stihl, I know the engine, I know how to take them apart and put them back together.
“A chainsaw is a chainsaw. It’s what you are doing with it.
“Sometimes I just use a Silky. By the time you finish pumping up your chainsaw – especially on a cold morning – and trying to get it going, you might as well have cut it. Sometimes doing things simply gets the job done.
“It can look great with a fancy bar and chain, but is it the right tool for the job?”
During the challenging times, several things kept Yvette going. One has been (and still is) the love for the job, and the chance to make a difference to the natural world. The other? Her support network at Lantra and among her fellow arborists, chief among them being Rob Clements of Clements Tree Care in Maidenhead.
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“It is a massive variety of work that we do,” she said. “I prefer tree climbing and enjoy the opportunities to go up and do that. But at the end of the day, it’s about what is available at the time.
“I work with Rob and he has been climbing for a while. He does the majority of it, and I’ll be on the ground. To be fair, that’s where I am best, managing the ground.
“The groundworker is sometimes more important than the actual climber, and I think that can sometimes be forgotten. Climbers can look amazing, but the groundie is responsible for the safety on the site and making sure the job gets done.
“It’s a real shame that groundworkers don’t get the pats on the back we deserve.
Jess Herbert, centre, inspired Yvette to pursue a career in arb (Image: eA/Jack Haugh)
It’s always about the sexy stuff, and we do get forgotten about. If something happens to the climber, we are the ones that have to potentially save their life.”
On Rob’s support through the years, Yvette added: “He’s just amazing. He is a great human being, and is like a brother from another mother. He took me on when I was really green, and is one of the reasons I am still here.”
By now, it won’t have escaped your attention that Yvette doesn’t look like your ‘stereotypical tree surgeon’. Her skin colour, age, gender, and sexuality (she is very much besotted in her same-sex marriage) naturally make her stand out from the image some will have of arborists; or at least the image some have had over the years.
It’s this – and those stubbornly prevailing ideas – that Yvette is hoping to change.
“We don’t always want this stereotypical tree surgeon,” she said. “It’s to get rid of this stereotype – you don’t have to fit this certain box to do a certain job.
Yvette loves the feeling of being high in the canopy. (Image: Lantra)
“When I was in the police, I was the only officer of colour in the entire station, working in a community that was entirely mixed. It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t want us to be in a situation where I am the only one.
“The more the people on the tools open their minds to females being on their teams, the better the industry will be.”
She added: “I am finding a lot of that is coming into this industry – a lot of tree surgeons have been stuck in a rural community and haven’t seen anything different. What they see is coming from the media or the good old mobile phone.
“There has to be a line. I don’t do banter – that’s oppressing someone. As soon as you allow that, it will get out of hand and turn into victimisation. That does put females off.
“Luckily, I am old enough and wise enough to knock it on the head. There are others who won’t.”
She is very much a Stihl woman, but relies on her trusty Silky saws, too. (Image: Lantra)
When the dust finally does settle on Yvette’s career, she hopes to be able to look back having helped overcome the barriers some still face, while playing as equally as important a role in ensuring arborists remember why they are doing the job in the first place.
“It’s about taking care of everything around you and having that attitude about the environment. It’s not just about keeping the integrity of the trees, but about everything around it,” she said. “When you see things happen like people chucking baby pigeons in the chipper … it’s hard.
“It’s about seeing a much bigger picture of biodiversity, and that’s something I am learning now. It’s about what trees do and the animals that need the trees. I am part of that, and I like keeping the integrity of that going.
“When I look back, I hope I am successful in getting funding to secure courses. I will have a small company; nothing major. Just me, a little chipper, and a couple of other people, doing it the way I want to do it.
“To have that freedom to do what we do best – looking after the tree.”
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