Reg Harris and Ted Green MBE
Simon received Reg and Ted’s award from Ted Green at AA HQ.
Every year Reg Harris and Ted Green, tree ecologists and the brains behind Thinking Arbs events, present an award to someone in arboriculture in recognition of their contribution to trees and our industry. We are proud to announce that this year’s award goes to Simon Richmond, the Association’s Senior Technical Officer. Reg sent us the following article explaining why he and Ted chose Simon for this honour.
Simon Richmond began his distinguished career with trees in 1974 when he first became an arborist. After 15 years as a contractor, he moved into training in the late 1980s and 1990s when he worked with the NPTC, ATB and FTC/FASTCO. In the late ’90s, utilising his arb contracting background and training experience, he developed the first commercial risk assessment system for the Arboricultural Association, which many companies still use to this day. In 2002, when FASTCO ceased, he was seconded to Lantra where he used all his diplomatic skills to encourage NPTC/City & Guilds and Lantra to work in partnership for chainsaw and aerial tree work training and certification. He received the Arboricultural Association Award in 2006.
Simon joined the staff of the Association in 2007 as a Technical Officer, initially to develop the AA’s training programme. He went on to become the Editor of the ARB Magazine, helped deliver the annual Amenity Conference and the ARB Show and technical publications, as well as being an Approved Contractor assessor in his spare time! In 2015 he was promoted to his current role as Senior Technical Officer.
Simon’s contribution to arboriculture has been huge, and the effects of his talents have been felt not only in this country but also across the rest of Europe where he has been involved in helping to put together the VETcert qualification and the EAC pruning guide. Despite being ‘retired on 4 days a week’, Simon continues to work hard on projects and committees in the UK, including the Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG), Action Oak, project managing the production of the Industry Code of Practice for Tree Work (editions 1 and 2) and the AA’s Technical Guides (1–5), and he is scheme manager for the AA Registered Consultants.
We are very grateful to Simon for his support with regards to ancient trees in the UK and continental Europe. He has given the Ancient Tree Forum a regular place in the ARB Magazine and has been very generous in publishing articles on the subject, which has undoubtedly helped spread awareness and knowledge about the rich ancient tree heritage we have in the UK.
Thank you, Simon, for all your dedication, hard work and commitment to trees and arboriculture. You really have earned this award.
Reg and Ted
This article was taken from Issue 195 Winter 2021 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.