Dave
Bristol born and bred, Dave has lived most of his life in Lawrence Weston half a mile from the farm. He started volunteering at the farm some four years ago after losing his job at Bristol Zoo, because he wanted to keep active. He’d been told about the farm at the local Jobshare office so he walked round, introduced himself and joined the Gardening Club, which meets every Friday. His first job, he recalls, was helping build the greenhouse where a lot of our potting work goes on.
Since then Dave has proved to be a willing and enthusiastic participant. The activities of the gardening Club change according to the passing seasons and Dave doesn’t mind what job he’s asked to do. In fact he says he has no time for people who want to pick and choose. His father used to grow vegetables in the back garden and Dave liked helping him. He says he likes growing veg and loves working in the greenhouse planting seeds, potting on and tending the plants. But Dave is an all-rounder; he enjoys the animals, working in the woodland clearing weeds and brambles, coppicing, pruning, fencing and weaving hurdles, planting trees and splitting logs.
He has also completed two courses at the farm; Woodland Skills and Herbs For Health. Most of all perhaps, Dave enjoys the camaraderie of the Gardening Club. He has become a valued and popular member always ready for a laugh and joke. He says he would miss working at the farm if for any reason he had to stop and I dare say the farm would miss him just as much.
