WATCH: Tony hangs up his gardening gloves after four decades

Friday 21 August 2020

From dealing with Great Storm of '87 to ditching "obnoxious" chemicals...the man in charge of keeping St. Helier's outdoor areas clean and green has reflected on his career, as he steps down today after nearly four decades.

St. Helier's Head of Public Services, Tony Andrews (64), has had a significant hand in shaping the parish's outdoor environment, from its parks and gardens to its hanging baskets and award-winning entries in international competitions.

He has also led efforts to recycle more, use chemicals less and engage with the parish’s many communities to keep our urban centre connected to nature.

Mr Andrews joined the parish as an apprentice gardener in 1972 and rose up the ranks to his current role, overseeing its parks, gardens, cemeteries, refuge collection, recycling unit, fleet and various projects.

Video: Tony Andrews reflects on some of the changes that have happened during his long career.

Reflecting on his long career, some events clearly stand out: “Dutch Elm Disease gave us a fantastic opportunity to replant trees although I’d say the biggest single impact in my career was the Great Storm of '87," he said. 

“I remember that evening we had to rescue an ambulance that had been trapped at Beaumont with a patient who’d just had a fit. We then had to go on with our chainsaws to free a fire engine in Vallée des Vaux, before we got stuck ourselves at Robin Hood.

"It was chaos, with trees coming down everywhere."

Pictured: Tony in one of the parish glasshouses on Queen's Road.

He continued: “After that, we have an incredibly rewarding few years working with landscape architects and land-use consultants. We were able to plant better species and put in new stairways and footpaths at the People’s Park. We also removed the wall down the centre of First Tower Park, built the play area and took out the pine trees that had been destroyed by the storm. 

“In Parade Gardens, we raised all the beds and put in a new network of paths, while in Victoria Park we removed the rockeries and put in raised bedding. This involved working with various community groups, including the Friends of People’s Park and the Parish in Bloom group, organising litter picks, wildflower planting and competitions. It was really rewarding and beneficial to the gardening team.”

Another positive step under Tony’s watch has been an end to the spraying of chemicals, both at St. Helier’s Queen’s Road depot and around the parish. 

“When I started, we would use all sorts of obnoxious chemicals, like DDT or nicotine smoke, which would kill absolutely everything. My goal was to move away from that and, today, we only use natural products and solutions, like bugs that eat problem bugs, thermal treatments and strimming. Also, we don’t keep everything perfectly pristine: Green Street cemetery, for instance, is more of a meadow these days.”

Pictured: Tony led a team of around 90 staff.

Enhancing and protecting the environment has also been at the heart of efforts to recycle more in the parish. Tony oversees a team that collects, sorts and processes tonnes of cardboard, metals and plastics each week, which are sent to France for recycling. The plant in Normandy was chosen because it could prove that its materials were genuinely used again and didn’t become landfill.

Dealing with waste became a particular challenge during this year’s lockdown.

“Covid was a real test for us and it actually delayed my retirement by a few months. We had to protect frontline services, so you had gardeners and stonemasons collecting rubbish alongside the normal crews. We operated in bubbles and brought in a fleet of minibuses that followed the dust lorries. 

“We were shocked by the amount of glass that we collected. We usually collect glass three times a week but we had to move to every day – the loads were up to three times heavier. Also, I’ve never seen so many pizza boxes in my life! Unfortunately, we had to stop recycling at one point because we had too many tissues and masks coming through.”

Pictured: St. Helier runs a busy recycling unit that was close to capacity even before lockdown led to a tripling of waste collected.

Tony is confident that he leaves a skilled, conscientious and capable team who will continue to create and maintain important open spaces in the parish, under his replacement Rob Kearsey. 

A pragmatist, Tony understands the need for a new hospital but hopes that, if it is built on the People’s Park – which is something his Constable strongly opposes – the parish is given another space for events. He would also “relish” the challenge of creating a park on the existing hospital site.

But from today, his more immediate concerns will be walking the dog, kayaking, fishing, tending to his own garden and waiting for his wife Linda to join him in retirement.

With Tony's passion for the coast and Linda's strong involvement in island netball, it is unlikely to be a quiet one.