SNIPEF

Ellie Ferguson

We have very recently started a phased return back to the office, and today is my first day working from the office. I’m looking forward to meeting my colleagues with who I have worked with over the last year. At first, I was feeling a little nervous but was made to feel very welcome by everyone. Dale Thomson, my manager, gave me a tour of the office and talked me through all the covid procedures in place. I really enjoyed my first day in the office and it was great to be able to collaborate with my team face to face. We sign off at half four on a Friday.  

Marion Stewart

I was picked up at Fochabers Square and headed to Banff to continue with the installation. Once we arrived there, we went back upstairs with the tools and ladder. I set up everything and my journeyman went to get the keys for the boiler room and turn off the valve for the mains water. By the time he returned, I had everything ready to go.

The journeyman started by holding the bucket so I could start to cut through the pipe. I only cut partially through it so that the water could drain, it did not take long for the water to stop. Then I cut the other side of the pipe that we had marked which made sure that there was enough room for the crimped tee. The tee was depth gaged and marked then crimped. The valve was depth gaged and crimped to connect the mains water and the feed to the drinking tap. He went back downstairs and called me when he was turning on the water. I was upstairs to make sure that there were no leaks. Once I was happy that there were no leaks, he came back up.

We went back into the staff room kitchen to drill a hole where the tap was going to go then we had a good idea, we were going to drop our pipe. The pipe was going to run down the back of the wall since there was no way of it running down the back of the unit. We put two chrome clips on the back unit then ran the pipe down the wall and along the back of the cupboard. We then connected it up to the tap, turned on the water to make sure that there were no leaks. We chlorinated the pipe then left it when we lagged all the pipework in the attic, due to it being a health care environment there is no lagging on the back walls for hygiene reasons. Once it was lagged, we flushed the system and packed up, turned off the water for the tap. We handed our passes into reception and told them that the water was not safe to drink until the water had been tested and then we headed home. 

Gemma Ireland

Like most people, I enjoy Fridays. Sometimes we pick up a hot chocolate as a treat. I am lucky enough to get the weekends off. It is good to end the week feeling that I have learned and achieved a lot. I am really enjoying my apprenticeship and I look forward to being fully qualified. The great thing about this job is that people are usually very glad to see us and are really happy when we fix their problems, especially on emergency jobs when they can be in a panic. There is a real sense of satisfaction seeing a happy customer. That’s what it’s all about.