The Chron spends a day in the life of Debbie Samwell, Delapre Park’s new ranger
Park rangers Vikkie Maloney, Debbie Samwell and Rachael Bignell at Delapre Abbey.
EVEN when cleaning graffiti off a dog poo bin, park ranger Debbie Samwell remains cheerful and smiling.
Although this may be one of the more unappealing aspects of her job, there is little that Debbie – who is one of the new park rangers patrolling Northampton’s premier parks – dislikes about her job.
And as I spent some time shadowing Debbie on her duties around Delapre Park this week, where the snowdrops were coming into full bloom on the woodland floor, I could certainly see why she doesn’t lament not being stuck in front of computer screen all day.
“I have had a lot of people asking if I would swap jobs with them, but I have worked in customer services, I have been a waitress, a shop assistant in telecommunications . . . and this is by far the best job,” said the 31-year-old.
“Every day there are different challenges; there is no such thing as a typical day for me.
“I feel really lucky.”
The decision to introduce the park rangers was made in May last year by Northampton Borough Council, with funding for the positions found through efficiencies made in other areas.
The recruitment process started at the end of May and the three new park rangers took up their posts in September. Debbie was allotted Delapre, Vikkie Maloney was given Abington Park and Rachael Bignell The Racecourse.
“The three of us are each individually employed to work in one of those three parks and be a point of contact there,” said Debbie.
“But although we are all responsible for our own park, we want to help promote all of the parks and make sure everyone is aware of all of them.
“So there is a lot of communication between us, and we still work together even when we are working individually.”
The rangers act as a port of call for residents and visitors to the park and work with friends’ group, the police and neighbourhood wardens to help look after green spaces and support and organise events.
And in many ways after spending some time with Debbie it is clear she has often become a hub, bringing many of the parks’ groups and users together.
“A key thing about the job is information sharing and talking to one another,” said Debbie.
“A lot of different groups are involved in Delapre and I will speak to the Delapre Dragons when they are here and the Northampton Society of Model Engineers.
“I go to residents’ association meetings and one of the first things I will do when I get here is to pop in to have a word with someone from FODA (Friends of Delapre Abbey).
“They are here every day and they help feed back things they see and need done which is really helpful.
“I also talk to them about events coming up.
“The park is obviously used for a lot of events throughout the year, and there is the beer festival coming up and then we have a jubilee coming up this year, which I can’t give too much away about but it is going to be exciting.”
Liaising with lots of different groups has also helped Debbie to deal with the questions she is asked by the public.
“Now we have our uniforms which are high visibility and have park ranger written on them, we are a lot more visible to people,” said Debbie.
“I walk past and people will say hello and have a chat and ask what I’m doing.
“A lot of people say ‘I didn’t realise we had a park ranger’.
“People have all sorts of questions.
“A lot of groups use the park, who are all different sources of knowledge about it.
“There are also a lot of people in the council who have worked in the park over the years and together everyone is a wealth of knowledge and understanding about it and I am trying to learn from all of them.
“Just knowing little things like that the Events Field has its bumpy surface because of ridge and furrow method of working the land in Medieval times.
“Knowing all these little details help because people ask about all sorts.
“I hope people will continue to feel they can come to me and ask questions, if I don’t know I will always endeavour to find out the answer.”
While out on patrol we find some graffiti created with paint Debbie is unable to remove, so she photographed it to send to the borough council’s contractor Enterprise.
“What I can clean or deal with I will, but if I spot something I can’t then I will let Enterprise know, with things like graffiti if it’s offensive they will have if off within 24 hours,” she said.
And it is quite clear that Debbie has an eagle eye for spotting things as we walk around the grounds.
“I’m not sure what the acreage of the park is but it takes about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to walk around,” she said.
“If I’m here for the day I will walk around it at least three times. I have definitely lost a bit of weight since I started and can eat more chocolate cake in the Delapre Cafe.
“I always try to change direction and walk up paths both ways.
“I find if you always walk in the same direction you will only see litter or issues on one side, but when you go the other way you see things differently and you spot more.”
And no matter what the elements throw at her Debbie seems to be happy to be out in the open.
“If you are going to apply for a post as a park ranger you have to expect to be out in all weathers.
“Vikkie was out the day it snowed, and you just have to expect it and wear lots of layers,” she said.
“But fresh air and exercise has got to be better for you than being cooped up all day, this park in particular is great because there is a real sense of peace and tranquillity here.
“It’s just a mile from the town centre but it is a place where people can take a break from all their daily worries and just relax and find a little bit of peace.
“There are a lot of dog walkers and people who come and visit the park and I think a lot of them realise that if they don’t clear up their mess they won’t enjoy it as much.
“We all have a responsibility to keep it nice.”
Debbie also tries to engage and encourage the community in keeping their park in its best condition, and while we were there put up a poster inviting people to take part in a Volunteer Task Day on Saturday, March 24.
“It will run between 10am to 3pm but people can choose how long they come for,” said Debbie.
“I’m still picking the task, it could be anything from cutting back encroaching over-growth to litter picking.”
Mick Ford, chair of FODA, said; “It’s been really good to have a ranger in the park. It is definitely a good thing having Debbie around, and we would like to have her around even more.
“I think in the summer when we have problems with people having parties down on the lake and we get a bit more vandalism then I think, it will be even more of a good thing.”
THE rangers work an average of 20 hours a week across the year, but focus their hours around times when they will be of most use and have the greatest impact such as weekends and holiday periods.
They have also undertaken police accreditation training to qualify for enforcement powers to deal with some aspects of anti-social behaviour, such as littering and dog fouling.
Their primary role is to provide a point of contact for local residents and visitors . . . someone to report incidents to and discuss park issues with, as well as organising events and helping to attract visitors.
Park rangers can be contacted by email: Vikkie Maloney: vmaloney@northampton.gov.uk
Debbie Samwell: dsamwell@northampton.gov.uk
Rachael Bignell: rbignell@ northampton.gov.uk
For more information on events coming up at the parks visit: www.northampton.gov.uk.
For more on events at Delapre, visit: www.delapreabbey.org
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