Long Service Anniversaries WHEN Andy Grant and Gareth Cowlishaw talk about their respective work on the Melton Open Spaces contract, one word pops up repeatedly in both conversations: camaraderie. “I think we all love the physicality and diversity of the job, and the time that it gives us with our families,” says Andy. “But the thing I always come back to is how much I love this team. We all get on so well.” Andy became a team leader at the Ravenhall depot when Citywide’s contract at neighbouring Whittlesea ended in March 2019. A week later, after considerable negotiations and uncertainty, he and 11 other members of the Whittlesea team were successfully redeployed to Melton.
Among that team was Gareth – or Gazz as his friends call him – who jumped off his Broadacre mower in Whittlesea on the Friday and hopped straight back on it in Melton on Monday. “I’ve been riding this thing for more than five years now, so I suppose it’s almost a living part of me,” jokes Gazz. In May, Gazz celebrates his 10th year at Citywide – three months after Andy chalked up 15 years with the company. The pair are a walking advertisement for the type of teamwork – and yes, camaraderie – that we all cherish at Citywide. “I think that, as much as they like good workers at Citywide, they would much rather have good people,” says Gazz. “At the Melton contract, I reckon we’ve got that in spades.”
Andy (left) and Gazz pictured at Morton Homestead, one of the City of Melton’s showpiece sites that Citywide maintains. 8 What We Do Matters May-June 2021
