Local Face: Patrick Kernan

Patrick Kernan was born in 1969 in the Royal Bucks Hospital in Aylesbury and moved to Wendover when he was 7 years old. He attended the junior schools in Halton and then went to John Colet School for his secondary education. He left school at 16 and went to work for his father doing a welding/fabrication apprenticeship at the Old Ministry Airfield in Long Marston. Having completed his apprenticeship Patrick decided that he was not cut out to be inside and longed for the great outdoors so he then found work with various landscaping/tree surgeons—part time to begin with and continued until he was 23.

Patrick’s great love for Motorcycles lead him to starting his own business with the help of the Prince’s Youth Trust and he and his partner traded as “South East Motor Cycles” for a couple of years until they both went their separate ways and closed the business. He then started working for a tree surgeon up at Lee Common and ended up managing the company for a number of years by which time he had gained all the necessary professional qualifications in order to start up on his own.

P. Kernan Tree Surgery (sole trader) has been in operation for about 15 years in total. Patrick has two vehicles, a wood chipper and various saws, hedge trimmers, etc and all the necessary qualifications for a professional Tree Surgeon. He has two co-workers namely Brian Line and Peter Dunkley who have both worked alongside him for many years building up what is now a very well known and reliable local business.

Patrick feels very fortunate that he has the opportunity to live and work in this idyllic village as he now gets to care for the trees in the parks where he played as a child. Patrick is very passionate about his work. He loves his job, he meets so many people from different walks of life and says he would not want to do anything else. He is called upon to do anything from tree reduction to tree felling, hedge cutting and all the aspects of “tree surgery”.

Patrick has a son Liam (20) and a daughter Jessica, (19). Jessica attends Goldsmiths College for Performing Arts in London and Liam is a semi-professional rugby player, playing for Bridgewater Albion in Somerset. Patrick would like to have his son follow in his footsteps but his son believes he will achieve far greater heights as a rugby player.

Patrick’s partner Nadia is of great support to him both personally and on the administrative side of his business. She is encouraging him to seek further qualifications in his work by completing his National Certificate in Arboriculture.

At the end of a tiring day Patrick can either be found working out at the Spirit Gym in Weston Turville—another of his passions—or drinking a good pint of Guinness at his local pubs, the King and Queen or the Shoulder of Mutton, both in Wendover.

Patrick’s mother, Jenny, still lives in Wendover, as do his two sisters, Tracy and Tammy and their families.