00:00 Richie Baker, or Richie the Ranger as he's known, is celebrating 50 years of promoting
00:07 the environment on Merseyside. We met up with him in Sefton Park.
00:12 Out of all the parks, this is my favourite park. I was the park ranger here for many,
00:18 many years and what a joy it was to do as well. We used to do all the guizers walks
00:22 in the park, all the big events we'd be involved in. We'd also organise all the environmental
00:29 education. Just a great asset and I'm proud to be associated with it for all the years
00:33 that I've spent here. Even now, it still gives me great joy just to come here and enjoy the
00:39 beauty of our great Sefton Park. Richie says his love for the natural world
00:43 started at a young age. I was actually born down Scotland Road and
00:48 in the 50s there wasn't a single blade of grass down Scotland Road, nothing at all.
00:53 But then eventually we moved up to Walton and lo and behold we had a garden. Now my
00:57 dad sadly, he was in a wheelchair and I can remember the day when we were sort of sitting
01:01 in the back garden, it was all overgrown and my dad said to me, "Now with my brain son
01:06 and your brawn, we're going to transform this garden." And I was only 12 at the time and
01:11 he started to teach me little things about plants and how to garden and how to dig and
01:16 things like this, you know. And I got a bit of a love for nature then.
01:20 His career began at working for Liverpool Parks and Gardens in 1973.
01:25 Now that very year that I started, they had a theme in the city and it was plant a tree
01:30 in '73 and there was no trees in the city centre, it was all very concretey then. So
01:35 we went in that winter, we went round everywhere planting trees here, there and everywhere
01:39 and now with my years in there, I can see all these trees being fully mature and I look
01:44 at them and think, "I planted that." And it only seems like yesterday, you know.
01:49 As well as working at St John's Garden, he was involved in many projects such as the
01:53 1984 Garden Festival and for more than 20 years he's also worked on a programme for
01:58 local radio.
02:00 Even now I consider myself so blessed, you know, because I used to say to people that
02:03 people come to the park for rest and recreation, but I was paid to come to the park every day.
02:10 Richie retired from working for Liverpool City Council more than a decade ago after
02:15 40 years of service. Setting up his own small venture to carry on promoting the environment
02:21 on Merseyside and this involves education, giving talks to local groups and guided walks.
02:27 It's great because people just love getting out in our great parks and learning what's
02:31 on your doorstep. Also, when I'm doing these walks, I always learn a little bit of people
02:36 who've got their own little smattering of knowledge and their own memories of the park.
02:40 So, you know, I can say truthfully, it's been a fabulous 50 years promoting the environment
02:45 on Merseyside and I'm looking forward to the next 50.
02:49 Richie's enthusiasm has certainly rubbed off on his own family, with his son now working
02:54 in the parks himself. And when he's not putting on his own walks, he still enjoys days out
02:59 in nature with his daughter and granddaughter.
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