ALEXANDRA MADDEN
Madden quickly proved her place. The team saw her strengths. “A lot of the guys didn’t know how to deal with me because I’m smaller and can’t lift as much. “But they’ve worked out that I’m better for the smaller things. I work perfectly in kitchens when you’re fitting them because everything’s small and fiddly.” In the minority The job has its physically demanding moments – “plasterboarding is big and heavy,” she notes – but overall, she’s found her crew to be supportive. “Most of the time, working with the guys, they’re like family, like brothers.” With a team ranging in age from 16 to 66, this multi- generational environment provides opportunities to learn, with the older tradespeople eager to share knowledge with the youth. Throughout her working life Madden has stayed true to herself and resisted following her peers – and it has paid off. “I’d say I’m pretty unique. Every other friend has gone to university and had to leave Shetland to do their courses. Or they’ve ended up in jobs they’re not enjoying.” Her own future is already mapped out. “I’d like to start my own joinery business in the Isles and help my community,” she says. “In the north isles – Yell and Unst – there are very few joiners. Because of that, so many buildings are going derelict. People are trying to get work done but can’t find joiners. “I’d like to help with that and eventually give apprenticeships to young people, like how I started.”
mallets, and the satisfying order of a well-used, organised workshop. “They had woodwork. I’d never heard of it, and I’d never even heard of lasses doing woodwork before. I fell in love with it.” Madden’s first creation She keenly remembers the first thing she made in class. “It was a dovetailed box. It was like a little toolbox, probably only four by six or something like that. It was a simple box with joints.” Her school woodwork teacher, Mr Ronalds, became a defining influence. “He explained everything in a way no one else ever had. I couldn’t help but fall in love with it from the words he used. He was brilliant.” That same spark didn’t ignite in everyone. “I noticed that not everybody fell in love with it. A lot of people thought it was boring and too hard,” Madden recalls. “But those who did fall in love with it did so because of the teacher.” Like many apprentices, Madden’s path required perseverance long before arriving on site. “I did four days of work experience with DITT when I was 15,” she says. That taster – one day in the workshop and three on site – cemented her ambition. “In the workshop I saw the manufacturing side and the repetitiveness of making things. On site, everything is singular. It was brilliant.” She didn’t secure her apprenticeship overnight. “We sat down and made a CV. It was a long-winded process. It took a lot of hard work to find places that had apprenticeships available,” she
says, crediting her Deputy Head Teacher, Susan Thompson, for invaluable support. “I started looking when I was about 15. By May 2022 I had a definite apprenticeship with DITT. During my exams I knew I had it. It was a massive relief. I didn’t want to do more classroom stuff. I struggle with classroom environments. If I’m doing it hands-on, I can learn it, repeat it and never forget it, but if I’m sat reading a book, I can’t deal with it.” Madden’s current 90-minute commute sounds demanding, but it’s nothing compared to the early days of her apprenticeship. Before she passed her driving test, her days were even longer. “At the beginning of my apprenticeship, I couldn’t drive. I woke up at five, got the first ferry at 6:15 and had to get the bus. The bus takes about one hour and 10 minutes. I did that for two years. I used to get home at 6.35pm.” For Madden, the journey just
reinforced her desire to stick it out in a trade she loves. Being the only woman on site brings challenges and opportunities. “Most of the time you get on well,” she says, “but there’s always one person that doesn’t think you should be there because you’re a lass. At the beginning I struggled with that.” Her apprenticeship officer noted the rarity of women on the tools, telling Madden: “You’re the first lass to do this, and I’ve been working with apprenticeships for 11 years.”
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