Meet the team – Derek Chisholm
This month’s meet the team blog features our very own Tiger Woods and Paint Line Operative; Derek Chisholm. We’ve featured musicians, flame throwers and Shinty stars in our ‘meet the team’ blogs so far – this month it’s a local golfing legend! Our Marketing Coordinator, Danielle caught up with the ‘Tiger Woods’ of Russwood, Derek Chisholm, to find out more about him and his role as SiOO:X Team Leader at Russwood.
High Standards
From our modern in-house coating facility in Newtonmore, Derek’s job includes coating timber cladding under factory-controlled conditions and making sure the application is always applied according to ISO Quality Standards. With SiOO:X and coated timber in popular demand, a number of developments have been made to the paint line in the past couple of years. These additions include a large glulam-built extension area, allowing for extra drying racks and our fast, effective, kiln drying facility. These changes have improved throughput and aided quality control measures in the coating and drying processes.
A fresh start
Prior to working at Russwood, Derek worked his way up to be head greenkeeper at Kingussie Golf Club. After 20+ years of perfecting the golf course, Derek decided it was time for a change and applied for the position at Russwood. Instead of very early starts, it is now just early starts here at Russwood. He sometimes misses the beautiful summer mornings, but not the bitterly cold winters! Derek started at Russwood as a Paint Line Operative in 2016 and was recently promoted to a Team Leader, focusing on our range of SiOO:X Coatings.
With a high-demand for factory coated timber, working in the Paint Line can be quite challenging at times – but with great team work, organisation and (not bad) banter we get through our heavy workload. As a Team Leader, I’m involved in the SMAS (Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service) training programme for the next twelve months which I’m looking forward to
Derek Chisholm – SiOO:X Team Leader
Family life
Derek, from Newtonmore, met the love of his life, Catherine, in neighbouring village Kingussie, they got married in 2001 and have three children – Logan (14), Finlay (12) and daughter Murron (6). Being from a family of all boys – he was ‘over the moon’ to welcome a baby girl to the family. He is also dad to 2 fur babies – Daisy the collie and Poppy the pug – who pretty much rule the roost.
15 times a winner
A well-respected and talented golfer, Derek has been dedicated to the sport since he was a young lad. Over the last winter and continuing into this season, Derek has undertaken the mammoth task of changing his swing. Due to a back niggle and a propensity to exaggerate the ‘shinty’ part of his original swing, an intensive period of coaching and practising is paying dividends as Derek’s handicap is presently +2. Every weekend will see Derek competing in competitions on his local course or wider afield in the North of Scotland. Derek has won the Newtonmore Club Championship a record-breaking 15 times – which is a seriously impressive achievement!
It’s in the genes
It’s a family outing! Derek frequently goes golfing with his dad Geordie and his eldest son Logan – who actually came in with the winning score the day this photo was taken, knocking his dad and granda off the top spot. With a very natural and powerful swing; (some at Russwood say already better than his Dad’s) Logan is set to follow in Derek’s footsteps – watch this space for the future Chisholm Champion!
We are always keen to hear from people who are interested in working at Russwood both in our yard and office teams. Available positions and details of how to apply speculatively can be found on our careers page.