2013, be all that you can be and make the most of this exciting opportunity. Hello there! My name is Amy Styles and I’m new! I have just embarked on a year of learning. Learning that snow may look pretty, but it’s dangerous; learning that deer are massive; learning that mountain bikers brave all weathers and that when you live on a nature reserve you have to have muscles.
I am delighted to introduce myself as one of the six new “Natural Communities” trainees for 2013. The programme, run by TCV and funded by Heritage Lottery fund runs for 12 months and I’m sure is going to be a thrilling ride.
For 12 months I am working with Laggan Forest Trust, in the very picturesque location of, yup you guessed it, Laggan. The Trust is based at Laggan Wolftrax, home to some very well-known bike trails. The Trust works in partnership with the Forestry Commission (who built and oversees the trails) and aims to continue building on partnerships concerned with the community, conservation, leisure and employment.
Picturesque Indeed
About me, well I have always been keen on the outdoors and the natural environment which led me to study Environmental Science and Outdoor Education at Stirling University. Following this I trained as an Outdoor Instructor and gained two years’ experience in this role.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with a vast range of groups and the best parts of the job were enabling children to overcome fears, develop new skills, learn new things about themselves and most importantly getting them to have fun! If this wasn’t enough, I was set on teaching these children about their outdoor playground. I wanted to show them that there much more to their grassy field they play rounders on, or to their forest they play hide and seek in. I wanted to show them that these spaces were really quite interesting.
Happy Highland Cows
Which leads me on to my year ahead… so far my year with Laggan Forest Trust appears to be filling up with exciting educational events, copious amounts of valuable training and a lot of interesting projects. As well as working with LFT I will be joining The Highland Council Ranger Service for one day a week and assisting SNH at their Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve (which is also where I live). As my diary fills up for my year I can’t help but feel lucky and excited for my year ahead as it seems that anything could happen. Watch this space!