My past year working as a Natural Communities Trainee placed with Transition Stirling seems to have gone by in a flurry. Ahead of the showcase event, I’ve been looking back over the past year and reflecting on just how much learning, planning, researching and laughing I’ve done. I’ve done so much it’s incredibly difficult sum to all up in one short blog so I thought I would highlight a couple of the best bits of being a trainee for the year:
• Like all the other trainees this year has been an opportunity to attend so many training courses, an opportunity I’ve tried to make the most of. I’ve attended training on everything from woodland management, forest gardening, wildflower id and otter surveying to community engagement, fundraising and project planning. I feel I’ve really squirreled away a wealth of knowledge and just hope I won’t forget it all!
• Working community groups, in partnership with organisations, attending training courses, running and participating in public events, delivering workshops with schools, visiting other projects, going to conferences and networking events – these all have one thing in common…. I’ve got to meet so many great people!
• I definitely have to include the chance to pursue a personal project which has been such a large part of my role over the past six months. For this I chose to work with a community to create a community growing space. The process of doing so has been a huge learning curve for me as I identified a site, successfully sought funding from three funding steams, lead a series of events on planning and designing the space as well as leading practical workshops to turn plans into reality. This brought together so many people from all walks of life. For me, this was one of the best opportunities to truly link engaging people with the natural environment using the driving principles of Community Learning and Development which shaped the Natural Communities Trainee programme.
To find out more about the work that myself and other trainees have been doing over the past year, and how you might be able to connect with new Natural Networks trainees in 2015, come to our showcase event in Stirling on 26th February. Find tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natural-communities-showcase-tickets-15177197406?ref=estw