Hello everyone!
I’m Ruth, and I’m going to be based at the Coleraine TCV office in Co. Londonderry, in the North-East of Northern Ireland. It’s a lovely location, very close to the beautiful North Coast and with loads of different communities dotted around the area, from small rural villages to large urban towns. I was born and grew up only about half an hour away, so it feels really lovely to be working in and hopefully giving back to the area that I’ve known so well!
Prior to starting this traineeship, I studied Zoology at the University of Liverpool and then went on to complete a Masters in Biodiversity & Conservation at the University of Leeds. As a recent graduate, I volunteered at the Coleraine TCV office in my spare time, while I was working full time as a bartender in a local hotel last year. This has given me a decent introduction into some of the types of work that TCV carry out in this area, from clearing invasive non-native species such as Sea Buckthorn from dune sites, to path maintenance for a local council, to creating wildlife gardens and outdoor classrooms for local schools. However, I’m really looking forward to being able to see projects through to their completion and being able to revisit places and see how communities and schools feel the work has improved their outlook on and participation with the environment!
It’s a small team here in Coleraine, with a core group of dedicated volunteers – with all the snow and bad weather recently a lot of projects needing to be completed have backed up on each other, so it’s been a bit all hands on deck! I’ve been working a lot with the Conservation Action Team (CAT), led by our fearless leader Kenny. In my first few weeks in the traineeship, I have helped build living willow structures for local schools, using willow from coppice plantations grown sustainably in the Ecos centre in Ballymena, an award winning interpretive centre which aims to increase the public’s knowledge of the environmental issues affecting the world today. I have also worked on other projects TCV are currently delivering in other schools, such as creating a wildlife garden and polytunnel installation, while will be used for outdoor education and garden clubs.
Willow coppice at the Ecos Centre, Ballymena
Willow dome in construction
In addition to working with the CAT team on delivering projects within schools, I have also accompanied the CAT leader on a site visit to a school within the area, where the principal would like to improve the biodiversity potential of their garden, while providing a good educational resource for her pupils, and is interested in TCV carrying out the work. Kenny plans on my playing a large part in seeing this project come to fruition, from providing costing quotations/planning diagrams, through to planning and helping to carry out the work needing done. This will give a good idea of how projects happen logistically, financially and practically. It should also give me a solid foundation of where to go from when I will be planning and implementing a project of my own later in the year.
Finished willow dome & tunnel
Outdoor classroom at Kilmoyle Primary School
I’m very much looking forward to getting involved in the community engagement projects that the Coleraine office is going to be helping to run later on in the year, such as tree planting in forests and areas around Coleraine itself, funded by Northern Ireland Electricity. Other prospective projects include working on path maintenance for Moyle Council and work on the sand dunes of the North Coast. It’s going to be a busy year and I hope you’ll all read the blogs to find out what I and the other Natural Networks trainees are doing! Bye for now!