So this Blog/week signifies the next quarter in my placement and how time has flown. I can’t believe it has been 16 weeks! I have seen a massive change in areas and seen people coming together for the greater good! – I know cheesy… but if you get the reference kudos.
My excellent team on the GSK Orange Volunteer Day
One of the things that interested me the most about this placement is the fact that I am in partnership with three different organisations (I dont know why this wasn’t my first blog) – RSPB, Scottish Wildlife Trust and North Ayrshire Council. The variety of work load alone is amazing and the amount of people that I work with (so many names and faces to remember!) is inspiring – great characters to attach myself to. The reason though I really find all this beneficial is that it sends a great message to Volunteers that there is great organisations working together to help the community and wildlife thrive. I think for me I love to see partnership working within the Environmental Conservation sector, when I was a trusty volunteer it was part of some of the best days out – after all I am just a person who loves the outdoors and for me it is encouraging to see charities, and government bodies working in unison. This is why for me it is a privilege to take action and represent The Conservation Volunteers in this partnership. I am doing what I love and am passionate about. My biggest role is to try and inspire that same passion and responsibility within the communities.
Not Just a Bug Hotel… a Bug Fortress!
One of the best examples in my placement has been workdays planting trees with the community and North Ayrshire Council and RSPB or the GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) Orange Volunteer Day in partnership with Scottish Wildlife Trust creating pollinator corridors. Together the three organisations working together illustrates a much brighter, creative and exciting way forward. It allows people to see that different charities don’t have different prerogatives, but we are all fighting for the same thing – world peace! Well maybe that is a little bit away, but every person I have worked with wants the same things – for nature to spread and thrive and for the community to help protect and take ownership of there green places.
Posing for the BirdsLife weekly magazine
A few of the volunteers in North Ayrshire are really taking to the opportunities available to them to take back their green spaces and take ownership. I have been trying to help get these loyal soldiers of mother-nature the benefits they deserve for their hard work by introducing them to each partner organisation. I am in a position where I can help volunteers with training and skills development and with these three amigos working in partnership there is a plethora of knowledge available. I am excited to see where the next 12 weeks takes us all in to the next quarter. My goal is to try and create a sustainable hub of volunteers that can take a hold of there local green spaces and learn from our partner organisations – transforming local people in to stewards of their local nature reserves. Allowing them to pass on the knowledge and skills they have learned to others.