The gang’s all here

Hi everyone (especially all the VOs who recently attended the training course in Dingwall),

I was initially sceptical about the leadership training course for BTCV Volunteer Officers, in fact downright worried that we would be asked to cross shark-infested custard using an empty toilet roll, washing up liquid bottle and some double-sided sticky tape!

However, I must confess I had an incredibly enjoyable time (in fact I laughed until I cried most of the week). It was absolutely great to meet VOs from BTCV offices across Scotland – Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. Generally, when I start to talk about conservation and volunteering, friends and family glaze over and switch off, so it was great to meet so many people sharing the same common goals. The group included people from a diverse range of backgrounds, without a tree-hugger in sight (although there WAS indeed tree-hugging during one of the training exercises).

We stayed in a very nice farmhouse outside Dingwall (sorry for the snoring, guys) and half way through the course we were rewarded with snow – not the traffic jamming, school-closing, public transport halting type of snow, but a true winter wonderland of soft fluffy snow which brought much fun to our inner children.

In the interests of training, we were asked to build something from the snow. I am therefore proud to present the BTCV Aberdeen Snow Bunny (check out those whiskers). The ears presented a bit of a challenge, but as you know, we do like a challenge.

On the final evening, the group enjoyed a small sherry or two while completing their final tasks (pass the parcel, malteser football tournament and hat, scarf and glove game). Cheers to Ullie, Charlie and Keith for providing an excellent training course and I would definitely urge any VOs who have not already done so, to enrol on the next leadership training course (if only for the blind-fold exercises – oh, how we laughed….).

To find out more information about BTCV Scotland Training click here

Cheers, guys, hope to see you all soon.

Rose