The first time that I got involved with practical conservation work, was the year that I graduated from Coventry Polytechnic (now Coventry University), in 1991. There was a recession on, consequently not too many jobs and I was in Leamington Job Centre. Where I saw a leaflet about the British Conservation Volunteers Trust (who later became the BTCV and then the TCV), who had an office in Leamington.

They had task days on a Wednesday, where volunteers would be taken to a site in Coventry/Warwickshire (later on we also incorporated some of north Oxfordshire) where we would do conservation work, such as coppicing, hedge-laying, tree planting, grassland management, etc,. The idea was not to compete with contractors, but to offer a cheaper service to local authorities and charities who would otherwise not be able to afford to have conservation work done. I eventually found employment, so I had to stop attending. However, they then started doing weekend tasks every other weekend. So, I was able to start going again.

One challenge was finding enough volunteers. During the holidays we did get a lot of students and just graduated students. So we liaised with Warwick and Coventry Universities about having students volunteer with us on Sundays. This was fairly successful. Although obviously students graduated and left, so it meant establishing relations with new groups of students most years. We were most successful with Warwick when it came to this. We would pick the students up from outside the students union in the morning and drop them back there in the afternoon.

However, another practical conservation group which I am now involved with, and have been for a few years, is Foundry Wood (http://www.foundrywood.co.uk/)in Leamington. So called because it is on part of the Ford’s Foundry site. It is a managed access community woodland. There are many ways to get involved volunteering. All kinds of activities happen there, including craft workshops, nature trails, etc,. The main way that I get involved is on the volunteer days. Which are held from ten o’clock until noon, normally on the last Sunday of the month (except for December). It involves doing conservation work such as coppicing and general woodland management. The good thing about volunteering here is that you see the results over time. Whereas with going out with the BTCV, you rarely went to the same site more than once, so you did not see how things progressed over the longer term.

The site is within walking distance of the town centre and has a free carpark nearby. The Sustainable Warwick Newsletter mentions volunteer days here. So read the link which I have provided and see if it is for you. I find that you get a lot of job satisfaction and meet new people. We have had individual and groups of students getting involved. If you want to go on one of the volunteer mornings though, do book beforehand (details should be on the website).