BTCV Thames and Chilterns
BTCV in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire
BTCV in Thames and Chilterns seeks to support and encourage people to volunteer some of their time, skills and enthusiasm, to create and sustain environmental action within local communities. It does this by providing individuals with the necessary knowledge, skills, opportunities and confidence to do so, through a range of activities right across the three counties.
Owning no land, BTCV provides a unique bridge between individuals and their environment, by linking land managers and volunteers. Its activities result in a wide range of improvements for local communities, achieved through using the environment to deliver social, educational and health related outcomes.
In Thames & Chilterns, BTCV directly delivers a range of Conservation Holidays, training courses, Green Gyms and one-day conservation projects that are open to everyone. It also supports around 100 local conservation and community groups that are members of the BTCV Community Network and delivers Employee Action Days in partnership with businesses and other organisations.
BTCV is presently recruiting for a Volunteering Officer for Berkshire, Buckinghamshre & Oxfordshire. The position is based at our office in Reading. This is a salaried post. Further information is available here.
Site last updated: Saturday 20th June 2009 at 20:08pm: one Biodiversity Action Team project added; one job opportunity added.
Site last updated: Monday 15th June 2009 at 8:50am: one Biodiversity Action Team project added; one job opportunity added; two volunteer officer opportunities added; News Sections updated.
Site last updated: Sunday 31st May 2009 at 12:15pm; four Conservation Holidays added.
Want to Know More?
If you would like to be kept up to date with all the latest news from BTCV Thames & Chilterns via our bi-monthly e-mail Bulletin, please let us know by e-mailing us at:
thamesandchilterns@btcv.org.uk
Latest Local News
BTCV is 50!
This year is BTCV's 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations, Doug the BTCV Spade is busy touring the country, talking to people and joining in with practical conservation projects. To find out more about BTCV's 50th, catch up with Doug's blog and view a range of videos about BTCV past and present, please take a look here.
As part of its 50th anniversary, BTCV has launched its new Strategic Plan, "Investing in Sustainable Futures". This sets out our Vision for the future and provides some tough targets for us to deliver. BTCV will be investing in a better environment, environmentally active citizens, improved health and well being, and employment and skills for the future. We aim to improve the environment in 75,000 places, actively support 1.5 million people in environmental action, move 50,000 people into employment and provide opportunities for 500,000 people to become fitter and improve their mental health. A copy of Investing in Sustainable Futures can be downloaded here.
New Green Gym Established
In January, BTCV completed its development of the Woodstock & Chipping Norton Green Gym. This group is now run entirely by local people and is offering a regular programme of three hour Green Gym sessions each Wednesday morning and once a month on a Saturday morning. Congratulations go out to all its members, past and present, who put a lot of really hard work into the group over the past two years. Thanks also to the West Oxfordshire Network LEADER+ Programme and West Oxfordshire District Council, whose funding and other support made it all possible. There are now five Green Gyms in Oxfordshire which were originally set up by BTCV but are now run by people from the local communities they serve.
Companies Get Stuck In
We've had a great start to the year delivering Employee Action Days, with a total of 119 people from BSkyB and Chiswick Park joining BTCV over three days in April, to carry out a range of practical conservation work in Herschel Park in Slough and along the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal.
Training Costs Reduced!
Following a review of our short-course training in the South East, we've reduced the cost of attending this for volunteers from groups that are members of the BTCV Community Network, from £51 a day to £40. For everyone else the cost is £75; (with the optional NCFE accreditation and certification costing £14 per person). If you volunteer with a local community group, the overall cost of attending a one-day course is now the same, whether you decide to pay £75 for it, or your group joins the BTCV Community Network (for £35 a year) and you pay £40 instead. Best of all, membership is an annual payment, but the training subsidy can be used as many times by your group's members as they want, throughout the year.
New Programme of Support for Job Seekers
BTCV has recently started to work with the Department of Work and Pensions to deliver its new Volunteering Programme. Over the next two years this aims to help 34,000 people who have been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for at least six months to take up a new volunteering opportunity; although a proportion of these people will end up as conservation volunteers, the Programme covers the whole range of volunteering. In some parts of the country BTCV is working in partnership with CSV, V and Volunteering England to deliver it, but in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire were directly delivering the Programme ourselves. During the first year we're aiming to successfully help 32 people a month to take up a new volunteering place.
More Funding for Young People
Through the GreenPrints Event Programme, funded by the SITA Trust and V, BTCV this year is again able to offer to fund and run one and two day practical conservation projects with groups of young people aged 16 to 25. If you're a member of a group of people who're mostly of this age, or work with young people of this age and want to find out more, please let us know. In addition to this, BTCV is continuing to deliver the Bicester Green Pioneers programme. Thanks to a new grant from the Webmart Trust, which joins the funding that's already been provided to us by V and WREN, we've been able to expand the age range the project works with to include 14, 15 and 26 year olds.
Community Group Gathering a Success
In March, BTCV hosted a successful Community Group Gathering in Amersham, as part of the Every Action Counts Campaign. The event was full, with 41 people representing 31 groups and organisations attending. Five speakers gave presentations on a range of topics, from home composting to Transition Towns. There was plenty of time for people to talk to one another during the breaks too, look at the displays and explore the Every Action counts website. Special thanks go out to the five Community Champions who helped us to run the day.
BTCV Gets Greener
BTCV has recently signed an agreement with the power distribution company Haven, to obtain more of its power from renewable sources. 45 of BTCV's offices are now using electricity produced using biomass generation techniques, a welcome move forward.
BTCV Renews its Commitment to Disabled People
BTCV is pleased to say that it's recently been successfully reassessed for its entitlement to display the Disability Symbol. This means BTCV has made five commitments relating to recruitment, training, retention, consultation and disability awareness.
Supporting Local Community Groups
We provide support to local organisations such as conservation volunteer, Friends of and special interest groups, as well as residents' associations and schools. Our services include the following:
- Community consultation
- Volunteer recruitment
- Training
- Onsite practical support
- Ecological advice
- Funding advice
- Insurance
For full details of what BTCV can do for local community groups in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire, please download the following document; (the file is 176KB in size):
Download BTCV Thames & Chilterns Local Group Support Briefing
For further information about the support BTCV can provide for local community groups, visit the Community Support section of our site.
To find a group near you to volunteer with, please download the following document, which gives details of the 71 groups that are members of BTCV’s Community Network in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire and that have asked BTCV to promote them; (the file is about 200KB in size):
Download BTCV Community Network Groups in Thames & Chilterns Listing
For information about all the groups that are members of BTCV's Community Network elsewhere in the country (there's about 2,500, including 98 locally), please visit the Community Network section of our website.
Training
We provide one and two day training courses across the three counties in the following disciplines:
- Project Leadership
- Planning & Running Safe Community Projects (including Risk Assessment)
- Tool Use & Maintenance
- First Aid
- Practical Conservation Skills (e.g. hedge-laying, tree-planting, woodland management)
- Ecological Skills (e.g. wild flower identification)
For information about the training courses being offered by BTCV in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire, as well as a range of the ones available in neighbouring counties, please visit Training in Thames & Chilterns.
For information about all the training opportunities being offered by BTCV elsewhere in the country, please visit the Training section of the BTCV Shop.
Green Gym
Green Gyms promote health and fitness through conservation volunteering. They enable participants to become fitter and healthier by taking part in conservation activities, providing an attractive alternative to traditional exercise opportunities. Membership is free.
There are five Green Gyms operating in the Thames & Chilterns area, all in Oxfordshire.
For further information about Green Gyms, please visit The Green Gym.
For information about the Green Gyms in Oxfordshire, please visit The Green Gym in Oxfordshire.
For information about all the Green Gyms operating elsewhere in the country, please visit the Green Gym section of our website.
Employee Action Days
We have a long and successful track record of delivering practical, volunteering activities for a variety of organisations, including large corporations and public sector bodies.
Over the past six months we've organised local projects for the Royal Bank of Scotland (almost 200 people), HBOS (over 150) and BG International (11 people). We've also worked with teams from The Environment Agency, J D Power Automotive Forecasting and Defra.
These offer great opportunities for team building, strengthening links with local communities and a way of delivering and demonstrating Corporate Social Responsibility. The activities available vary according to the season, but always enhance wildlife and/or improve local community resources. In fact this area of our work has become so successful that’s now being co-ordinated by a network of dedicated staff right across the UK.
For further information about Employee Action Days, please visit BTCV Employee Action Days.
For full details of what BTCV can do to help your organisation take part in its own Employee Action Day in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire (or anywhere in the South-east, London or East Anglia), please contact us at:
Zannthie Bennett (Employee Action Day Project Officer)
BTCV, 80 York Way, King’s Cross, London, N1 9AG.
Telephone: 020 7278 4294 (reception) / 020 7843 4275 (direct line)
Fax: 020 7278 5095
E-mail: z.bennett@btcv.org.uk
Conservation Holidays
Do you fancy a weekend or longer away in the company of like minded people? BTCV runs a wide range of Conservation Holidays, in both the UK and beyond.
For further information about Conservation Holidays, please visit BTCV Conservation Holidays.
For information about the Conservation Holidays being planned by BTCV in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the neighbouring counties, please visit Conservation Holidays in Thames & Chilterns.
For information about all the Conservation Holidays BTCV has planned, both nationally and internationally, please visit the UK & International Conservation Holidays section of the BTCV Shop.
