Owen's film
(2m 36s)
Alan's film
(50s)
Food Awareness and Food Growing programme film
(2m 12s)
Meet our Green Heroes for 2008 - what an amazing group they are! Feel inspired by their efforts? Get involved now, and next year it could be you!
Find out how you can help us to support their activities
Click on award title to find about the National and regional winners.
Owen has been instrumental in widening the participation in conservation projects at Hollybush Conservation Centre, Leeds. By leading half-day tasks, he has opened the door to volunteers unable to take part for a whole day. He also offers alternative activities such as environmental arts and crafts and baking. As a result, the Friends of Hollybush group has grown and involves people from a diverse range of backgrounds who have many different needs. Owen has faced some personal challenges of his own, including problems with his mental health but his participation and experience with BTCV have dramatically improved his feeling of involvement.
Barry’s warm personality always makes first time volunteers feel welcome and he is instrumental in encouraging people to get involved. This natural enthusiasm has led him to be a successful leader on BTCV Natural Breaks and he enjoys sharing these experiences with others, which has inspired several people to also have a go at leading.
Jenny has been Chairperson of the Ashford Community Woodland group since it began. Jenny balances full-time employment with her commitments to the group. She continually encourages people to get involved in the woodland and was recently instrumental in the development of a new Environment Centre which has been built nearby and acted as a consultant throughout the process. The woodland has faced many difficult issues over the years but Jenny works through the problems and doesn’t let them get her down.
Martin has been volunteering with BTCV for several years and includes everyone on his projects. Being a brain injury survivor himself, he is very supportive of other volunteers who have disabilities. He has gained several qualifications and has a sustained and committed relationship with BTCV, including meeting his present girlfriend there!
To get to his local BTCV office, Tony has to walk 4 miles and is one of the most committed volunteers in the team. Tony has a lot of enthusiasm for his environmental volunteering and is ready to go out at short notice when needed. He has been involved in the creation of a Breathing Places garden where he was known to work from 4.30am - 8.30pm and is encouraging to other volunteers and people who are new to conservation.
Chris volunteers two days a week with BTCV in Glasgow, assisting with administration and being the handyman. He also leads a group called the Weekend Warriors, gets involved with disadvantaged communities and is first contact between BTCV and a local school. Whether its promoting BTCV to the public, on the phone in the office, making posters or putting up a security light. Chris is an all-round ambassador for BTCV.
Virginia has been attending her local Green Gym every week since she joined. She is a core member of the group and puts a huge amount of energy into conservation and access works. Virginia has appeared in several TV and radio interviews, including Radio 4, talking about the pleasures and benefits of being part of a Green Gym. In this media work she has done a huge amount to bringing the Green Gym to the attention of more people. She shares her appreciation of the woods with others, opening their eyes to the natural environment they are working in.
Louise did a Foundation Degree in Wildlife and Countryside Conservation and during her summer vacation, joined BTCV volunteers who were working for Nevada Outdoor School. She then returned there on a full-time basis as a Transportation Specialist, inputting roads, campsites and other data into GPS in order to improve recreation planning and restoration at the School. Louise is a natural leader, always willing to help out with other people’s tasks and volunteer events and doing whatever’s necessary without a second thought. Louise is at a disadvantage living in the United States as a volunteer as she is not entitled to any social welfare programmes or work for money under her volunteer visa. Despite this, Louise continues to accomplish a great deal for the Nevada Outdoor School and reaches out to others around her, including them in projects and instilling a love for the outdoors and the environment.
Stephen is the Environmental Champion for our Belfast office undertaking audits and guiding staff and volunteers on how to make sensible choices from the environmental perspective. He has welcomed BTCV’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and the local team describe him as ‘Mr Practical Action’. From saving water by optimising the flush on the toilets, to taking care of the recycling, he is making small but significant changes that help tackle bigger issues. He is now using his experience to help staff in other offices and whilst many people in this role could be seen as officious or interfering, Stephen’s helpful and supportive approach has won him friends across the organisation.
Richard has been volunteering with BTCV since 1990 in a variety of roles including midweek volunteer, volunteer officer, international project leader, BTCV board member and North West committee member. He was part of the group which developed BTCV’s Environmental Policy and has been active in developing BTCV’s Sustainable Travel initiative. He has used the awareness he has gained from involvement with BTCV to help live his life in as sustainable way as possible. He also encourages all those he meets to do the same, on both UK and International projects. He helps volunteers understand the implications of resource use such as using less water in drought areas and minimising waste in isolated mountain regions and is very good at encouraging international volunteers to do further volunteering when they return to the UK.
Amongst the other young people on the Past Skills project, Alan is the core of the group by attending twice weekly since Autumn 2007. Alan has had to overcome many boundaries, including social exclusion and disengagement from school, but since he started volunteering he has become the one to motivate other people into getting involved. He is part of a group of young people who maintain and improve a nature reserve in central Luton.
18 year old Luke has been the inspiration to at least four other young people by introducing them to BTCV. Since joining in early 2007 Luke has been a committed and dedicated volunteer, not only by volunteering on 119 days of practical conservation but by helping with research and administration for funding bids for healthy eating projects as well. Despite having left school with few qualifications, he now has several certificates that demonstrate his practical skills and is working towards an NVQ2 in environmental conservation. He always ensures that other young people are made to feel involved and the shares his own to journey to encourage participation.
Even between days at college during the week, Luke volunteers with BTCV and does as much as he can during the holidays. A year ago, Luke went on a two week BTCV placement and just hasn’t stopped coming back. Luke has overcome his low confidence in his academic abilities by building an array of practical skills. He now likes to share the fulfilment he gets from physical conservation work, and other young people respond to him well as they often share similar backgrounds and the same ages.
Daniel has been active in setting up a volunteer group and the promotion of environment awareness at his school. He also is involved with Weekend Warriors, a group based at BTCV in Glasgow and volunteers in school holidays. Daniel will encourage anyone who shows an interest in volunteering. He is a good communicator and will adapt his language to help everyone understand, whether they are three or 93, English-speaking or not. He’ll never leave a person’s question unanswered and if he doesn’t know the answer he goes straight to someone who will.
Rebecca’s first experience with BTCV was on a week’s work experience. Since then she gave up most of her Easter holidays to the project she started on. She’s still at school and has done some of her volunteer work at schools which she hopes will motivate other people in her age group to have a raised awareness of the environment and perhaps inspire them to volunteer themselves.
Maria picked up leadership qualities very quickly, to the extent that she is now able to lead a Green Gym project with much success. When Maria first came to BTCV, things were very different. She was a shy teenager with little confidence. Other personal improvements Maria has achieved since she started volunteering are an increased interest in her nutritional needs. Working on the Dig It and Eat It project and Green Gym started this, and in turn has lead to some weight loss. Her attitude has developed into a confident and positive one and she passes the enthusiasm she has for volunteering and her environment onto all around her.
Through the New Deal 25+ programme, Chris has become a more active person as a result of the physical work required in practical conservation. Before this, Chris had no recent work experience or employment history but now his employability, social and communication skills have vastly increased. His confidence has grown and he is able to work on his own initiative and ask for help when needed.
Matt suffers from epilepsy and was told he would never be able to drive or hold down a regular job. Despite this negative blow to his confidence, Matt decided to become a Volunteer Officer with BTCV as he had always wanted a career in conservation. He now enjoys a greatly increased level of fitness and a more positive state of mind and is working steadily towards his dream of becoming an overseas leader.
Watching daytime TV is becoming a thing of the past for Michael, who is now a Volunteer Officer in Bedfordshire. However, Michael had to face many challenges before being in the position he is now as his personal history includes difficulties such as social exclusion and ADHD. Now he is a role-model for good behaviour and work practices to children on his project, all of whom have acute behavioural difficulties.
Julie has benefited from increased physical fitness since she started volunteering, as well as developing practical conservation and horticultural skills. For Julie, who has a visual impairment, taking part in physical tasks as part of a group has increased her confidence and in turn, her quality of life.
Robert has been dedicated to turning his life around since he began volunteering. Before joining BTCV’s Oatridge group, Robert was frequently getting into trouble at school, and with the police. He also had to confront literacy and numeracy issues to increase his self-esteem. BTCV hleped Robert to discover that he has a particular skill in motivating people and has now successfully completed an HNC in Countryside Management. He’s also been recognised by ProjectScotland, who commended him for the change he made to his life through his volunteer placement.
In the wetlands and mountains of the Lough Erne Basin in Co. Fermanagh, this group of long term unemployed people has been involved in a wide range of projects helping local wildlife and tackling the impacts of climate change. These include planting trees to stabilise hillsides from increasingly heavy rainfall, managing grassland areas threatened with an influx of new species due to the warmer climate, erecting nesting boxes for Pine Martins and surveying mountain hares. The people involved have become much more environmentally aware, growing their own plants, recycling, composting and buying local produce. Group members have learned many new skills along the way, contributed to environmental tourism and earned huge respect from the local community.
The flat roof of the Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton, Manchester has been converted into a habitat for the Black Red Start, one of the rarest birds in the UK. The roof aims to provide an ideal site for this urban bird to forage for food, with its pond, decking/viewing area and sedum matting. Meanwhile, the human foragers below benefit from the extra insulation provided by the roof, and the ponds help to prevent flooding. People from all backgrounds were involved in the work, which is funded by SITA and the Unicorn Grocery.
A project to restore an area of scrub and woodland back to chalk grassland near Warminster has provided an open-air classroom for young people who would not normally volunteer their time due to it ‘not being cool’. Trees and scrub will be cleared and the area fenced so that grass, rare plants and butterflies such as Adonis blue and fritillaries can return. In return for their hard work the youngsters working on Greenprints have learned new skills, earned reward credits and have learnt the reasons for improving the area.
The KMA’s Community Nursery and Botanical Garden project is creating a community-run botanical nursery and garden in the Semonkong community in Lesotho. Its aim is to help address the long-term issues of food security, nutrition, conservation of medicinal, rare and threatened plant species, soil degradation and local sustainable economic development. It is hoped that by growing and selling highly-valued but threatened local plants, the nursery will significantly reduce the exploitation of wild materials. The botanic garden will preserve genetic diversity and native plants for the future. The project is built on voluntary and community effort and driven by a strong local desire to protect one of the world’s unique but overlooked environments.
A boring patch of grass in an industrial part of Leeds has been turned into woodland by Slugs Skelton Volunteer Group. Helped by local community groups, the volunteers planted more than 500 trees at Skelton Grange Environment Centre, providing a habitat for local wildlife and an inspirational educational resource. Over a 100 people attended a woodland craft day to show how activities such as hurdle making, bushcraft and willow weaving can be used to manage woodlands in a sustainable way.
Raising Employability through Environmental Volunteering (REEV) was a pilot project which ran throughout 2007 allowing 16-25 year olds in Ayr, Auchinleck and Glasgow to gain full-time work experience whilst completing training. This included gaining SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications) in Gardening and Horticulture, Fencing and Drystane Dyking. The volunteers have greatly increased in confidence and developed a sense of community pride in the projects they have worked on that will be seen and enjoyed by residents for years to come.
West Sussex Beach Wardens protect unique treasures of the Sussex coast and help people discover what a wealth of wildlife lives along it. More than 65 people have volunteered to adopt a stretch of beach, to monitor strandline species and report any concerns. They run community events to raise awareness of the importance of protecting and enhancing the coastline and provide information that is used to monitor coastal climate change indicators, as well as helping with practical tasks such as litter-picking. Originally set up by BTCV, the group now runs independently and has successfully secured funding for the next three years.
This community food group grew out of a short course for 20 residents from North Lambeth in London. Having learnt about ways to grow food in an environmentally positive manner, the group has now begun a community garden project at the Brixton Domino Club. Their new-found skills and knowledge have given the participants a strong sense of confidence and they are busily spreading the message about healthy eating and environmentally informed choices across their families and communities. The volunteers come mostly from the local Caribbean and African communities and the programme celebrates and highlights their environmental heritage, providing opportunities to revive ethnic environmental practices.
WINNERS: JUDGES' SPECIAL AWARD
The Greencare Shisong group collects seeds from native tree species which they nurture in their own nursery and then use to re-plant native forests, both around farmlands and water catchments and to replace the non-native eucalyptus trees which are being removed from this part of Cameroon. They are also planting a community forest that will reconnect existing patches of virgin forest and provide a haven for the many bird species in the region. In the longer term, they hope to reintroduce other animals, including gorillas. All this is done on a shoestring budget with strong involvement of the local community, including village tree planting days and free workshops on issues such as recycling and how to avoid forest fires. (People from around the world can help support Greencare by joining them on a BTCV Conservation Holiday.)
Over the past 23 years, members of Lancaster & District Conservation have made a significant impact on their local environment through local tree planting schemes, school nature reserves, hedgerow management, orchard management, drystone walling and woodand protection schemes. Members range from 18 to over 70, a blend which is effective in passing on skills and expertise. They try to achieve a sound, professional approach to their work, often in difficult weather conditions.
Re-creating a Viking long house was just one of the many exciting tasks carried out by the five young people of the V Full Time Salisbury Group 2 over 13 weeks as they worked towards their level 1 Certificate in Community Volunteering. In addition to coppicing, hedgelaying and step construction, the group set up their own youth enterprise, producing and selling bird feeders, tables and boxes and donating the profits to charity. They also overcame many formidable personal barriers with terrific commitment - lack of confidence, literacy, formal qualifications and work experience.
Breaking down barriers in an area with high levels of rural deprivation has been an important achievement for the Friends of Buntings Wood. The Friends have united a wide range of local people in the goal of caring for Buntings Wood, a large area of woodland near Thorne, Doncaster, named after noted local conservationist William Bunting. The group has strong links with the local council, users of the nearby canal, fishing groups, Doncaster Primary Care Trust and Doncaster Green Gym.
Auchinleck is a former mining town and can seem a grey, depressing place. Young people in the area were regarded as vandals by the older residents and likewise younger people could not understand their older counterparts. Project Scotland enabled both young and old to come together to work on environmental projects. Together, they have injected some vibrancy into the community by creating gardens and areas where the community can enjoy their green spaces. There has been a marked decrease in vandalism and there’s now a mutual respect and understanding between those who took part. Group members are rightly proud of their achievements and that people will be able to enjoy their creations for years to come.
The wildlife garden at this school in the heart of Belfast started with just the planting of some trees. In the 10 years since then, the children have helped design, create and manage the garden that now includes a pond, a meadow, a hazel coppice, a butterfly ‘service station’ and a willow dome. It is open to local people during the day and is regularly visited by others seeking inspiration for their community. A highlight of the garden is a tree, grown from seed collected by Kew Gardens in China, and planted by the local Chinese community.
Vale Royal Borough Council has been a key supporter of BTCV in Cheshire for at least the last twelve years. It has provided the most generous funding out of the 10 local authorities in Cheshire through two annual Service Level Agreements, one supporting BTCV’s core activities in the borough, the other to the running of the Cheshire Special Landscapes Project aimed at conserving Cheshire’s Areas of Special County Value. Throughout many changes of personnel, the relationship has remained strong.
BTCV has worked with Exemvelo KZN Wildlife in South Africa for over five years, on a project to research the density and diversity of rare, threatened and endemic species within Simangaliso Wetland Park. The information gathered is used to advise on planning decisions both within the park and across South Africa. Whilst Ezsemvelo KZN Wildlife conceived the idea, they were very open to input from BTCV project leaders and tailored opportunities to meet the needs of both local and international volunteers. As a result, the project sessions are planned from the off, not just to generate good survey data but to give volunteers an educative, worthwhile and fun experience. Local volunteers learn about the park and are given valuable training and work experience, whilst BTCV volunteers that join them get a glimpse of this important reserve and its significance for national, regional and international biodiversity.
BTCV and The Fringe have worked together for over 12 years to offer opportunities with real conservation value to volunteers in Norwich. The Fringe maintains greenspaces around the periphery of Norwich and provides both financial and practical support to enable a regular number of BTCV volunteer tasks to take place on these sites. The Fringe staff come up with great projects for our groups to work on, selecting tasks with high conservation value and often with an element of problem-solving or decision-making that empowers the volunteers and gives them a sense of achievement. They frequently muck in with the volunteers, making a real effort to get to know them and support their learning and activities.
The latest project with Ashford Borough Council in Kent is perhaps one of BTCV’s most challenging and exciting – managing the brand new Singleton Environment Centre, an innovative environment-friendly centre for the local community. The partnership involved in developing this has been truly inspirational but is built on strong foundations. Ashford Borough Council has worked with BTCV for over 10 years, supporting a variety of projects including Tree and Pond Warden schemes, the Ashford Community Woodland and the Ashford Veteran Tree Survey project.
For almost thirty years, BTCV has worked with Parks and Countryside at Leeds City Council, receiving a grant from the Council since 1986. When Countryside Agency funding dried up and a budget squeeze took hold in 2007, council staff secured extra funding for conservation volunteering under a new Service Level Agreement. This commits the council to work with BTCV to train the next generation of countryside professionals and engage local communities. As a result, BTCV has done far more work on council sites this winter and the prospects for the future of this long-term relationship look good.
SATS is a supplier of Health and Safety training services which has worked with BTCV Enterprises for two years, offering placement opportunities to young people on BTCV Enterprise’s New Deal Programme. They promote BTCV’s services to their corporate customers, resulting in an increase in the number and variety of placements and enhancing BTCV’s reputation in the community. SATS shares BTCV’s commitment to inclusivity, taking the time to give everyone a chance and setting an example with their infectious enthusiasm.
Improving the employability and self-confidence of young people is the purpose of the Trowbridge NCFE team, a partnership between BTCV and Wiltshire College. The college strives to empower young people to take action to change their lives and regards the BTCV NCFE group as “the best thing about Education to Employment in Wiltshire”. The group has given BTCV an extra workforce for conservation tasks in Wiltshire and enabled part-funding of a new BTCV office in Trowbridge. The young people feel valued and involved, working on a wide range of sites to improve the environment for both communities and wildlife.
