Recognising and rewarding the hard work and achievements of people looking after their local environment.
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A traffic accident left Stephen with a brain injury and frustrated at being inactive and unable to work. Six years ago, he joined our North Down Conservation Action team and has been a regular volunteer ever since. He has personally recruited many other volunteers, some from very disadvantaged areas, and his bright character and welcoming personality make him a role model for the group.
Despite commuting to London each weekday, 41 year old Sean gives up most of his weekends to volunteering. Inspired by a trip to South Africa a few years ago, he looked for environmental opportunities closer to home and has now become a Tree and Pond Warden and a dedicated member of two local conservation groups.
Richard has been a regular BTCV volunteer since first going on a conservation holiday when he was 17. This year he celebrates his 50th birthday and 33 years of volunteering, during which he has become a BTCV holiday leader and a key member of the BTCV International team. Since 1996, he has led 34 holidays in the UK and beyond.
Robert is 63 and Kendal born and bred. He is described as the ‘bedrock’ of our local midweek group and hasn’t missed a project in three years! He is hugely supportive to both our staff and fellow volunteers, and is happy to share his unrivalled local knowledge and many talents – not least chopping kindling for the kettle to keep the group in brews!
After becoming unemployed, Katrina began volunteering with BTCV’s team at the Jupiter Wildflower Nursery in Grangemouth. She has helped to lead a Green Gym, run a Green Action programme for young people, create a silver-medal winning show garden and much more. Nursery Manager Nancy McIntyre says: ‘Without Kat’s dedication to supporting our work, we would not have been able to have such a wonderful year of volunteering. She has become a truly valuable member of team.’
After suffering a few setbacks in life, Tyrone didn’t have much confidence or self-esteem when he first came to volunteer with BTCV on one of our employment programmes. With support from staff and fellow volunteers, he slowly changed and blossomed into an outstanding volunteer, happy to share his skills with others and always leading by example. We are delighted he is now back in work but still volunteering with us at weekends.
After sleeping rough, 30 year old Darren moved into an Amber Foundation hostel and discovered the weekly conservation project that BTCV runs there. He has quickly gained skills and experience, and now helps run two other BTCV groups for young people, as well as acting as an ambassador for the project to other hostel residents.
39 year old Rob is a Volunteer Officer at our Hollybush site in Leeds. He has revitalized the food growing activities there, from cleaning out the polytunnels to leading the weekly garden group. He has been an inspiration to many other volunteers who have come for taster sessions and then stayed on. He even ensures the food is grown for the staff and volunteers’ annual Christmas lunch!
Supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust
Before getting involved with BTCV, 18 year old Sarah was not in education, employment or training, and not very sure what she wanted to do in the future. She is now a dedicated volunteer with both BTCV’s midweek group and many other local environmental and community projects. She is well on her way to securing an environmental conservation qualification and has started a beginners’ course in horticulture.
10 year old Dominic has already clocked up two years of volunteering, going out regularly with BTCV’s team in Chelmsford. His ADHD doesn’t hold him back and he excels when given a challenge that focuses his concentration. He has great enthusiasm and is happy mingling with other members of the group, whatever their age.
Gordon is 13 and volunteers with our team in Derry at weekends and in the holidays. He put the skills he has learnt to use by making a huge contribution to a particular one of our projects - a peace garden next to his school. This has amazed and inspired his neighbours and schoolmates, and he continues to impress his fellow volunteers with his energy, drive and commitment.
17 year old Michael has learning difficulties and autism. He has recently volunteered with our Green Action programme, helping to create a nature trail and especially enjoying both bird box building and digging. Although shy at the start, he has come out of his shell and now actively seeks people out to tell them of our achievements.
After getting into some trouble, Kyle, aged 17, came to BTCV on one of our entry to employment programmes. Since then, he has been busy helping us create outdoor learning classrooms in local school grounds. His artistic talents have brought about interesting design ideas and problem solving whilst on task, he is staring to get some certificates under his belt and he has been an inspiration to other young people.
This award is given to the person who has made significant changes to their life and/or those of others, through improving their mental health and/ or physical well-being, as a result of their involvement with BTCV.
Now the Chair of two BTCV Green Gyms, Michael Sawyers leads by example. Referred to the Hastings Green Gym by his GP after a serious illness, Michael had mobility problems and could not raise his arm above shoulder height. Through regular attendance his health, fitness and confidence improved to the point where he uses his leadership skills to be a powerful force in local environmental volunteering.
Vincent O’Lynn is a highly respected member of one of our food growing projects in Carrickfergus and encourages others to be as physically active as he is himself. After years battling alcoholism and drug addiction, Vincent spends most of his free time at the project, where he has built a shed and fencing and eagerly shares growing tips with other people. Once very inactive, he cycles six miles daily to attend the project and has swapped a greasy fish and chips diet for fresh green produce.
Running part of a BTCV Green Gym and applying for a HNC in Countryside Management, Fiona Hutchinson has made the most of her enthusiastic volunteering with BTCV. She has overcome various health problems, the trauma of a physical assault and the sadness of her father’s death to become an assured person who is determined to succeed in the environmental sector.
Now a confident public speaker and blogger on transgender issues, Fiona Matthews has come a long way since she was referred to a BTCV Employment Programme by the Job Centre. Having moved from supported housing with MENCAP, she now lives independently, giving support to others facing the difficulties and confusions she herself has faced as a woman trapped in a man’s body.
Carl Robinson’s life was turned around by a chance encounter with a BTCV work group. Following redundancy, he was at low mental and physical ebb due to alcoholism, suffered back problems and had difficulty walking. Since then, his health has improved, he has a fistful of qualifications and he is being offered employment. Most importantly Carl has regained his pride and self-respect.
This award is given to the person who has made significant changes to their life as a result of skills, qualifications and/or experience acquired through involvement with BTCV.
When Matthew was 18, he was bullied at school, suffered from depression, was struggling with asperger’s syndrome and was very introverted. Now, seven years later, at the age of 25, he is bubbly, enthusiastic and eager to tell others about the difference that BTCV has made to his life. Volunteering with BTCV gave him the idea and confidence to study environmental conservation at college, lead BTCV holidays, gain professional qualifications and find employment in the environment sector. He is a great support to local BTCV staff and a fantastic mentor for other volunteers.
Kim, who is in his 20s, has gained a multitude of skills through volunteering with BTCV, from hedgelaying and coppicing to running groups and working with a team. From someone lacking in confidence, he has turned into a great motivator and leader. We are delighted he has now found full-time work, whilst continuing to lead our volunteer groups in his spare time.
Experiencing long-term unemployment, Stephen came to volunteering through a New Deal scheme. He seized the opportunity to learn skills from garden design to tree planting and to complete a range of courses including chainsaw work and first aid. He began to turn his life around, improving his physical and mental health. He has now secured work as a gardener with the local council, something he says he would never have achieved without his volunteering.
39 year old Alan has used his time as a BTCV Volunteer Officer to gain a good range of practical skills, but also the ability to demonstrate and explain them to others. Volunteering has helped him build a network of friends and the confidence to consider his next step into employment.
Hard-working mum Jennifer is in her 40s and had never been out of employment until she was forced to leave her job for health reasons. This knocked her confidence and left her feeling depressed. Help from a BTCV-run employment programme helped her to re-gain her self-belief, update her CV and improve her job searching techniques to the point that she now has not just one, but two, jobs!
Julie is a 23 year old single mother with a five year old son who is registered disabled. She joined BTCV on a placement scheme with our admin team in Swindon and excelled to the point that she was eventually offered full-time employment with us. She has moved off benefits and made positive steps to better her life and the life of her son.
Elizabeth is a 29 year old, unemployed single parent who has been moving heaven and earth for the last year to get the skills and experience she needs to find work. She has just completed her Level 1 Diploma in Environmental Conservation and as a BTCV Volunteer Officer, she also helps deliver the NVQ course to others, particularly motivating and helping the most disadvantaged students.
Sponsored by RBS Group,
this award is given to the BTCV group or individual that has done the most to mitigate the impact of climate change through practical action with BTCV, and through changing their own behaviour and that of others in favour of a more sustainable lifestyle. It is given in memory of former BTCV leader Dave Donohue, who embodied the spirit of ‘thinking globally, acting locally’.
GreenFerry Trust and their local sea cadets, TS Lochinvar, have worked in partnership on local environmental projects for the last two years. Starting with help for a planting day, the cadets have also improved a community garden, run litter picking activities, taken over the local Beach Watch programme and much more. During this time, the cadets have increased in numbers from 6 to 65 and shown themselves to be keen, hard-working, well-behaved, extremely well-organised and above all committed to helping their local community and environment.
Walter is 55 and registered disabled due to the effects of diabetes. This affected his physical and mental health, but last year he joined a BTCV Green Gym which, as he says, ‘got his life back to normal’. He has been hugely active in the BTCV Carbon Army, planting community orchards and spreading the message to others through workshops and events. He has been inspired to grow his own food on his balcony, but also to improve the communal green spaces on his estate, becoming a local hero in the process.
Now in his late 60s, Peter began volunteering with BTCV 15 years ago when he took on the challenge of setting up and running our community tree and wildflower nursery. He has encouraged local groups and councils to buy local provenance seeds and plants. He has also helped volunteers to think about novel ways to re-use materials, introduced water butts and renewable energy solutions to the site, set up a food-growing plot and inspired staff and volunteers alike to think about the sustainable use of food and materials.
This allotment pilot project not only provided a number of allotments to the local community, but also made a ‘demonstration plot’ where training is delivered to both allotment holders and the general public. As well as the positive carbon benefits of growing your own, the group have also encouraged composting and recycling, shared travel and increased wildflower diversity around the borders. The group has actively inspired others to join in, showing how simple, small changes can be made.
Since Malcolm retired over three years ago, he has been a regular volunteer with BTCV and is now a key member of our Carbon Army, helping with projects from tree planting to meadow creation. He lives his own life as sustainably as possible, growing his own food, walking or using the bus, recycling and more. He also spreads the word to others, introducing a ‘Greenest Garden’ award for his local festival and setting up a local vegetable growing group. As BTCV Project Officer John Thompson says: ‘If every street had a Malcolm Cottam, the world would be a greener, cleaner and happier place!
The public area surrounding Lavender Pond was, until last year, in a state of poor repair. Now a group of young BTCV volunteers, funded by the SITA Trust GreenPrints programme, have planned and led a transformation. Out have gone weeds, litter, dog fouling, tarmac and decaying benches - all swapped for a beautiful lakeside viewing garden and accessible, child-friendly butterfly walk.
Norley Rural Skills Centre has been developed by BTCV volunteers over the last seven years on a site formerly occupied by a Cold War era heavy anti-aircraft gun battery. The Centre offers training in both traditional rural skills and up to date techniques and qualifications required by the modern environmental sector. The site itself has improved tremendously for biodiversity over this period, including a new pond, an orchard, native mixed hedgerows, wildflower meadows, willow beds and living willow structures. The Friends group has recently been established to harness local enthusiasm and steer further development of the site.
Laurel Glen is a patchwork of green spaces in West Belfast. Started over 20 years ago and funded by the Department of Social Development, this project is responsible for the day to day management of these. Local volunteers are involved in practical environmental activities, such as planting native trees and wildflowers, all designed to protect and develop the local biodiversity. Through involving the local community, the project has helped to reduce some of the anti-social behaviour which had previously been a problem on the sites.
Volunteers on this BTCV project have been working hard to repair and restore a wetland area on this country estate, and helping to open up the site to the public. They have created a field study area so that school children and other groups can access the site with minimal impact. The team has many exciting plans for the future too, including surveying and improving the wildflower meadow.
The Wednesday Garden Group is a team of volunteers that help to maintain the extensive wildlife garden and grounds at BTCV’s Hollybush Conservation Centre in Leeds. As well as food growing, the site has a huge range of different wildlife habitats from bee hives and bird boxes to ponds, a bog garden, dry stone walls and hedgerows. All this is designed to demonstrate the potential to the public of what can be achieved in different spaces, even in a small urban area.
A fourteen year relationship between a massive corporate business and a local voluntary sector project requires a range of characteristics to ensure the very different ways of operating and resourcing activities are managed. We have done this through trust in those values we share and the excellent relationships between employees and volunteers from both National Grid and BTCV. The result is our fantastic Skelton Grange Environment Centre in Leeds, now hosted in an award-winning eco-building.
Essex Gateways Project is a partnership between BTCV, Essex County Council and Essex Probation which aims to give offenders the opportunity to carry out unpaid environmental work as part of their court order. By the end of the project it is estimated that 120 offenders will have made visible reparations to their communities.
This relatively small mountainous national park in northern Portugal has been home to BTCV conservation holidays for over 15 years. They are amazingly friendly hosts, but also use the holidays to raise local interest in volunteering and are now helping to spread the philosophy to the country’s other national parks.
Bury Council has been the main supporter of BTCV North Manchester for over 20 years. Without their funding it would be very difficult for BTCV to provide the current level of volunteering in this area. They provide BTCV with premises paid for in-kind as task days and are always looking to find internal and external funding for BTCV.
The Health Promotion Department (HPD) is using the BTCV Green Gym concept as part of their Health Gardens Programme across Donegal. Their innovative and integrated approach has helped Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland spread the message of using the natural environment for health benefits to new audiences, both among health and community sector professionals and local people in general.
The Cromarty Firth Fisheries Trust has been involved with BTCV Inverness since 2007 in a partnership which has provided a model for other Trusts. The Trust can draw on a keen and able work force to help them in their more practical tasks, while BTCV has gained a very knowledgeable partner with insight into the more biodiversity-related aspects of projects.
Thomastown House provides supported accommodation for people experiencing mental health/housing problems. They have been an extremely flexible and co-operative partner, with BTCV taking over much of its grounds to run a Green Gym project. This involves the residents in gardening and conservation as a way of improving their wellbeing through both exercise and healthier eating.
The Amber Foundation has built BTCV conservation volunteering and training into its regular programme of career development for homeless unemployed young people. As a result, BTCV in Trowbridge has successfully completed a wide range of practical conservation tasks with notable benefits to wildlife and the community.
