I can honestly say that my years of volunteering with TCV (or BTCV when I started) were some of the best years of my life. I learned so much and met so many different people, while also doing valuable work with a team of volunteers in our community. I’m still in touch with some of them!
It’s hard to say what I loved most: getting the minibus and equipment ready for departure in the morning, creating a new countryside path, building a dipping platform on a lakeshore or managing heathland to increase insect diversity.
A day out as a volunteer with TCV is different from one week to the next and it’s always interesting. Another interest of mine is filmmaking, and in 2009 I made one of my first mini-documentaries.
I was lucky enough to have training – and a borrowed camera – from the BBC. The film is called “A Green Day Out”. I think it perfectly sums up what conservation volunteering means for me, and why a “Green Day Out” is worth trying for anybody who fancies learning new skills, making new friends and getting fit while looking after our green spaces.