A day out with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV)

Wendy Brewin (Involvement)

The South Devon branch of BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) work on a regular basis with a group called the Ropewalk Resource Centre. The group, comprised of a wide range of people with mixed abilities and learning difficulties, volunteers once a week, often at a site located on the outskirts of Kingsbridge in Devon.

The Sensory Trust team was invited to spend a day working outdoors with some members of the Centre. We joined them on the site near Kingsbridge, bearing safety boots, hats and sun block (this was during the period when the country was basking in lots of wonderful warm sunny weather – remember that?)

The task for the day was to transform a small area within a woodland into a ‘story telling’ space, including seating arranged around a fire. People within the group were given various tasks to accomplish this. Some cleared overgrown vegetation from the area, others found logs large enough for the seating and the rest marked out the space for the fire by using smaller logs which they then fixed into place by using wooden ‘pins’ that they made.

After the hard work was done we had time to be creative, making bangles and necklaces from twigs of elder. We made damper bread and cooked it over the open fire, along with bananas covered in chocolate and wrapped in foil. A fitting end to the day.

Jemma Sharman, the BTCV officer who manages the group said “The group have got so much out of their volunteering over the past year... it’s been amazing to watch their confidence and self-esteem grow. They have really risen to personal challenges as well as realising the strengths of others in the group and how they can help others with their not so strong points...really working as a team.”

Other tasks carried out by the group include hedge laying, meadow clearance, pond surveys, woodcrafts, environmental art, as well as general conservation work such as clearance and path maintenance.

For more on BTCV go to www.btcv.org.

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