Monday 3rd June marks the beginning of Volunteers’ Week, a national celebration of the people who give their time to support charities, organisations and groups across the country.
We are delighted to have brought people together to help look after and understand the Geopark’s landscape, with a growing team of interested and enthusiastic people. Some are able to come along to several different sessions a month, and some come along to one or two activities each year, but every hour spent helping us and our partners is hugely valuable. We find people coming back to practice their newly-learnt skills, chatting away with fellow volunteers and working as a team to achieve more than we expect to.
In total, to date, the Geopark has supported volunteers to give:
- 550 hours to manage woodland at Beacon Hill, guided by the Leicestershire County Council rangers and Heartwood Community Woodfuel Group volunteers, plus another 80 hours in training on First Aid, tree identification, green woodworking and group leadership.
- 294 hours to care for the internationally important geological sites across the Geopark, enabling them to be visited and understood by schools, universities and groups on guided walks
- 241 hours to research and create new learning resources for schools in Charnwood Forest, focussing on the social and cultural history of the landscape, including 88 hours guiding students of three local schools at an archaeological dig at Beaumanor Hall
- 90 hours supporting other local organisations such as Mount St Bernard Abbey and Oaks Scout Campsite
- 102 more hours in other types of training, including First Aid and group leadership
- 139 hours planting trees, picking litter for an exciting art installation at Timber Festival and supporting guided walks
- Many, many more hours through species monitoring, habitat conservation and more through our partner projects with the Wildlife Trust and others
Without people giving their time to do activities like these, the Geopark would not be able to care for and share its knowledge of the landscape with so many people who live, work in or play in the landscape.
A huge thank you to everyone who has been able to give any amount of time to us. If you are feeling inspired to get involved too, please use our contact form or email abrand-barker@nationalforest.org.