Conservation, history, green living and local self-sufficiency are the priorities for these volunteers.

All | Charlotte | Jessica | Laura

« Previous day (Feb 2, 2012) | Main | Next day (Feb 4, 2012) »

Friday Feb 03, 2012

Getting a Buzz from Training

Working as a volunteer is a good way of getting on the job experience, but if you're lucky enough then you might get to do some training and qualifications as well. Through volunteering I've gained First Aid and Brushcutter qualifications and learnt about many interesting things from Forest Gardening to how to make yurt wheel. This week I went on a course about Bee Keeping specifically designed for community volunteers. The course was at Trafford Hall. which is the home of the National Communities Resource Centre. Having won some funding from the Tudor Trust, they are offering bargain courses for community volunteers, which include food and accommodation, and have a linked small grants scheme where volunteers can apply for up to £500 towards their project. The whole programme seems like an excellent way to give volunteers more skills and greater ownership over the projects they are involved in. It was also a great way to get well fed for a couple of days! I've got another course in March and I can't wait to have another volunteer's "mini-break"! 

The course itself was very interesting and informative, and extremely thorough! We had two days of learning the theory behind bee keeping, from the biology to the practicalities, and in May we will return to have a practical session, although I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to put some of the things I've learned into practice before then. We are due to have some hives on Stirley Farm, and following the course I feel much better equipped to get involved and hopefully if we get the grant we will literally be much better equipped too! Doing the course actually made me feel very nostalgic about university. I studied biology and on my year abroad I did a research project on ants, which have a very similar social structure to bees. It felt great to get back to the classroom! I'd love to do a Masters degree but I know that it would be mostly for my own enjoyment, and that volunteering is the best thing that I can do for my career at the moment. Whilst my training allowance won't get me through a MSc, I'm very happy to be learning about bees and meeting lots of other people working on community projects.

Posted by Charlotte Holgate ( 9:51 PM )
Link to this post Comments[0]