By Richard Leach

After a cold, wet, boring winter and spring in and out of work, I decided to use my spare time in a more productive way.

Having spoken to a very nice lady from my local Volunteer Centre, it was agreed that I should try my hand with a local conservation group.

I set out on my scooter. On the way it rained.

Soaking wet, I arrived at the conservation group's HQ and trudged along the pathway to the front door. The fronts of my trousers steamed as the hot sun started to dry away the contents of the cloudburst.

I was greeted by a jovial woolly-faced and headed Scottish man in sandals, a kind of cross between Jesus and Billy Connolly. "Let's take a walk round the land we work on", he said.

It transpired that this band of merry men and women, consisting of professionals, volunteers and unemployed people on the New Deal scheme, got up to all manner of things conservational, environmental, ecological, horticultural, and arboreal.

The acreage was vast for a suburban project and everyone seemed in tune with nature and each other. "Sign me up," I said to the man with the woolly face after our pleasant journey through fields and forests had come to an end.

During my time working as a volunteer with the group I helped give career guidance (I'm trained in this field), dig holes, repair fences, clear scrubland, trim riverbanks, mend dams, plant various things and carry all sorts of strange looking equipment for those more experienced and qualified members.

I had a great laugh with the NVQ trainers and the people on the New Deal scheme and even learned a thing or two about birds, beetles, ladybirds, spiders and butterflies.

To find out about similar volunteering opportunities in your area, search do-it's volunteering database.

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