Part Time Job – Volunteer Conservation Day – Assistant Coordinator

Volunteer Conservation Day  – Assistant Coordinator

Funded by the Nineveh Charitable Trust, we organise monthly volunteer days to help restore Tortworth Arboretum from years of neglect. The volunteer days focus on clearing bramble, bamboo, rhododendron and other overgrowth but can include building and some other tasks.

Volunteers come from many walks of life and are especially welcome if they are in recovery from addiction or long term unemployed. We currently have around 65 volunteers registered and each volunteer day sees an average of 15 people attend, depending on the weather.

Volunteers gain training in use of hand tools from an external trainer, Go Wild Education, quarterly. A meal is always cooked on the fire and hot drinks and snacks are also available to all volunteers.

Role:

The role of the Assistant Coordinator is to support the smooth running of the monthly Volunteer Conservation Days at Tortworth Arboretum; from meeting the volunteers at the minibus in Bristol to helping with the lunch and drinks, ensuring everyone has signed in and filled in their medical details, supervising safe tool use, sharing knowledge about the arboretum, ensuring all tools are safely stored at the end and the volunteers are well supported throughout the day.

Essential Skills and Experience:

We are looking for someone who is passionate about woodlands and conservation, as well as about the ways in which nature can be transformative to those experiencing addiction or mental health issues. Ideally you can demonstrate that you have sensitivity to the diverse needs of volunteers as well as some more practical experience working with hand tools. We are not looking for somebody who has years of experience working in a woodland, but rather someone who is willing to learn, who is reliable and who can demonstrate a real passion for both people and nature.

Desirable Skills and Experience:

An outdoor first aid qualification, knowledge of dynamic risk assessment methods. Reasonable Tree ID and flora/fauna ID are useful.

Salary:

£80 per day

Dates (subject to change and may be extended pending further funding):

October 18th (if recruited in time)

November 15th

December 13th

January 17th

February 21st

March 20th

April 17th

May 15th

 

To apply please email a cover letter and brief CV including relevant volunteer work to bec@tortwortharboretum.org by 16 October 2015.