This week I began a qualification in Community Volunteering at Voluntary Action Vale Royal. It is to certify some of the work we do in the community. We look into why people volunteer and how best to engage with others in our communities.

Why bother if you don’t get paid?

Tough question.

You are quite right, volunteering means doing something for nothing but it is short sighted to say it has no benefits or rewards.

If you are jobless, it can take its toll on your confidence and your mental health. Voluntary work gives you the opportunity to widen your skills, meet a vast array of different people; it can broaden your mind and take you along a career path you hadn’t even considered previously.

You benefit from recent references, getting out and about, and most important of all whatever you are doing, you can be sure of one thing – you are valuable because the charity or community group you are helping needs you and your work benefits so many.

B.T.C.V (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers – an award winning social enterprise) claim that 70% of conservation volunteers find paid work as a direct result of their (often free) courses and voluntary concerns.

Grozone is a community garden near Vickersway Park and offers everyone in the community the chance to get some fresh air and learn new skills.

On alternate Wednesdays they offer a Connect and Be Active session, which aims specifically to improve people’s mental health with the healing power of nature. Come along and see if your mood can be lifted. If you don’t like it, you can always leave. But what if you enjoy yourself?

There is nothing more rewarding than fostering life on this planet be it a child or a pet or a plant. Come to Grozone and create a beautiful place for everyone to use and enjoy. It is a wonder to behold the bonding, joyful ensemble at Grozone.

I went on the Groundwork Cheshire/BTCV Grow and Eat programme and gained useful qualifications, but most of all I got outside of my own problems and this helped me to overcome them.

Plus I met so many grounded (excuse the pun) people who are good friends now. A number of us have started a conservation group of our own, and we intend to grow a new orchard for the community providing nutrition, as well as a space for education and theatre/musical events for the future.

At least think about the legacy you leave to the coming generations, what a coup to overcome the ‘Greed is good’ rhetoric of the Thatcherite 80’s and replace it with 21st Century communities caring for each other in spite of the ‘broken society’ left to us from those dark days. Lets face it; the Me-First generation didn’t do the economy or society much good. Maybe it is finally time for a golden age of service and love.

If you would like to know more about the community garden ring the Groundwork team on 01606 723160 or just pop along on Saturdays any time between 10am and 3pm – gloves and equipment (and tea!) provided. Alternatively check out the websites, you know you’re going to anyway!

www.northwest.groundwork.org.uk/cheshire www.groundworkaction.org.uk/grozone www.btcv.org.uk/northwest

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