Gardens Group Volunteer Bed Leads

Keywords

18+ Community Engagement Environment Gardening Management Outdoors Planning Responsibility

Description

Town Team Gardens Group volunteers are amazing. 

They have won numerous awards and are incredibly well respected, loved and valued by everyone that lives in or visits our town for the work they do.
They work hard, have great skills and amazing plant knowledge. 
They love sharing that information and knowledge with others too.
The gardens they look after are beautiful and say such a lot about how we feel about our town.

As we maintain 8 sites in and around Broadstairs, each bed needs someone to ‘take the lead’ to help us.
What that means in reality is that there is a certain amount of administration and communication that is needed to keep schedules, planting plans and worklists of action needed on each bed which keeps all the volunteers informed and supported.

The new volunteer does need to be ‘hands on’ to a degree, love working as part of an enthusiastic and dedicated team, and have some gardening knowledge. 
However, is largely the ‘behind the scenes’ work that we need help with.

The roles might suit people who work part time, about to or recently retired, but most importantly wants to help us as a group to make Broadstairs an even nicer place to live in work in and visit.

What rewards come with volunteering, and how does it create meaningful change?

The difference we have been making since 2012 with and for our community, have made a broad range of positive changes for individuals and our town as a whole.
New friendships and groups that met as volunteers have been made. 

Those groups in turn meet socially and know that even a small amount of time donated to help our community has made a difference to the environment. Whether gardening, collecting litter, cleaning beaches or supporting and helping other community groups learn and grow, the rewards are tangible.
Isolation and loneliness are very debilitating and can be hazardous to our health. 

Working in, for and with the community as volunteers, whether in small or large groups helps combat that, and makes connections where they did not exist before.

Environmental changes to community gardens create positive vibes, and we carefully consider the needs of local wildlife, flora and fauna and sustainability across all our garden sites. Mitigation for drought is a big influence on the way we approach gardening, and through sharing tips, tricks and hacks with other in turn helps our volunteers and residents consider what effect that has on their approach to their own gardens too.

Requirements

A love of community working and understanding of the power of people in our community to work together for the greater good of our Town and the environment.

Knowledge and enthusiasm for (but not necessarily expertise in) gardening. What we know we share with each other.

A willingness to ‘roll your sleeves up’ when we have events and promotions linked to gardens, events and gardening activities.

An understanding of the motivation, needs and dynamics of working in and with a group of other volunteers. Everyone has their specific needs and motivation for donating their time, and that can vary enormously.

Flexibility in terms of hours able to donate.

Medium level IT skills ( Word/Email/Excel).

Good administrative and communication skills.