The Lake District National Park Volunteers Service has a 50 year heritage looking after one of the nation's greatest assets. Through our Corporate Volunteering Scheme you will get the chance to work alongside our Volunteers Service and put something back into the stunning landscape we all love.
Our Corporate Volunteering Scheme gives you and your employees the opportunity to work with a renowned professional environmental brand. It helps you develop professional relationships, which have a mutual benefit for both your organisation and ours.
You will meet in a beautiful part of the Lake District National Park to enjoy a day of conservation and team work. You will be introduced to a team of experienced leaders, who will make sure you have a fun and safe day. We can tailor your day so the volunteering helps to deliver your company's Corporate Social Responsibility commitments.
You will be putting something back that has a legacy. We can create a reciprocal link between us to demonstrate elements of your Corporate Social Responsibility. You will help your employees to give something positive back and learn about each other in a different setting. The day represents good value because you'll only need to do the minimum of organisation - we sort everything out for you.
It's a great way for people to get out of their normal work space and enjoy a fantastic and constructive event. As a team building exercise, the day will help to embed existing team working skills. And it will go towards developing a positive and practical demonstration of good practice.
You will be helping deliver our values of an organisation that:
You will be met by a trained member of the National Park who will guide you throughout your experience. They will be on hand to answer questions and supervise your volunteering.
Firstly there will be an introduction including background information on the conservation task to be done. You will then have a short 'toolbox talk' to cover all health and safety aspects of your volunteering. Risk assessments and insurances have been covered, allowing you to relax into your volunteering in a safe environment.
You will be given all the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and tools you need to complete your volunteering.
£600 (+VAT) per day for eight people on our basic package. It is £70 (+VAT) per person to add extra group members.
This includes:
The first day was spent refurbishing one of the sets of wood steps. They lead 150 feet down to the shores of Windermere from the National Park car park and picnic site at Beech Hill. This involved digging out accumulated grass and earth and resurfacing with two tons of crushed slate all carried down by bucket!
Jon Hammond, National Accounts Sales Manager for Arco says:
"Thanks to the Lake District National Park Authority for the support given during our recent two day Corporate and Social Responsibility activity in the national park.
Nine work colleagues and I gained great satisfaction over the two days, completing tough but quite manageable tasks mainly involved in path and walkway maintenance. A lot of this was down to Field Ranger Dave Bell, who did an excellent job of gauging the right level of work, and led us enthusiastically, giving clear guidance prior and during the activity. He is a great advocate for the Authority.
Arco is one of the largest family owned companies in the UK and are very proud of their commitments to charity and community activities.
We would also like to officially thank everyone for a well organised, professional effort."
Other Arco staff said:
"We had a brilliant couple of days thanks. The work provided by Dave Bell enabled us to get stuck in, work hard and complete the tasks with great satisfaction.
Everything from Voluntary Ranger Richard's co-ordination to Dave's excellent organisation made it the perfect couple of day's voluntary work. (the weather was kind too)."
"The two days were good hard work and fun. Made great by Dave and super volunteers."
A group of four service users and their team leader undertook the John Muir award and did some volunteering for the Lake District National Park to gather evidence. Their group leader said:
"The trip went well and was an overall success. A group of four of our service users completed the four day expedition.
We started out at a car park near Broadstone on the Kirkstone Pass and followed the footpath north towards the campsite at Skyeside, we did not see any litter here on the 3.5 km we covered to the campsite.
On day two we walked across from Skyeside to the top of Dove Crag. We saw very little litter. Two or three small sweet wrappers at the start of the day closer to Skyeside and one rusting beer can around two-thirds of the way up all of which we removed. We camped around 1100ft as you descend through Scandale towards Ambleside. On day three as we walked down the track towards Ambleside we found another empty drinks can which we picked up. Overall we saw very little litter and the small amounts that we did we removed.
I think the group members were slightly surprised that they didn't see more litter as they all live in large towns or cities and are used to seeing lots of litter about. Our group leaders from Ghyll Head were explaining throughout about the impact of litter in the National Park and why it was so important for any litter we brought into the park to be carried out again with us. We were told about how organic matter such as banana skins decompose a lot more slowly at altitude and how streams can easily be polluted by human waste. We also discussed the impact of humans on footpath erosion and the importance of sticking to paths and not creating new paths.
Overall the general awareness of the group's impact on the environment was raised. All members took something with them from the experience that they will stay with them forever."
Nicola said "Thank you for your help in making our few days in the Lakes so productive, enjoyable and educational. This was primarily due to the patience and kindness of those supervising us as we were gently taught new skills and given the confidence to make decisions ourselves. We would love to return, and we hope to work with you again."
Jess said - "We had an excellent day volunteering with the Lake District National Park Authority and we would highly recommend it. Not only was it educational and fun, it also allowed us to give something back to the community as we have all walked in the Lake District and only now understand how much time and effort goes into maintaining it. Phil and Wilky were excellent supervisors and showed great patience with us. They allowed us great freedom to develop our skills but gently guided us when we needed it. We cannot thank you enough for the experience and are only sorry that it was not longer. We will be back!"
Olympus Engineering, based in the West Midlands, chose the Lake District National Park Corporate Volunteering scheme for their apprentice volunteering days. The young apprentices needed to complete volunteering days that touched on team working, working in a different environment and putting something back as part of their training. The Corporate Volunteering Scheme allowed them to do this and learn some practical conservation skills at the same time.
Yewbarrow woods, Rusland, is a special area of conservation as the yew trees grow on a slate rock, instead of the usual limestone rock where they are more commonly found.
Here the apprentices removed self-seeded beech sapling from woodland floor. This allows the native yew and oaks room to self-seed. It also means we don't end up with the wood full of beech trees. The apprentices used bow saws and loppers to cut the saplings. Any that were small enough were pulled from the floor with roots intact.
At High Dam they rebuilt a section of the property's eastern drystone wall from foundation to cam stones. The lads soon got the hang of the work with some training from the Field Ranger. They did a good job in the short time of one day learning!
Andrew Wilkinson, Lake District National Park Field Ranger said, "The group worked really well and all enjoyed the experience working in the Lake District National Park in our woodland properties, and I enjoyed working with the lads showing them parts of my work environment that's very different from their day to day work."
Josh Partridge, Olympus Engineering Team Leader said: "We all had a great time, it was a real good opportunity for us to try a different style of working and also to be able to give something back to the community and also help The National Park.
I would also like to thank you for your time and effort in making this a successful couple of days' volunteering."
To organise a team day and experience the outdoors and conservation work within the Lake District National Park, please contact us:
Volunteer Team– 01539 724555 email volsadmin@lakedistrict.gov.uk
Take a look at our Corporate Volunteering Leaflet (PDF)
