Practical Volunteering - Gill's View

Hi, I'm Gill and I've been volunteering on the Monday Weald outdoor task team for nearly four years now. When I retired at 60 this was one of the things that I wanted to do for all the usual reasons. I wanted to contribute towards helping the natural environment, spend time outdoors doing something worthwhile, and be involved in practical tasks as an antidote to 35 years of mainly sitting behind a desk. I had also taken a good look at what I would miss from my working life and realised that I didn't want to lose the camaraderie of working in a team.

I can tell you that volunteering has delivered some surprising benefits. I expected to work hard physically and wasn't disappointed there, a Monday task day beats going to the gym for building stamina, endurance and some impressive muscles, you just have to remember to conserve some energy for the end of the day because it's always uphill on the way back. Quite often it's uphill on the way in as well, I'm not entirely sure how that happens.

Lunch breaks involve some truly dreadful puns and awful 'dad' jokes, but also book and documentary recommendations, wildlife education, and putting the world to rights. I've learnt how to build a dead hedge, wield a scythe and a pitchfork, and lean on a rake, I've been to isolated nature reserves full of spring flowers, counted thousands of orchids on Marden Meadow, and heaved an impressive amount of timber into piles.

My Monday companions no doubt joined for the same initial reasons that I did but I asked them what the more unexpected benefits were and got these answers:

· 'To give the wife some respite.'

· 'The Christmas bonus.'

· 'It's cheaper than putting on the heating.' '

· For the craic.'

· 'Destroying trees.'

· 'Scaring wildlife.'

I might be covered in mud and completely exhausted by the end of a Monday but I will always be smiling.