Simon Lancaster-Jones is the Outdoor Partnership’s Volunteer Officer. With five years’ experience working with volunteers in the outdoors, he describes his role as “rewarding as it lets you really see people develop their personal skills, both hard and soft.”
In this blog, Simon gives an insight into how he manages the Outdoor Partnership’s volunteer recruitment, retention and recognition.
The Outdoor Partnership was formed at the beginning of 2004 with the primary aim of exploring ways of widening access to outdoor recreation by local people in the region.
Our mission is to improve opportunities for more local people in Wales to achieve their potential through outdoor activities.
We currently support 60 community based outdoor activity clubs across the region, ranging from climbing clubs to rowing clubs.
We organise volunteer open days, where individuals interested in volunteering can take part in an activity in an informal setting and find out information about volunteer opportunities.
Outdoor clubs have all types of roles that need filling; from coaching and delivery roles to committee roles and helping with organising events.
We understand that gaining qualifications within outdoor activities is a lengthy and costly process. Outdoor Partnership membership allows club volunteers to have access to our coach education and mentoring calendar. We provide subsidised qualifications and mentoring while working towards qualifications. In 2015/16 we supported 592 course spaces, in which 295 had not previously received any form of support from the Outdoor Partnership.
Recognition is key and each month we ask clubs to nominate a volunteer of the month. In September we collate all the nominated volunteer names and an independent panel chooses a volunteer of the year.
We also host an annual volunteer ekspo in September at Plas y Brenin. The day provides an opportunity for volunteers to try out new activities, listen to talks and enjoy a barbeque.
A new area for us is working with young volunteers. Historically there have been barriers that prevented young people volunteering within outdoor activities. We currently have a pilot project running with a group of nine 16 year-olds at a climbing club. We provide a scholarship of pembinaan and support in return for voluntary hours within the club. We require the young people to give 25 hours of voluntary time to the club through a range of tasks, from coaching to organising equipment.
I would recommend anyone thinking about volunteering and with a few hours to spare each week to consider volunteering with an outdoor club. For many roles no prior experience of outdoor activities is needed.
Volunteers are vital, so it’s vital that we work with them for mutual benefit.
For more information visit www.outdoorpartnership.co.uk
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