God’s Acre Conservation Volunteers

If you like the idea of working with a lively group of people, in some of the most beautiful sites in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Powys, then you may be interested in joining our Conservation Volunteer Team (Churchyard Task Team).

Task days take place every Tuesday, Thursday and occasional Wednesdays.
The current programme of task days can be seen here.  Simply choose which days you would like to join and let Alex know you are coming so we make sure we have enough tools and refreshments.
We would love to welcome you!

We carry out a variety of interesting conservation tasks. In the summer months we undertake grassland management which involves scything, raking and making hay with our manual hay baler. In the autumn/winter we start pruning bushes and shrubs, cutting back overgrown vegetation or building compost bins. We sometimes lay hedges – an old technique that rejuvenates and restores natural boundaries. We also maintain new hedges and look after ancient trees by clearing competing vegetation. We restore and rebuild dry stone walls – always popular with the team. We help make wildlife homes with habitat piles, hibernacula and bug hotels.
Instead of practical work, some of the team prefer to undertake memorial surveys and species surveys.

We offer training and guidance so volunteers can do the tasks safely. We provide tools and protective equipment. We run regular dry stone wall and scything training courses. If you incur travel expenses we can reimburse you (up to a certain amount). If you don’t have transport, or can’t get to our task days, we will do our best to arrange a lift for you.

A typical day

We usually go out on Tuesday in south Shropshire and on Thursdays in north Shropshire. Also look out for our Wednesday task days. We start at 10am and finish by 3pm. Please bring your lunch if you are staying the whole day. The locals at the sites often provide us with hot and cold drinks, cakes and biscuits. You can do as much as you feel comfortable with and stay as long as you like. We always have a variety of tasks for volunteers to choose from.

Does your burial ground need some tender loving care?

If you are in Shropshire (or nearby counties) and your local burial ground could benefit from some TLC, please contact us. We can give advice on how to involve local people in managing your site and how to create your own management brief. We can also visit with the task team to help with practical conservation work. There is a charge for this.

The types of jobs the team can help with:

  • Repairing dry stone walls
  • Scything meadow areas
  • Removing invasive vegetation
  • Planting, trimming and laying hedges
  • Building compost bins
  • Sowing yellow rattle seed (to help reduce the vigour of grasses, thereby assisting other wildflowers to flourish)

So that our team of volunteers can enjoy working in a peaceful atmosphere, we do not use mechanised machinery.
Along with helping you manage your site in the short term, our aim is to support you to increase the number of your own volunteers so that you are better able to manage your site in the longer term.

We choose to work in sites which are being managed in a way that conserves both the natural and built environment.

We are delighted to announce that our fabulous volunteers have received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service  (the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK).

Related Pages

Volunteer’s calendar
Case Study – Getting Volunteers Involved
Download Action Pack D – Involving People

 

If you are interested in joining the Churchyard Task Team contact Alex Logan [email protected]

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