Oxfam Birthrights Exhibition, Huddersfield

Oxfam volunteer, Veronika Susedkova, organised a display of the Birthrights exhibition in Huddersfield which looks at maternal care for mothers in Ghana, and put on a fantastic opening night!

Weak at the Knees

The beautiful weather we've been having has motivated me to finally sort my rusty bike chain out and I managed to get it to a functioning state in time to cycle home from work this evening. When setting off, I wasn't altogether convinced that my chain wouldn't snap when under strain especially due to the disconcerting clunks it made up the drive from the farm... But pretty soon I stopped noticing so many clunks, although this could have been because I was concentrating more on the Yorkshire hills that I've not tackled in several months... The ride home was actually quite gentle in comparison to other routes I used to take regularly. I had to resist constant urges to stop at every pub I passed and get a drink and sit out in the sun! I've missed cycling more than I realised - you see so many different things on a bike than you do in a car. My route home to Shepley seemed practically brand new. That said, I'm not expecting to see much of the London to Brighton ride in June unless I get myself some pretty powerful lights!

So now the training has properly started! The cycle home was 7 miles, which left me feeling slightly weak at the knees, I've got quite a bit of work to do before I'm ready for my 62 mile challenge (sorry, I work in miles not kilometres...).

We've also got a long way to go with the fundraising effort. I've got a few ideas up my sleeve but any donations would be gratefully received! You can sponsor us on our Team Toots page.

The Best of Volunteering

I'm on the Do-it.org homepage under the "best of volunteering"... Hurray!

On yer bike!

As well as neglecting my blog a little, since Christmas I've also been neglecting my bicycle... Since moving to West Yorkshire in July, my trusty bike has been my main way of getting around. But since moving slightly further away from the farm where I work and getting a lift instead of cycling in, my trusty bike has become my rusty bike... But it's time to clean up my chain and get back on my bike - because I've just signed up to take part in Moonriders, a charity cycle ride from London to Brighton through the night to raise money for Oxfam!

On Sunday, in spite of having the flu and a rusty chain, I borrowed a bike and went for a ride up on the High Peak Trail. Getting to the trail nearly killed me (apparently it was necessary to take shortcuts through fields, lifting the bikes over stiles and walls...) but it felt great to get back on a bike again!

I'll keep you updated on my training and fundraising progress and if you'd like to sponsor me, I've set up a fundraising page!

Recent Updates

After promising not to neglect you, I've not updated this blog in a while... I've been busy blogging for Do-it however! You can read my posts about recent community events in Newsome including our  Potato Day and the Growing Communities workshops, where we looked at why food growing works in Newsome and how and why such projects began. I also wrote about Oxfam after I went to speak to a group of teenagers in Barnsley about the work they do.

Getting a Buzz from Training

This post also appears on my Do-it.org blogspot:

Working as a volunteer is a good way of getting on the job experience, but if you're lucky enough then you might get to do some training and qualifications as well. Through volunteering I've gained First Aid and Brushcutter qualifications and learnt about many interesting things from Forest Gardening to how to make yurt wheel. This week I went on a course about Bee Keeping specifically designed for community volunteers. The course was at Trafford Hall, which is the home of the National Communities Resource Centre. Having won some funding from the Tudor Trust, they are offering bargain courses for community volunteers, which include food and accommodation, and have a linked small grants scheme where volunteers can apply for up to £500 towards their project. The whole programme seems like an excellent way to give volunteers more skills and greater ownership over the projects they are involved in. It was also a great way to get well fed for a couple of days! I've got another course in March and I can't wait to have another volunteer's "mini-break"!

The course itself was very interesting and informative, and extremely thorough! We had two days of learning the theory behind bee keeping, from the biology to the practicalities, and in May we will return to have a practical session, although I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to put some of the things I've learned into practice before then. We are due to have some hives on Stirley Farm, and following the course I feel much better equipped to get involved and hopefully if we get the grant we will literally be much better equipped too! Doing the course actually made me feel very nostalgic about university. I studied biology and on my year abroad I did a research project on ants, which have a very similar social structure to bees. It felt great to get back to the classroom! I'd love to do a Masters degree but I know that it would be mostly for my own enjoyment, and that volunteering is the best thing that I can do for my career at the moment. Whilst my training allowance won't get me through a MSc, I'm very happy to be learning about bees and meeting lots of other people working on community projects!

Hungry for More?

If you're reading this, then you've somehow found yourself on my volunteering blog... If you like it and you'd like to read more of the same, I have now started blogging for Do-it.org, the volunteering organisation. My posts will be in the Environment and Heritage section. Don't worry, I'll still be posting here - possibly even more frequently than before!