We’re the Community Growing team at CFINE! We work together with existing community gardens across Aberdeen to help them do more, and we work with volunteers and others to provide opportunities for training, personal development, and improvement of wellbeing. Our work consists of creating and supporting city-wide community growing activities, including amongst other things: seminars and networking opportunities; running workshops and activities programmes with people of all abilities and ages; bringing gardening together with the arts through community-based creative projects; and... Running our gardening skills courses! At this point in time, our team works to run three different kinds of gardening courses: the CFINE “Growing Employability Skills” course; the “Growing For Wellbeing” course, in collaboration with MindStore; and the “Grow Food Indoors” course, in collaboration with One Seed Forward. Of these, we will be having further runs of Growing Employability Skills and Growing For Wellbeing courses throughout the rest of 2024. Both are based on a similar programme, covering four main learning areas: promoting biodiversity; composting and soil health; plant care, and; propagation. And – while wellbeing is always a priority on all of our courses – special attention is paid to this in our Growing For Wellbeing courses, which also include additional activities for developing and practising mindfulness within the sessions. This year will be the third consecutive year that we’ve been running our gardening courses, and our programme is diversifying and expanding all the time. So far, we’ve helped a total of 65 participants to complete our courses across 8 cohorts. Our hope is that by running these courses, we’ll reach out to new people, help them to develop their skills, and support them to improve their wellbeing, while at the same time also working to build up a bigger and bigger volunteer base for Aberdeen’s community growing projects. Our Support For Learning volunteers work together with course tutors during the sessions to: prep and for the sessions and pack down afterwards; supporting course participants to carry out activities; supporting course participants with paperwork and writing where appropriate, and; sometimes some additional tasks (e.g. collecting refreshments for the sessions) are helpful as well. Volunteers are also able to fully participate in the courses alongside other attendees, and so gain all the benefits of our courses -- getting outside and meeting new people, visiting and learning more about Aberdeen's community garden spaces, and getting to practice gardening skills together with the rest of the group. No prior training required for the position. Volunteers will receive training in gardening skills alongside fulfilling their learning support role. The volunteer will be working together with a course tutor at all times, and the community growing team will be available for additional support where required. A fantastic opportunity to help at wonderful community gardens in Aberdeen. All help makes a real difference and is greatly appreciated. For further details please contact Lucy Edwards, Community Growing Assistant at email: ledwards@cfine.org or telephone: 01224 596156.

We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to inspire the people of Aberdeen about Greyhope Bay and our plans for a new marine experience centre that will connect the city to our marine world! As part of this we are seeking a tactical Social Media Marketing Officer(s) to come and join our close-knit team and help get the word out about Greyhope Bay and our exciting plans for Aberdeen. This role will involve: *implementing online and offline marketing campaigns that drive engagement with Greyhope Bay across our social media channels. *Manage social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, MailChimp and Instagram) for marketing Greyhope Bay activity, fundraiser and events. * Ad-hoc administration An ideal opportunity to gain fantastic work experience and meet new people whilst contributing towards an exciting and innovative project for Aberdeen. For further information please contact Fiona McIntyre at email: fiona.mcintyre@greyhopebay.org.uk or Tel: 07531826302 or visit https://spark.adobe.com/page/ZT0ryLNHocglw/

An exciting opportunity to join the Under the Trees team, working in the great and beautiful outdoors whilst gaining valuable experience working with young children and young adults. You will potentially be working in all weathers and in all seasons - we can provide waterproofs! Under the Trees runs fun and educational sessions for school children in the Falkirk and Stirling areas, as well as a programme of public events for all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Events run all year round. As a Volunteer Education Assistant, there will be opportunities for you to do a range of the following: - Assist with Educational Sessions for school groups, including term-time forest schools. - Assist with sessions for the general public, including a monthly nature club for ages 0-13. - Assist with holiday play sessions and family events. - Plan and lead in activities. - Maintain resources effectively. - Keep session areas safe and tidy. - Desk-based activities in planning, creating materials and administration.

Litter isn’t nice. It spoils the places we live, work and visit. It devalues our beautiful country. Clean Up Scotland is our campaign to tackle litter. Whether you are an individual, member of a community, school or a business, we can all work together to improve our environment. Through Clean Up Scotland, we raise awareness of our litter problem, take action and inspire others to do the same. We can help you to organise a litter pick, find a litter pick happening near you or nominate someone for our Clean Up Scotland Hero award. If you are a business, we can organise volunteering activities and CSR days, or you can support our campaign financially, knowing that your money will make a real difference to our environment. Together we can make a difference.