The Stornoway Trust is committed to the development and conservation of the Castle Grounds. The principle asset for achieving this is our tree and plant nursery located near Marybank within the Grounds. The work is rewarding but also labour intensive, we are looking for a committed volunteer to help us achieve our goals. The purpose of the role is to assist the Nursery Coordinator in a variety of tasks, working alongside other volunteers and the Garden Team. Tasks will involve potting up seedlings, propagation, organising plant stock, watering, weeding seedling beds, and seed collecting (to name just a few). Volunteer benefits - • Working with nature • Conserving the Castle Grounds • Learning lots of new skills • Working in the fresh air • Physical activity (get those steps up) • Friendly, knowledgeable team

Are you interested in wildlife and would you like to get involved in practical work on our Culbin Sands reserve? We are looking for new volunteers to get involved and help us manage our remote and fascinating Culbin Sands reserve. We rely on the hard work and dedication of volunteers to keep the habitats on this reserve in fine condition. To do this, we are running work groups, usually once or twice a week between August and April. This role is suitable for under 18’s. We will carry out habitat management tasks during these work groups, which will include the removal of scrub and small trees with hand tools and burning brash on bonfires. We are looking for volunteers to help out with these management tasks by joining our dedicated team of volunteers. Work groups take place between Monday and Saturday. It is not possible to run work groups on regular days of the week as access to Culbin Sands is dependent on the timing of tides, so planned work group dates are released every few weeks. The tasks are running as part of our LIFE 100% for Nature Project, which aims to improve the condition of sand dune and vegetated shingle habitats on the reserve, to benefit a range of rare and threatened species. In this role you'll learn about the management and ecology of this important reserve while developing new skills in habitat management or just enjoying this remote and wild reserve. While in the role, appropriate training and support will be provided for all tasks. Through this role you will be making an important contribution to the management of this reserve. We are looking for volunteers who are enthusiastic, flexible and can get on well with a range of people. If you have an interest in conservation it will be helpful, but not essential. No specialist skills are required however, you will need to be able to use hand tools (bowsaws, loppers) for cutting vegetation and you will need to be able to withstand 4-6 hours of working (at your own pace) on a remote site in sometimes poor weather conditions. You will need to be able to move over steep, boggy and sandy ground and be able to step over or use a narrow plank to cross a tidal creek to access the site. You will need to be comfortable to occasionally work around loud machinery and to follow safety instructions. Due to the remoteness of the reserve, there are no indoor toilet facilities at this reserve. You will need to make sure you have an up-to-date tetanus injection. As the reserve is remote, you will need your own transport to get to the reserve. The reserve is not served by public transport. Volunteers will need to provide their own food, drink and outdoor clothing, including wellies. The RSPB will provide appropriate Personal Protective Equipment relevant to the tasks, such as work gloves and protective glasses. We recommend that new volunteers attend a trial volunteer session, to ensure that the role is suitable for them.

Following a four-year refurbishment, we opened our brand-new museum exhibition, shop, and café in July 2021. This is an exciting time to join us as we welcome visitors into the new museum for the 2022 season. The gardening volunteers are a friendly team of volunteers who work all year round to maintain the extensive gardens around the David Livingstone Birthplace. They play an important role in making the grounds accessible, attractive, and enjoyable for the wide range of people that visit the grounds. Key activities include grass cutting, weeding, hedge trimming, tidying the grounds, planting, and leaf clearance.

Growing Matters was established as a charity in 2017 and its aim is to develop and maintain the old 4 acre walled kitchen garden on the Gilmerton House estate. The garden had fallen into disrepair, and it is now being gradually developed as a community resource. We are aiming to recruit several new volunteers to work in the garden alongside existing volunteer gardeners. There is a range of tasks and activities on offer depending on your interests and experience. These include garden maintenance such as weeding, sowing, planting, DIY, pruning and digging. There is also the opportunity to take part in courses we run in our new craft building: bee keeping from a local beekeeper who keeps hives in the garden, and willow weaving using material we grow in the garden. We also have a polytunnel where volunteers can grow flowers and vegetables all the year round.

Volunteers have become an integral and highly valued part of the services Cornerstone provides to people with disabilities and additional support needs. Volunteers add an important extra dimension to the lives of people we support by extending and enhancing their circle of support and broadening the opportunities available, allowing them to enjoy life and feel part of their wider community. This exciting opportunity for Volunteer Gardeners will contribute to this by helping to maintain our Allotment in Dumbarton East, work alongside our support practitioners and supported persons to develop gardening skills, growing plants/vegetables and any other creative gardening opportunities. This will encourage the people we support to enjoy time outside which can be of benefit to their health and wellbeing and create meaningful outcomes Maintain regular contact with the service you have been matched with. Carry out specific duties regarding your volunteer role. Maintain appropriate boundaries, respecting confidentiality. Notifying the service if you are unable to attend. Attend regular support sessions. Adhere to the policies and procedures of Cornerstone. Undertake training sessions relevant to your role.

We are looking for volunteers for our shared Growing Together project. The project is in our garden grounds surrounding Dudhope Castle. We are creating a multi-sensory garden to improve the experience of the space for our local community. We are looking for volunteer support to assist in developing the garden plans. We will create themed areas of the garden with the support of volunteers, including a centre garden, a Victorian-themed garden, a wall garden, the back garden and an orchard. You can see more of the plans here: https://uppertunity.org.uk/growing-places-project Volunteers can participate in the planning and maintenance of the gardens. You will develop and expand your practical skills while maintaining a space for the local community. Experience is optional for this role as The Circle and Uppertunity will provide training. You will gain work experience from volunteering with us, and we will provide a CV reference after three months of volunteering.

Love being outdoors? Love your local woodland? Join the Mauldslie Woods Volunteering Team. Come along and carry out a variety of practical woodland conservation and management tasks, whilst having fun, learning new skills and meeting new people. The group meet on Mauldslie Bridge in Carluke at 10.15am and the group runs until 3.00pm.

We are looking for volunteers to help us: -Maintain the campsite ready for use by Scout Groups -Support groups using the sites -With approval from Clyde Scouts Trustees develop and improve the site -Support any fundraising and events Whether you are great at strimming the grass, cutting hedges, creating events to involve the local community or have any other skills, we'd be delighted to hear from you. All members of the Avondyke Scout Active Support Unit are asked to commit to volunteering for an average of 6 days per year.

Our Outdoor Education Assistant role is varied and includes helping our experienced staff to deliver play, school, weekend events and birthday parties. It's a great opportunity to develop new outdoor learning and Play Ranger skills, including designing and delivering activities for all ages. Opportunities exist for this role to also support other desk based developments around our wider education and training offer to communities, namely: - Supporting the ongoing management of our School support packages. - Supporting the development of our online teacher training/support products. - Supporting development of a new‘membership’ package for schools. - Supporting development and roll out online learning packages related to school groups, uniformed organisations, and families.

We are currently looking for volunteers for our open volunteer days on Thursdays. Volunteers will drop in any time between 10am - 5pm and spend time cultivating the market garden and beautifying the Croft. This is not only a good opportunity to get involved in our community, but also a great way to get hands-on experience of gardening and DIY crafts led by our education officers. Spend time outside, learn something and meet great folks!