Conservation Action Teams (CATs)
Day projects are a great way to get out and do some practical conservation work. You don’t have to be super fit or even very physically active – just willing to contribute what you can. Conservation Volunteers’ day projects, such as those delivered by Conservation Action Teams (CATs) , are available at locations all over Northern Ireland. All you need to do is to turn up at the office or pick up point. This programme is a “walk in” activity. Volunteers bring themselves, suitable clothes and some lunch and Conservation Volunteers provides the rest: transport, tools, tea and biscuits, supervision and training if required. For further information on day projects contact your local office.
A day in the life of a volunteer...
8.00 Get up, dress in my working clothes and eat lots of breakfast.
9.00 Meet other volunteers at local pickup point and clamber aboard the free minibus to the project site.
10.00 Arrive on site. Most of the day projects I’ve been involved with begin at around 10am on site. Sam, our leader, shows us around the site and explains what we will be doing and how we are going to achieve it. She also talks to us about safe working practices and shows us some of the basic techniques we’ll be using.
10.15 We are all allocated our specific tasks and begin work, usually there are a couple of us together on each task.
11.00 There is lots of drinking water available throughout the day and we also usually have a tea break mid morning. I’m enjoying this and getting on very well with the other volunteers in my work team and welcome the opportunity to relax and chat.
12.00 I’ve been having trouble with some of the equipment. When others use it, it looks easy, but it just won’t work for me. I ask Sam to spend time showing me how to use the equipment properly. She is really expert at this and in no time I get the hang of it.
1.00 Lunch – I really feel like I’ve earned it! Over lunch Sam talked to us about each team’s progress. It’s good to know how everyone else is doing.
1.30 Back to work!
2.30 I’m beginning to feel a bit tired now but Sam noticed and moved me to a less strenuous job. That’s a relief.
4.00 We collect up all the tools and load them into the minibus. The site is tidied up and a couple of us make sure that we have left nothing behind. We board the bus and leave the site. On the way back we all chat about our plans for the evening and a few of us arrange to meet up for a drink in town. It’s been a great day. We’ve all really enjoyed ourselves. Can’t wait till next week when we will be going to a different site and doing different work.