Volunteering on the Caledonian Canal is a two way process.
The canal receives positive attention from local people BUT the
returns can be even greater. Not only is there satisfaction
through achievement and team building but we will also organise
free training and activity sessions to suit the volunteer
group. Perhaps navigation training, party management, canoe
skills and guided walks or cycles to reveal more of the local
heritage. We can work it out together - just get in touch!
Becoming a Canal Custodian could involve one, or several, of the
following roles:
Get in touch with the Caledonian Canal heritage officer, Stephen
Wiseman, to find out more:
Practical conservation
tasks - canal side conservation work for wildlife and access
Woodland management may include invasive plant removal, tree
planting, painting and access work etc. The output will be a
healthy, social day that benefits access and conservation.
Regular task days can be viewed in the events list - get in touch
to get involved!
Wildlife
surveys - help to plan for wildlife
Come along to training sessions looking at different groups of
flora and fauna - learn more and start adding to much needed record
databases. Specialist advice will be on hand to help you grow
your knowledge and understanding of Scottish wildlife. If you
have a growing interest in carrying out butterfly transects, moth
trapping or flora recording, for example, get in touch and help us
support your skills and our conservation aims.
Canal
Interpreters - helping visitors to make the most of their Great
Glen trip!
Initially we are developing the idea of a manned information
point on good weather days by the flights at Fort Augustus but
there are possibilities for Neptune's Staircase at Banavie
too. Fort Augustus locks are the busiest along the canal and
the lock keepers just don't have the time or focus on busy days to
answer the many questions asked. We need some people who
do!
Training in people engagement and presentation skills is
provided. This work may also be extended to include working
with school groups or booked groups too. The heritage officer
sometimes does it dressed up as a Victorian engineer but that is
not essential!
Research and archives - connecting
together archival material to make stories
We are looking for people who would enjoy carrying out research
and collating local information / interpretive material and then
uploading it to community accessible areas online where anybody can
freely benefit from it. The media to present this collation,
which can continue to grow as long as there are people inputting,
is a dedicated Caledonian Canal web space. The site has been
created and is already growing! Why not check
it out?
We also upload images and data to SCRAN (Scottish
Cultural Resources Access Network) which is a charity & online
learning resource base with over 360,000 images & media from
museums, galleries, archives and the media. Full training
would be given - a basic knowledge of how to use a computer would
be a good starting point. This task can be carried out in the
comfort of your own home in any weather!
Local
business - canal adoption and team building
We are currently inviting organisations - companies, community
groups and schools, to adopt a small section of the Caledonian
Canal near to them. Canal adoptions are informal, non-legal,
flexible arrangements where the adopting organisation commits to
undertaking some form of voluntary maintenance tasks over the
period of one year, supported by British Waterways Scotland and The
Waterways Trust personnel.
Types of tasks that volunteers may undertake include scrub and
invasive plant removal, tree planting, painting barriers and
bollards, litterpicking, bridge stonework pointing and rail
painting. However, we are happy to work with organisations to
ensure volunteers get the opportunity to undertake tasks that are
of interest to them, perhaps a few hours for one day each month of
the year.
The adoption would also include the opportunity for a group John
Muir Award (JMA) - we are trained JMA providers and
facilitators, helping your company to declare its 'think global,
act local' credentials to the world!