The joys of volunteering

12-13 June 2021

I’ve just spent the weekend on two day walks, helping a lively and enthusiastic group of teenagers complete their Bronze Level Expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. This has been awaited by them for at least a year as previous plans have been thwarted by the Covid pandemic. That it has happened now is a tribute to the incredibly dedicated teacher who has spent many hours planning, risk assessing and co-ordinating the entire process as well as persisting following previous cancelled attempts (due to ever changing Covid rules and restrictions) to get the expedition off the ground.

A lot had to be compromised and negotiated – no camping was possible so it had to be two day walks. Students still needed to use camping stoves to cook a “substantial meal” – so this was breakfast on the first morning cooked in the school car park before the expedition started. Of course in view of the large amount of school time missed by this cohort, no school time could be dedicated to their expedition. They had undergone map and compass training and learning about safety etc. a long time ago so the only time to refresh that was on the morning of the expedition. Approved assessors had travelled hundred of miles down the motorway and all that had to be organised in advance too. In addition local volunteers were needed to keep an eye on progress, particularly of any groups that were struggling or thought to have problems.

I arrived at the school car park partway through the students’ refresher training – the teacher had suggested that arriving earlier would just be “boring”. My daughter (an ex pupil who had completed a similar expedition about ten years ago) was with me as she was visiting for the weekend, the first time she had been able to be back in the area since last September.

The weather was set fair – hot and sunny. That was good although meant that care had to be taken that the candidates had adequate access to drinking water and that they used plenty of sun protection.

One really positive aspect of the D of E Award is that it is for ALL young people so anyone with medical problems can participate and if necessary the activities are adjusted (although with care that they remain challenging). It is also clear that it is important that the candidates ENJOY their activities and will want to come back for more. Personally that is important – my first introduction to walking expeditions was through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and, without the dedication of enthusiastic leaders, I would not have been exposed to these pursuits as a young teenager. It was an introduction to interests that have continued to be important to me throughout adult life as well as an opportunity to experience the positive feeling of achievement after appropriate challenge.

Anyway now we have just had two gloriously sunny days walking near the coast in the Exeter and South Devon area. All the students bar one completed the walk – the one that didn’t fell at home sadly sustaining a fracture on the evening between the two walks. Of course they all had moments on the walk when they were hot and tired, frustrated with their team mates, concerned about the route etc., but this is all about them having challenges and overcoming difficulties. The photos taken by the teacher of each team as they finished say it all – without exception each student was smiling.

As for the adults volunteering their time and energy, I can only speak for myself. Yes I had a very positive weekend. It was a pleasure to be able to support such a well behaved and responsive group of teenagers. They even listened to me (or at least appeared to) when I nagged them about sun screen, hydration, road safety and keeping away from the edge of the sea wall to avoid falling off!

So what did I do?

I spent Saturday walking much of their route, in the company of my daughter so we were able to catch up on family news that we have missed because of the pandemic. To her horror, one group asked me how they would know whether their sausages were cooked through – I’m sure my cooking isn’t that bad, but anyway she intervened and explained! We were asked to meet one group at most checkpoints as there was concern that they might struggle – actually they were fine. We also saw most of the other groups from time to time – morale appeared to be generally positive. We stopped near Powderham Deer Park and sat in the shade under a tree eating a late lunch and monitoring groups passing through.

At the end of the day, when everybody else was in cars and going home we walked back four miles along the estuary and canal side paths of the Exe Estuary Trail to our car parked earlier at the RSPB car park near the Swan’s Nest. I would like to say that we stopped at the Turf for a long cool drink as we passed, but sadly we were put off by the signs saying we would need to use a phone to order our drinks. It just seemed to be a potential recipe for a long delay!

On Sunday, meeting at the start point, I was asked to concentrate on seeing the students in an area they were due to reach towards the end of their walk and be ready with water to top up their bottles. My daughter was no longer with me as she had to return to London. I decided to park my car in a large car park at Teignmouth and then walk back with the large water carrier which just fitted in my rucksack. Having managed to pay to park (quite a feat as the machine didn’t take coins and I am still wary of “contactless” at the best of times), I was all set. It was wonderful strolling on top of the sea wall towards Holcombe, until I realised that my back was VERY wet and water was evidently leaking from the rucksack. I thought that my large ten litre or so water carrier was leaking – actually it was just leaking from the top so later once some of the water had been used the problem was solved! The water leak did keep me cool, and it really was just tap water wetting the seat of my trousers.

I arrived at the checkpoint far too early so proceeded on and met two of the assessors set up further along the route. Meanwhile as we were talking, the teacher in charge was trying to phone me. My issues with technology are such that I’d managed to silence my phone by turning the volume to zero without realising. However, as I was, unknown to her, with two assessors, her contact with the senior assessor alerted me too that we had a student with a scalp laceration further back on the route.

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We drove in the assessor’s vehicle to the site of the accident. In fact all was well and no treatment was needed as the bleeding had stopped with pressure to the area. I advised that in my opinion the student was fit to continue so I was despatched behind the team just in case there were to be any sequelae. Fortunately I did manage to give the team some of my water, so to my relief I no longer had water leaking out of the top. Somehow our routes in a rather crowded Dawlish must have diverged. I was just wondering whether I was going the right way, when the team appeared behind me! I had also just missed yet another phone call from the teacher, suggesting a tweak to the route following the previous delay. Anyway we managed to meet up again in the end having climbed up the hill to Dawlish Fire Station, with just a further short stop for a student to apply sun cream to his neck. He could have waited five minutes to reach the checkpoint, but I really didn’t want to be seen to discourage sun cream application.

Fortunately the rest of the walk was uneventful as I retraced some of my steps of the morning, managing to reach the point where I had initially agreed to be stationed with my water. I did persuade some of the students to take water but in general they had adequate supplies. Having seen the groups pass me, I followed on to the end point, overtaking them as they dawdled (all ahead of time and not permitted to finish until near the time on their route cards).

It was a very worthwhile weekend. The faces of those completing say it all. I am really pleased to have volunteered and will do it again. I definitely recommend it – and would add that it isn’t really necessary to end up walking further than the students walked or to carry 10kg of water round the route for them. Most of the volunteers are somewhat more sedentary – it’s merely my choice to use the time to my benefit too to keep fit for my own upcoming adventures! Fortunately I don’t think the students realise that I’m almost certainly older than all their parents and possibly as old as some of their grandparents.

Sorry there aren’t any photos – safeguarding precludes photos of the students except by those authorised. The picture is of the beach at Holcombe on a sunny January day when it was deserted.