Why did you want to become a volunteer?
The Yorkshire Dales National Park has always been very special to me ever since I was a young child, when my grandfather took me to Malham and told me it was the most wonderful place in the world.
I soon began walking in the Dales in my teens and have continued to do so for most of my life. When retirement came it just seemed natural to want to spend a great deal of time here so I applied to become a Dales Volunteer. In common with many of my volunteering colleagues, I wanted to give something back to this wonderful landscape that had given me and my family such pleasure over the years.
What do you do as a volunteer?
Over the past ten years I have learnt so very much about the glorious Dales, both by going out and inspecting footbridges and rights of way and by being asked to record and photograph many interesting small features such as churn stands, mounting blocks, pole gateposts and stone troughs, so that they can be documented for all time. I look upon it as being one big treasure hunt. It’s always exciting to come across something that has not previously been recorded.
Another venture, when geocaching was in its infancy, was being asked to place the first geocaches for the National Park. In each box were placed swappable items and information about the area. I still maintain some of them and they are just as popular today as ever.
What’s been your greatest achievement as a volunteer?
One of the most enjoyable jobs has been to photograph from different angles the lovely field barns so prevalent here, along with brooding ruins and smaller buildings fast going out of use, such as pigsties and old privies. After a while you get an understanding of how to spot where, maybe well over a century ago, the roof has been raised and where extensions have been made and so on. It is interesting to talk to some of the farmers, many of them third or fourth generation, who can tell you so much about how things once were. I also enjoy chatting about the various breeds of sheep and cattle that are an important part of the Dales landscape.
Through being a Dales Volunteer I have met a lot of interesting likeminded people and made friends with many of the hardworking and dedicated staff who it is a pleasure to work for.
