By: Blonde Two
As you know, dear Blondees and Blondettes, our youngsters are learning to love Dartmoor as much as we do. Coming from them, phrases like, “I get Dartmoor!” are, music to our ears. Which is why we were thrilled when our Gold DofE group suggested that they would like to include some voluntary work on Dartmoor in their forthcoming training weekend. Who knows what they will be doing. Maybe dragging wet green stuff out of our lovely leats or being nasty to bracken. They could even be digging holes for people to fall into (oh no, there are plenty of those already!) It took Blonde One a little while to find someone who wanted our help. We Blondes are persistent and got there eventually but I imagine that, had our young people been looking on their own, they would have given up more quickly. It would great to see youngsters actively encouraged to do voluntary Dartmoor work. After, they will be the ones looking after the moors when we are no longer here.
I did Dartmoor Ranger service (volunteering) for Bronze, Silver and Gold, and beyond. Wonderful – and the reason I’ve known Rob Steemson for 25+ years – it was all with him. Can still point at trees we planted (Postbridge) stiles we made (nr. Bellever Tor) and footpaths we cleared (all over!) and also recall helping to pull apart two crunched cars and do first aid with the NP Landrover on Cherrybrook Bridge on a foggy hairy hands kinda day. Sure your bunch will be the same!
Maybe it is a case of “who you know” nowadays. I would love to see it all made a bit more easy to access. Maybe a bit of gentle encouragement will work 🙂
Might be worth you talking to Charlotte Faulkner at Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony. It’s a fantastic charity and I bet some of the horse mad kids would love it! 🙂 Give me a shout if you want, I’m at the farm helping out most days.
That is definitely worth putting to some of our youngsters. Thank you 🙂
This is music to my ears! This isn’t the right place for the discussion but I would be interested in having a chat at some point, with regards to future opportunities in this area…..
What a great way to learn about the moors – more power to their collective elbows.