Green & Away
International Volunteer Project
Summer 2019
My thirtieth international volunteer project – my sixth as
coordinator – took place at Green & Away, an ecological conference and
events centre in Worcestershire. The other volunteers were Karolina from the
Czech Republic, Amaury, Clemmy and Nicolas from France, Marta from Italy,
Annika from the Netherlands and Laura from Spain. Our work involved laying a
phone cable, helping in the running of a wedding, and dismantling and storing
the tents and other equipment. We also helped with chores around the project site,
including preparing breakfast, cooking, washing-up, cleaning, watering the
flowers, lighting the showers and shutting the gates at night.
This being an English
summer, the weather was a mixture of sun and rain, but fortunately the worst of
the rain was at night – on the last night of our project in fact. When the
weather was nice we always looked forward to a swim in the river after work. On
our days off we went to Great Malvern and Worcester, where we visited the
cathedral, walked and shopped in the city centre, and enjoyed fish and chips
and coffee. We also attended a discussion forum where we gave our feedback
regarding the project site. Some afternoons after work there were sports and
games, and some evenings there was a campfire. I would like to thank our hosts
at Green & Away and the staff at Concordia for making this project
possible, as well as all the Concordia volunteers for being such a great team –
always cheerful, hard-working, flexible, and fun to be with.
Barney, Coordinator at Green and Away Take Down 2019
