Corporate Volunteering – Price Waterhouse Cooper

Groundwork Wales has been working closely with businesses to facilitate staff volunteering opportunities which benefit biodiversity, environment, and community. These are great opportunities for staff, many of whom work remotely, to come together and build relationships as well as make a valuable contribution to communities and places.

On Friday 16th June, 11volunteers from PWC joined us to take part in footpath maintenance and litter picking at Dare Valley Country Park, Aberdare.

Set in 500 acres of outstanding countryside, Dare Valley Country Park was the first country park in England and Wales to be created from land previously utilized by industry. The ex-coalfield site is a five-minute drive from the old mining town of Aberdare on the outskirts of the Brecon Beacons.  A range of community facilities are contained within the park including a thriving café and visitor centre, orienteering course and mountain bike tracks and a pump track.  The area is a hotspot for walkers who come from far and wide to take in the impressive views.

Nineteen pits and drift mines once featured, and today the river dare runs from the mountains in the northwest of the Cynon Valley through a valley forest of oak, birch, and alder.

On arrival volunteers filled in all necessary paperwork before being given a safety briefing by our skilled team. We provided appropriate Personal Protective Equipment which included gloves, bottled water, and sunscreen as weather conditions were relatively hot.

We took volunteers to the work site which is a short 20-minute walk from the meeting point, giving them the opportunity to orient themselves within the park, and we demonstrated how to use all tools safely and correctly. We explained to the group the importance of having a minimum of 3.00 metres wide cleared as the area caters for disabled horse riders.

Riders need to have room for a horse and an assistant on either side of the horse to always assist the rider. This work enables participants to gain a sense of freedom by being able to access the bridleway.

During the session volunteers carried out conservation work, which included:

  • Improving bridleway access – The volunteers were shown how to prune, which species to cut back, and which species such as (dogrose) not to prune. This gave them a valuable insight into the effects of the work on local biodiversity
  •  Removing scrub and trees which will help prevent flooding across the site
  • Litter picking to remove litter from the natural environment and prevent it from reaching the river and sea.

Outcomes from the session:

  • Volunteers learned how to use tools safely and correctly.
  • Volunteers engaged in physical activity. Many of the volunteers had not visited the park before.
  • Volunteers learned about the importance of footpath maintenance for horse riders and pedestrians along with the impact on biodiversity as many of woodland species live on the edge of the woodland.
  • Volunteers felt a sense of calm and wellbeing.

The volunteer tasks made a significant impact to maintaining the biodiversity of the site.