Volunteering opportunities

Get involved with caring for the Chilterns, and meet new friends along the way…

Please download the Getting Involved form (a 400KB PDF will download to the default location for downloads on your device), open the document, print it, provide your details and send it to us at the address shown at the bottom of the form.

	Chiltern Society to take on the care of 5 more sites in the Chilterns We are looking for local volunteers to help us to care for these new locations. The Society has decided to proceed with the transfer from BucksCC of 5 sites of local heritage and conservation interest. Final details still have to be agreed but the intention is to take on the management of these sites under a long term lease following the outcome of surveys which are currently taking place. The sites are: Captains Wood Local nature reserve in Chesham Cobblers Pits, woods in Aston Clinton Cholesbury Camp in Cholesbury Deep Mill Pond in Little Missenden Hampden Monument in Great Hampden The new acquisitions will demonstrate the Society's continuing commitment to the Chilterns and provide opportunities for members in many of our Groups to get involved in their management and conservation. Between them, the sites offer opportunities for new interpretation panels and leaflets, improvement of access and creation of new circular trails, practical conservation work, archaeological and wildlife surveys, photographic recording, guided walks and educational visits. The nature and scope of the activities on any one site will be determined by the level of interest and creativity of those who wish to get involved both from within our membership and the local community. We hope to identify a local champion for each site in due course, but for now would be interested in hearing from any individual or group of individuals who would like to support our efforts on one or more of the sites. To express interest or to find out more, please contact: Geoff Wiggett on 01442 875906 or .
	Walks Leaders The Society has a busy walks programme, including walks of various lengths several times a month, which we very much wish to maintain and extend. We are always looking for volunteers to help us by leading walks, whether on a regular or an occasional basis. If you think you might like to do this please contact Judy Sonley, our Walks coordinator, on 01494 712857. For further information on our walks programme, please navigate to Activities > Walking.
	Planning Field Officers South Bucks (Beaconsfield and Denham) The Chiltern Society's Planning Group consists of a network of area teams arranged to correspond with the boundaries of each of the District or Borough Council areas that fall within the Chilterns. Each area team has a group of Volunteer Planning field officers (PFOs) who, supported by an Area Planning coordinator and a team of Planning Assistants, keep a regular check on Planning applications in their local area, respond and make other representations in line with the Society's policys as necessary to those applications that they feel might have a damaging or negative effect on the Chilterns and liaise with colleagues in the Planning Group to ensure continuity. Another interesting aspect of the work involves developing and maintaining contacts with District and County Planning officers to ensure good communications and understanding. Much of the PFO's role can be done from home providing there is an online connection to the local Planning portal. We have opportunities for a volunteer Planning Field officer in South Bucks including Beaconsfield and Denham. Occasional Area Team meetings are arranged and these are very social occasions which our PFOs enjoy attending. If you like working in a team, this is the job for you! This role will be great for anyone with a town planning or associated background but a genuine interest and enthusiasm for protecting the Chiltern countryside is just as, if not more, important. You can make a real difference and be particularly influential, especially now that the Government is proposing changes to the way planning applications are dealt with under the Localism bill. All voluntary jobs in the Planning Group are fully supported by both the Planning Group Chairman and Administrator. Interested? For more information and an informal chat, contact Geoff Wiggett (CS Volunteer coordinator) on 01442 875906 or .
	Rights of Way Group We are constantly on the look-out for new volunteers and have a great range of vacancies with our very active and hugely effective Rights of Way Group (RoWG). Any type of voluntary work makes a welcome and interesting diversion from our day-to-day lives and helping our Rights of Way Group has a real impact on the quality of the footpaths in the Chilterns, footpaths which attract so many visitors to the area because of the outstanding views and wonderful countryside. Why not give it a try? Area Secretaries and Path Representatives in the Society's Rights of Way Group play essential roles in monitoring the huge network of footpaths throughout the Chilterns and seeking improvements to its scope. These varied and interesting roles are described below. Currently the Group has the following vacancies, which it is anxious to fill: AREA SECRETARY For the area comprising the parishes of Harlington, Shillington, Barton le Clay, Chalton, Hyde, Streatley, Sundon and Toddington in Central Bedfordshire, and also Luton. Our 19 Area Secretaries, each working within a prescribed area, are responsible for: the effective monitoring of paths and open access land through their Path Representatives taking the appropriate action to resolve any reported difficulties about their condtion examining and responding to proposals to create, divert, or extinguish paths seeking improvements to the path network. PATH REPRESENTATIVES There are about 20 vacancies, most of them in the area described above, as well as other parishes in Central Bedfordshire, in the area of North Herts, roughly between Luton and Hitchin and also others in Dacorum and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire, Aylesbury Vale, South Bucks and the Chiltern area in Buckinghamshire and South Oxon. Each of our Path Representatives monitors paths in a parish or part of a parish – there is no requirement that the parish should be their own, though that will often be their preference. Their essential task is to walk their allocated paths with a view to identifying and reporting to their Area Secretary any problems they come across. We welcome Path Representatives who are also able to carry out some minor maintenance work on their paths but it's quite acceptable, and no hindrance to appointment, if they choose not to. If you are interested in helping us as an Area Secretary or Path Representative, please contact Brian Lawson (RoWG secretary) on 01494 815814.
	Retail Therapists Our shopkeepers have retired after five years of unstinting work for the Society. Selling cards and books mainly, plus Christmas cards and the Society calendar, it’s fun meeting new people, perhaps discussing some issue with them and possibly also persuading them to become Society members. Most local fairs and fêtes welcome us – supermarkets too, and in the run-up to Christmas, we sell lots of cards so it can be very satisfying. If you think you could help the Society’s retail initiative and/or if you can help deliver our Chiltern News magazine to certain destinations, please call Tracey at the office on 01494 771250, and she will put you in touch with the right person.
	Path Maintenance Volunteers Help keep footpaths, bridleways, stiles and steps in the South Chilterns (South Oxfordshire) in good condition and get some good healthy exercise with a very social group at the same time. No special skills necessary and feel free whether or not to join work sessions held three times a month. All tools and insurance cover supplied by the Chiltern Society. Contact: Howard Dell for further details: 01494 764149, or
	South Chilterns Path Maintenance Volunteers – help wanted The South Chilterns Path Maintenance Volunteers (SCPMV) are looking for a couple of volunteers to share, with Peter Harden, the job of Tools Quartermaster. The SCPMVs use a wide variety of manual and power tools in their work maintaining and improving paths and bridleways in the Oxfordshire Chilterns, and these, plus materials, are transported to and from the work-sites in the SCPMV trailer. Ideally, anyone interested in this important job will have access to a reasonably powerful vehicle with a fitted tow-ball. Some experience of towing and manoeuvring a trailer will be useful – but not essential. The work includes loading and unloading the required tools onto the trailer at the secure storage point (currently near Ewelme), towing the trailer to and from the work-site and perhaps help with the care and maintenance of the tools. Fuel costs can be reimbursed. The Path Maintenance Volunteers currently work on site only three mornings a month so, by job sharing, it's hoped that the workload won't be at all arduous. For more information, and an informal chat, contact Peter Harden on 01491 837688.
	Conservation Volunteers and Visitor Centre Helpers Join a happy band of conservation volunteers at our Ewelme Watercress Beds and Local Nature Reserve, helping to keep the historic watercress beds in good order, or helping out in the visitor centre (entrance tickets; product sales; teas; etc.). Contact the Project Officer, Ann Truesdale, on 01491 835173.
	Central Chiltern Weekend Conservation Volunteers Covering from High Wycombe to Wendover, Latimer and the Chalfonts are always looking for volunteers to help in their work. For more information, please contact Christine Breden 01844 343192.