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Volunteering with Green & Away

We welcome committed, hardworking people who would like to help us build and run Green & Away to provide an important service for the voluntary organisations, businesses and others who use our facilities. The following notes will give you an idea of how Green & Away volunteering works. We generally ask that you join us for at least one week, as this gives you a chance to learn something about how we work and to make more of a contribution, and allows us to teach you new skills and get to know you better.

To build the Green & Away village and to provide for the large numbers who come to our events there is a wide range of jobs to be done. As well as building the venue before the events (we erect the structures - some conventional like the marquees and some novel, like the bar - and provide all the facilities that make the camp work, from solar electricity to interior decor), we need volunteers to help with the cooking, washing up, looking after children, arts and crafts activities, welcoming people, office work, maintaining the loos, lighting the showers, etc during the events, and all these jobs are vital. All jobs carry a measure of responsibility and we try and match people’s skills and interests, to ensure that the less attractive jobs are shared around. We will ask what you are interested in, and try and match you to the jobs that need doing.

We welcome children to our events, but during the building up and taking down of the venue spaces, Green & Away can be a dangerous place to be. Tractors, trailers and vans are loaded and moving around the fields, heavy items are being lifted and carried, sharp tools are used and left unattended. So, if your children are of an age where they need to be watched, please consult us first about whether it would be wise to bring them during set-up and take-down.

You will need a tent, bedding, rainwear, a torch, and environmentally sound soaps and shampoos. Setting up the outdoor conference facilities can involve carrying heavy – and dirty – equipment so some old clothes will be useful. We also suggest that you wear the stoutest shoes or boots you have. We provide all meals, crockery and cutlery, and clothes washing facilities.

And… if you play a musical instrument please do bring it!

If you are interested in volunteering please download more information on volunteering (pdf, 221K) and then email Justin at volco (insert the @ symbol) greenandaway.org Please make sure there are no spaces in the resultant address. Or call him on 07855 449936 for more details.

What volunteers say about Green & Away

"My experience at Green & Away this year was magical. It's difficult to know where to start, perhaps with the wholesome, delicious organic food grown locally which we ate together as a community or maybe the stunning location; close to a river in beautiful Worcestershire feeling far enough from 'civilisation' to be away, yet on the land of an organic café and some skilled craft workers, tucked away in a field full of trees. Green & Away puts on outdoor conferences for organisations in an ethical and friendly way. They are amazing people and have been working together for 17 years.

We all had a job and got on with it really, whether it be looking after the compost toilets, chopping veg for lunch and dinner, getting up a 6.30 to prepare breakfast or preparing the fire for the outdoor showers. There was always things to do, and the site changed when 100 people arrived for a conference . At night we sat around a fire, sipped local cider, and talked to new friends, it really was great fun. Even with the rains of last year, it amazingly didn't break the spirit of the Green and Away team, just mud and umbrellas a plenty. I spent 2 weeks working for Green & Away and it was the best 2 weeks of the summer. I learnt so much about outdoor and communal living, and how lovely it feels to be as ethical, organic and fair as possible with an event and in life. I made some amazing friends from all walks of life, ate extremely well and plan to return there for sure. I highly recommend this to anyone, who is prepared to work hard, but also feel part of a community and join in with this wonderful organisation."

Lucy Baird

"Hi - name is Joy and in the summer of '04 I went on a training weekend at G&A. I had a fabulous weekend, at the end of the weekend we filled in an evaluation form and the last question said if you would like to be a volunteer then tick this box. I did and became a G&A volunteer.

I feel that volunteering at G&A is a privilege and one that I hope I can continue with for many years. There are really 3 sections to the G&A time span. Set up, Conference Time and Take Down. They are all fun and interesting in different ways. Personally my favourite time is set up. You have a blank canvas and a village to build. Every day there is something different to learn and often someone new to meet No one is a stranger for long. The work is hard but full of satisfaction you get experience a huge variety of skills from raising large marquees to building composting toilets. I have chased rabbits, built shelters, picked fresh salad for my tea, laughed, cried and loved. Everyone brings something different and valuable to the team these, are the real free gifts in our lives. I hope that you will come along to G&A and enrich your life with the people and the experiences as I have and I look forward to meeting you soon."

Joy Davenport

"Green & Away is Europe's only tented conference centre - a fully serviced event venue erected every summer in the Worcestershire countryside. Volunteers put up a wide variety of structures and install lighting and plumbing, this process takes a couple of weeks and at the end this busy time there is an inspirational and environmentally sustainable village - available for hire.

Green & Away provides an innovative and creative space in which people from all sorts of organisations, businesses and interest groups can come together. Whilst some volunteer time is needed to support events, most of the work happens during set-up and take-down. There is no better place to learn about a variety of canvas buildings - from the familiar marquees to geodesic domes and yurts. There is also the lighting, powered on site by solar panels and windmills; the field kitchen, which creates amazing meals for volunteers and participants alike; and the wood burning showers.

It's best to come and volunteer for a good part of set-up as an introduction to Green & Away. At the end of a busy two weeks, you will be fitter, well fed, and will probably have met people who you'll want to keep in touch with - there's no substitute for working and eating together on such an inspiring project to create tight bonds of friendship. Green & Away is just about the best thing that you can do with some of your summer time."

Billy Frugal