The 1st–7th June is National Volunteers’ Week, an annual UK-wide campaign held from the first Monday in June to celebrate and recognise the contributions of volunteers. We’d like to take this opportunity to highlight the amazing volunteering efforts of our people across Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Firstly, we’d like to share a message from our Chief Executive about the impact of our volunteers:

“Thank you for volunteering with Surrey Wildlife Trust! Volunteers have always been at the heart of what we do, and without your generosity we would never achieve our vital mission for wildlife. With our wildlife and wild places facing more pressure than ever before, this matters greatly.

I very much hope you enjoy spending time with us, and I look forward to meeting and catching up with you!

With warmest wishes,

Sarah Jane Chimbwandira, Chief Executive.”

Now, time for some statistics…

In the last year, 625 volunteers supported us by contributing an incredible 32,823 hours of volunteering. Here is just some of that impact.

• 17,838 of these hours were spent on our reserves, caring for Surrey’s wild spaces, working hard practically for nature in all seasons and weather.
• Our education volunteers contributed 4,093 hours, delivering memorable and engaging sessions. Inspiring new generations to connect with nature.
• Our grazing volunteers spent 849 hours looking after our livestock carrying out conservation grazing on our reserves.
• Our admin volunteers gave 1,194 hours of unsung behind the scenes support to keep everything running smoothly.

What the statistics don’t reveal are the laughs and fun shared together, friendships formed and the shared determination to make a difference for wildlife!

To celebrate Volunteers’ Week, we interviewed conservation volunteers Rebecca and Jess who shared with us their personal experiences and why they volunteer, have a look on our social media for the video during this week.

Finally, a big thank you from everyone at Surrey Wildlife Trust to our volunteers for bringing enthusiasm and commitment to every opportunity. We truly appreciate your contributions and look forward to what we achieve together over the next year!