📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Green & Away are a registered educational charity, that organise, build and run Europe's only tented, sustainable conference centre - a temporary eco-village, situated on a farm in the west of England. Each summer they bring a community of around 100 volunteers from across the world together to create the site, facilitate events, and take down this beautiful and unique project.
💼 What the programme involves
Group 1 will be an integral part of the team helping to build and set up the Green & Away site, before helping to run the first event of the summer. Work will include - erecting tents, marquees, yurts, domes and other structures; building compost toilets; building & maintaining site infrastructure e.g. plumbing & electricity - solar/wind energy; managing the transport & logistics of equipment; keeping our wood-powered showers hot; maintaining our organically grown kitchen garden; baking bread and cooking wholesome, vegetarian, organic, and locally sourced food in our kitchen; 'housekeeping' of the rental accommodation for our participants; art installations and practical workshops e.g. woodwork, leather work, pewter casting; foraging for plants and flowers; enjoying music and laughter in the Honking Goose, our fully licensed, volunteer-built bar. Volunteers work in teams within a group of approx 35-50 people. When we host an event, up to 200 people can be on site.
During the set-up phase a working day usually begins at 9am with a short meeting to discuss the tasks for the day, and finish around 5-6pm, with lunch and regular tea and cake breaks. During conferences the tasks have very different working hours. For example some people will be up early every day to light fires for the showers, the kitchen has 2 different shift times - whereas the bar workers usually finish late at night, so will start much later in the day too!
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers live in tents on site, and toilet and shower facilities are provided. IT RAINS IN ENGLAND IN THE SUMMER – Be prepared! Volunteers MUST bring: Waterproof coat and trousers, strong boots, warm clothing, sleeping bag, camping mattress. We also ask volunteers to bring their own tent if possible. Extra blankets are available. Three healthy meals a day will be provided which will be mostly organic, vegetarian, and made using locally sourced produce where possible. Special dietary requirements can be provided for.
📍 About the location
The site is based at New House Farm in the small village of Bransford. It is surrounded by stunning countryside, close to the Malvern Hills. Bransford is in the county of Worcestershire, in the west of England, approximately 35 miles/56 km from Birmingham.
⚠️ Requirements
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Volunteers must enjoy being outside, be motivated to work hard to create a beautiful and functional site, have an interest in community life, and a desire to learn about living in an environmentally sustainable way.
DOCUMENTS: A certificate of good conduct and a motivation letter is required.
LANGUAGE: Volunteers must also speak a good level of English, all applicants will receive a Skype call to check their English level is high enough; the hosts need to check that you can understand health and safety instructions etc.
ℹ️ Additional information
ACCESSIBILITY:
Volunteers need to have a good level of physical fitness and be confident walking on uneven ground outside.
EXTRAFEE:
£40 (GBP) - a small contribution to Concordia’s administration fees. If the volunteer needs a VISA to enter the UK, an additional £21 needs to be paid to Concordia to cover the cost of the VISA sponsorship certificate.