Saving Planet Earth

The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers hosts a national Green Hero awards recognising outstanding achievements by individuals and groups that are ‘Inspiring people, improving places’.

Dan says; "I've always been interested in natural history and our environment but it is a bit of a shock to be honoured.

"When I started working on the Toll Bar allotment project in Harehills the plot was overgrown and looked like a jungle. To get started we first hacked all the growth down and it looked less daunting.

"We invited people at a group for asylum seekers to care for the allotment and started by asking them what they wanted to grow. The new gardeners had lots of other things on their mind as well as caring for the plants and it wasn't always the same people that came down. Working on the allotment helped the group to be more open and felt part of the community.

Planting up at the allotment

"But I got as much out of it as anybody."

All the work on the allotment and other projects was in a voluntary capacity and currently Dan is unemployed and looking for a permanent job. He hopes to find a position working in conservation and has been applying for jobs as far away as Dartmoor.

Green heroes like Dan were chosen from nominated volunteers, community groups and partner organisations. Over 140,000 volunteers took part in 11,000 BTCV conservation volunteering events around the UK last year – ranging from wildlife management projects to improving urban spaces.