Spreading the word with Rosalind, CPRE Wiltshire volunteer

Rosalind helps CPRE Wiltshire keep their supporters up to date with their newsletter, Wiltshire Voice, and she recently won a CPRE Volunteer Award for her amazing work. Here, she tells us what it’s like to be a CPRE volunteer and why she finds it so rewarding.

I first got involved with CPRE Wiltshire after seeing a plea on Facebook for help to produce their newsletter. I now produce and edit the 20-page newsletter, and usually help stuff it into envelopes to send out to our supporters. We release a newsletter twice a year – in May and October, including news and updates, and annual events such as our Best Kept Village competition.

Hugely rewarding

I find putting together the newsletter immensely rewarding, and it’s introduced me to a number of interesting things and people. It keeps skills I used in my working life from going rusty, and has enabled me to stretch these somewhat. For example, when working I had all my artwork produced in a professional studio, whereas now I have learned how to do it myself.

I also still get a huge kick out of seeing something I have worked on come together in its printed form. Days after one of my first newsletters mailed, a supporter sent in a generous donation. Whether the two were connected I cannot say, but he has donated again shortly after CPRE’s national magazine Countryside Voices was sent to him, so would like to think that to be the case!

If you’re thinking of volunteering…

Volunteering for CPRE has certainly introduced me to bits of my county I did not know. Early one sunny Sunday morning I went to take some pictures of a tiny (but Best Kept) village well off the beaten track, and saw a fresh-faced vicar rushing along the road, with his cassock over his arm. I could very nearly hear background music by Elgar!

To someone who is considering volunteering with CPRE I would say this: there are plenty of ways to get involved, so there’s a very good chance of finding a way to help that you really enjoy doing.

Could you spare some time to volunteer for your local CPRE and stand with the countryside that you love? Learn more about the experience of volunteering for CPRE, the countryside charity, or drop us a line: volunteeringteam@cpre.org.uk.