wildlife club for children,

[westy132]

I currently live in steeple claydon, buckingham and have noticed that the young peolple here and in the surrounding villages have little in the way of out of school activities or club that they can become involved with, I find this to be a great shame and feel these children need something within there own community to focus on and become involved with and not have to travel the lenght the county to find it.

Because of this im looking at starting a youth club with the main focus being British wildlife, I have lots of ideas about things we could do to keep kids interested, they range from wildlife conservation, wildlife surveys, wildlife photography, wildlife film making, camping, climbing, sailing, expeditiond around the country looking for wildlife and lots of other outdoor activities.

So why am i posting this here, well i need some help. Firstly i have never started a youth club before and would be greatful for any advise some of you may have, secondly, if you live within the buckingham area and would like to offer a helping hand drop me a line,

Anyway if you feel you can help please drop me a line,

many thanks

westy

[nightshade]

I think you may find that this site has a lot to offer in that respect as it is used by a lot of schools I seem to remember seeing the sort of things you may need in the reference section ,good old Studh will tell you Ill bet!

[Kev Lewis]

Several of the biggest issues will be insurance and the child protection agency clearances before you could even consider starting something like this. Good luck with the venture, keeping youngsters occupied with something healthy is well worth the effort

[Wild-Woman]

What a great idea. Wished i lived close enough to help. I run a school environment club but as said above, all the usual police checks and insurance will need to be done carefully.

When you do get going though, get outside agencies in (free ones if poss) like the RSPB-they do a great roadshow and there is a mini-beast roadshow too.

If I can help in any way, over the net of course, I'd be pleased to. I've got 50+ members and the club is growing all the time.

Best of luck. Wild-Woman.

[westy132]

Klewis,

thank you for your speedy reply, i have contacted the local county council following some advice from the bbc in relation to child protection and public liability insurance, and they are sending me out an information pack. It sounds like ill need to go through alot of red tape but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

cheers
westy

[westy132]

wild woman,

Thank you for your advice, i am at present collecting contact details for all the local and national wildlife organisation within my area,

So far i have

*wildlife trust
*RSPB
*National Trust
*Bornfree
*Butterfly conservation
*Buglife ( The invertebrate conservation trust)
*Buckinghamshire Badger group
*Bat conservation soceity
*mammal soceity
*whale and dolphine conservation soceity
*Milton Keynes natural history soceity.

if you can think of anymore then feel free to drop me a line and good luck with your own group.

cheers

westy

[millipede]

I'm a young person from scotland, and i have been a member of lots of wildlife groups, such as the scottish wildlife trusts "wildlife watch". It such a great thing to be involved in from a young persons perspective, but they seem to fizzle out so quickly. I urge you to push ahead with your plan because it will be so benificial and super fun!

another group you could try are the woodcraft folk, a youth organisation which focuses on equality and the environment. they have lots of resources for people setting up groups and would be very happy to help you out.

good luck, millipede

[westy132]

millipede,

thank you for your comments, do you have any contact details for woodcraft folk

many thanks

westy

[westy132]

millipede,

just done a web search and your woodcraft folk pooped up, so i have now managed to email them, ill let you know what they come back with buddy.

cheers

:-) westy

[eeyore]

Hi westy, I'm in milton keynes, working for the Parks Trust, I can give you a lot of local contacts and stuff if you want but they won't thank me for posting their emails on the web I can't figure out a way of posting my email in a format that spam address sweepers won't pick up either, (stupid spammers have a lot to answer for). So if you want to give me a bell at work on 01908 255376, and I'll give you as much help as poss. My real name is Pete btw

[Alan]

Originally Posted by eeyore

So if you want to give me a bell at work on 01908 255376, and I'll give you as much help as poss. My real name is Pete btw

Best to use the PM facility for personal stuff eeyore, you never know who's looking in. You might get hundreds of calls from double glazing firms or similar!

[eeyore]

Great idea Alan, except I don't know what PM is or how to use it, I'm new to all this forum lark, if you could shed light that would be cool

Its my work number anyway so our switchboard will filter out unwanted garbage call with a few choice words as to where they would best fit hopefully...

[Alan]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Great idea Alan, except I don't know what PM is or how to use it, I'm new to all this forum lark, if you could shed light that would be cool

Its my work number anyway so our switchboard will filter out unwanted garbage call with a few choice words as to where they would best fit hopefully...

PM (personal messaging), there's a link to it at the top of the forum page when you're logged-in, or get to it through your profile page or I think through the quick links.

[naturedetectives]

The nature detectives club, run by the Woodland Trust, have loads of ideas and downloads on their website

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Alan

Best to use the PM facility for personal stuff eeyore, you never know who's looking in. You might get hundreds of calls from double glazing firms or similar!

eeyore, just click on the the persons profile, you can send a pm from there.

It seems you can't send pm,s through the profiles any more.