Volunteering seems to have been something that I’ve always done, even from an early age.
I’ve had adult roles in the Scouts for decades and been a member of a local archaeology group for twenty years. When I retired I thought I could help out at Newport Wetlands for a day a week. I’d have a regular structure to the week, something different to do and plenty to learn… think of all the birds, insects and plants to find out about. And there’s an interesting landscape to understand. Nowadays I help out at the visitor centre talking to visitors, leading guided walks and helping behind the scenes develop the knowledge of our volunteers. For example, we’re often asked about the East Usk Lighthouse… do we have a lighthouse, is it a real one, does it work, what’s it for? It’s awkward when you can’t give a decent answer so I researched and wrote a few pages about its history. It wasn’t long before the team started to think that I could “do history” or was even “an expert”. My protests that I know very little about history since I’m an amateur archaeologist went unheeded. After all I’d volunteered without giving a comprehensive list of what I didn’t do (or wouldn’t do).
The next “little project” was to set up and catalogue the new display cabinet in the visitor centre … we filled it with local archaeological finds and replica flint tools. It’s a good starting point when talking to visitors about what life on the levels was once like. It’s also a strong tie-in to the work of the Living Levels Landscape Programme. So, now I’ve been helping the LLLP team with events (Gavin’s “Levels from Above” walks) and the development of more history resources. I really hadn’t started out thinking I’d write a chapter for the KLLP’s history of the Levels, let alone two (remember when every other volunteer takes a step back, you should, too). I’d only thought that it would be nice to go on a couple of free courses to improve my archaeology. I’ve spent dozens of hours helping digitise the Court of Sewers maps having learned a bit about public-facing Geographical Information Systems. I’ve ended up extremely muddy after four days of estuarine archaeology out on the Peterstone mud flats. But, at least I know a bit more to talk to visitors about so they can better appreciate their time in the Levels.
Jeremy White
For general queries about volunteering with Living Levels, please contact the Living Levels Volunteer Coordinator, Beccy Williams: rwilliams@gwentwildlife.org