Achievements 2007
VS is quality for volunteers ! 
Venture Scotland was delighted to receive recognition of its work
with volunteers through our achievement of the Investing in
Volunteers quality mark. Outnumbering staff by 20 to 1,
volunteers are the driving force of the organisation with a
minimum of four volunteer leaders involved in each of our
residential trips. Our volunteer programme also offers course
participants a valuable route to further development and support
from Venture Scotland.
There are currently 15 past-participants involved in volunteering
for the organisation, who are now helping to support and mentor
other young people through our programme.
An expanded programme for young people !
During the past year, we have been working to further expand
our innovative COPE (Conservation and Outdoor Peer Education)
Programme, Venture Scotland’s main personal development
course for young people. Impressed by what the course was
helping young people to achieve, the Laidlaw Youth Trust
provided additional resources to enable us to offer the six-month
programme to twice as many participants.
BME Project proves a sucess !
Venture Scotland aims to seek out those young people most in
need – regardless of their culture, religion or ethnic background and during 2006-2007 we
established a new project focussed specifically on attracting more
young people from ethnic minorities to the Venture Scotland
programme.The first year of the project, supported by the Big Lottery Fund,
has been a great success. 41 young people from minority ethnic
communities have taken part in our courses. So far, we have
concentrated on attracting young refugee and asylum seekers
and integrating this marginalised group with other young people
from across Scotland.
A Sustainable Vision for the Bothy
During the latter part of 2006, Awards for All provided funding for Venture Scotland to carry out
a major consultation with a view to creating a
sustainable vision for our main bothy site in Glen Etive.
The project involved over 50 stakeholders from across the Venture Scotland community all keen
to have their say about the future of the beautiful and tranquil place so close to the hearts of
everyone in the organisation. A detailed report together with a map illustrating the vision for
the bothy and its surrounds was produced and since then, we have piloted new volunteer roles
aimed at attracting the skills and enthusiasm required to make our ambitious plans a reality.
Summer programme hits the spot
As well as the core programmes we have been holding city-based conservation days and a summer programme of stand alone events, including Gorge walking, woodland maintenance, shelter building, environmental games , a 'marine safari' and BBQ on the beach.
Presentation Nights
As ever celebrating the achievements of our participants is an important part of the programme, and two fantastic presentation nights have been held this year. Well done once again to all partipants who received John Muir awards and Duke of Edinburgh awards, and for working so hard to put on great presentations.
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