Volunteer Profiles

Name - David Fraser
Occupation - Chartered Surveyor
Hobbies - Hill Walking, Biking, Snowboarding, Golf, Running

A wee while ago I was interested in doing some volunteering work in my spare time. When I heard about the Venture Scotland programme I thought it was the ideal way for me to combine my interest in the outdoors with doing something worthwhile with my spare time to help others out. A keen interest in exploring bothies also helped!

My experiences so far as a volunteer have been extremely enjoyable, rewarding, relaxing, educational and most of all great fun. The communal experience of bothy living shared by volunteers and participants is something difficult to explain fully without actually experiencing it. The activities are great for building confidence and teamwork as well as awareness of the importance of the environment surrounding the bothy. The difference in people from Friday night nerves to the Sunday afternoon glow is brilliant!

Overall, the Venture Scotland programme is simply a fantastic way to spend time with great folk in a great place!

Name - Jane McGowan

I first got involved with Venture Scotland when I was a student and, 10 years on, I am still volunteering! What has kept me interested for all these years? I really enjoy the weekends – every bothy venture is different and rewarding. It is a great opportunity to meet and work with young people from different backgrounds, bring them together and hopefully help both them and the environment. I work for a large international corporation now, so I really appreciate the chance to volunteer at the local level.

Name - Stephen Wakeley

I became involved with Venture Scotland initially due to my interest in working with young people and my love of the outdoors (I should have been an outdoor activities youth worker instead of a warehouse manager!)

After attending a couple of training weekends I felt Venture Scotland was an excellent organisation to be involved with. It gives young adults the opportunity to get away from their usual environment - some participants have never been outside Glasgow or Edinburgh.

I get such a buzz from interacting with both participants and volunteers. We may come from different walks of life but we all share an appreciation of the beauty of Glen Etive. During the weekend we do many things eg: teambuilding, hill walking, orienteering and DIY raft building. It is great to see people’s strengths come to the fore in new surroundings.

If I could, I would go on Bothy Ventures every weekend. There’s nothing more rewarding, enjoyable and fun with a capital 'F' that I can think of.

Name - Katie Cross

I first became involved with Venture Scotland because of my love of the outdoors and because I like meeting all sorts of people with similar interests. I am very interested in the environment and conservation, and conversations about preserving our world as much as we can. I really enjoy taking participants to the highlands, learning about them and enabling them to have a completely different weekend to the one they would have in the city. All of the other volunteers are great fun too and it's always nice to catch up with them. I look forward to going away again soon because Kinlochetive Bothy feels almost like a second home to me now!