Welcome to the Chase & Chalke Volunteer and Training Hub
We're delighted that you're here!
Thank you for taking the first steps to joining Chase & Chalke.
Register today and Create your Personal Profile
All you need to do to get going is to fill out an application from this page to register with us as a volunteer. It's a quick process, and once done you'll be able to:
To register as a volunteer we will ask you for one referee, and this can be a friend, relative, work colleague or teacher.
If you have any difficulties or queries over registration, please email chaseandchalke@cranbornechase.org.uk and our team will assist you!
Keep up to Date
Once you're registered and selected your interests, you'll receive tailored notifications of upcoming opportunities sent to your email. You'll also be added to our enews so you can receive regular updates.
The Chalkeboard Blog
Grab a cuppa and check out the Chalkeboard blog - an online journal which you can contribute to with your stories, memories and volunteer experiences.
Click here for our public Eventbrite page
Become a Champion of the Past
Are you passionate about archaeology? Ever wondered what important archaeology might be beneath your feet? Why not join the Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal and discover hundreds of new archaeological sites at the click of a button.
Practical Archaeological Survey
Are you passionate about archaeology? Do you enjoy being out and about in the countryside? Then why not join our Archaeological Field Survey team? As part of this team you will be going out to locate, record and photograph archaeological sites and features that we have identified through the Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal.
No experience needed as all the training and equipment will be provided
https://app.betterimpact.com/Volunteer/Main/StoredDocument/119432
Get stuck in with practical conservation
Assist with vital practical conservation work across a number of Chase & Chalke projects.
Opportunities are available to join the Chase& Chalke team in a variety of practical conservation activities across our different projects that have a landscape focus.
Chiefly these are our 'A Crystal Clear Ebble', 'Nurturing Nature', 'Wonderful Woodlands', 'Greater Grazing', 'Champions of the Past' and 'Ancient Ways' projects.
You'll join our team of enthusiastic practical conservation volunteers who work together with the Chase & Chalke team and our partners such as the Wessex Rivers Trust, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, National Trust, Hampshire County Council, Wiltshire Council and others.
Volunteers will clear vegetation from scheduled ancient monuments, improve habitats, improve rights of way, clear invasive plants. You'll also be able to get involved with restoring hedgerows and woodlands with traditional coppice skills, as well as learn to use billhooks, saws, bowsaws, loppers and other equipment.
Help make the countryside more accessible
Join our regular practical conservation days with our Ranger to help make improvements to Rights of Way by installing and fixing new gates, installing new signs and restoring footpaths
Become a wildlife surveyor
Join our Nurturing Nature project for free training in a variety of new survey skills to survey the flora and fauna Cranborne Chase AONB.
Help us protect the river Ebble
Act as a steward for this rare chalk stream and its fascinating inhabitants.
As part of our ‘Crystal Clear Ebble’ project we are looking for volunteers to become River Wardens to act as stewards of the river, encouraging continued commitment from local landowners and our local communities to the quality of the river.
Explore the landscape with Chase & Chalke
Opportunities include Footpath and Cycle route checking, Walk Leader training and getting involved with our Walking Festival.
Look up and wonder at the night sky
Cranborne Chase has been designated an International Dark Sky Reserve. Help preserve and promote our dark skies.
You'll work with the Chase & Chalke Team to promote and enhance the dark skies of Cranborne Chase AONB.
This role has a wide variety of opportunities so volunteers can choose which activities they are interested in.
Help us monitor the night sky
Learn about light pollution and how to take Sky Quality measurements
As part of our ‘Starry Starry Nights’ project we are looking for volunteers to join a team to better understand and promote the benefits of dark skies and to educate people and organisations on light pollution.
You'll work with the Chase & Chalke team and learn how to take Sky Quality Measure (SQM) readings. Once you're trained, you'll be able to take these measurements wherever you are, and report the results back to the Chase & Chalke team.
These readings will help us to better understand our dark skies.
Volunteers may also be interested in undertaking further research around the topics and themes emerging from the project. Other volunteer roles may include helping out at dark sky events, taking part in free training and working with other volunteers to establish community events.
Help others explore the landscape safely
Assist with our walking events and enhance the experience and safety of participants
This opportunity will allow you to help the Chase & Chalke team to establish and deliver safe walking events. This walks that are part of the ChalkeEscape Walking Festival, and other ad hoc walk events and experiences.
You'll be helping to provide people with a welcoming and enjoyable experience which connects them with the landscape and heritage of Cranborne Chase.
Walk Marshals will also act as the 'sweeper' on walks - ensuring that all walkers are accounted for and finish the walk safely - looking out for any health and safety issues and generally being aware of the walking group from the rear.
Support our School and Youth activities
We have a wide variety of events planned for a wide audience over the course of the Scheme and we would love your support.
Chase & Chalke aims to better connect people with the nature and heritage of the landscape of Cranborne Chase.
Our Schools & Events volunteers will play an integral role in helping us achieve that goal.
This volunteer role can be tailored according to your skills and availability. In general and with the support of the Chase & Chalke LPS, volunteers will:
Support local history and heritage
Learn to record the oral history of Cranborne Chase for future generations
Get involved with our ‘Memories Captured’ project and learn to become an Oral Historian.
Our aim is to train new oral historians of all ages to capture the voices and stories of local people who have lived and worked in the Chase & Chalke landscape before they are lost.
You'll receive free training in equipment use and interview methods from skilled professionals.
All equipment will be provided.
We're aiming to create 40 recorded interviews with people who have lived, grown up, worked in or farmed the land. We're also collecting photographs and some film, and we are looking for skilled volunteers to help audio edit, transcribe and catalogue this material.
Volunteers will work with the Chase & Chalke team and Blandford Town Museum to record the stories and memories of those who have grown up and worked in the area, capturing memories of rural skills, changes in land management, rural life, rural skills and craftsmanship.
Volunteers may also be interested in undertaking further research around the topics and themes emerging from the project. Other volunteer roles may include editing recordings to create ‘sound bites’ and inputting in to the design of creative outputs generated from the data collected.
Support our Forest School and Woodlands activities
Assist our Forest School Leaders and help young people connect with nature
Assist Chase & Chalke in the delivery of our 'Wonderful Woodlands' project.
We have partnered with the National Trust to deliver free forest school sessions. The sessions are called 'Woodland Wild Things' and these take place at the National Trust's private woodland called 'Fontmell Down Forest School'. These sessions offer the opportunity for children to connect with nature, achieve and develop confidence through hands-on learning experiences, and to become independent, creative learners.
Become a volunteer and join our Forest School Leaders to assist with the sessions. You'll learn about the wonders and benefits for outdoor education and working with families.
Join us as a volunteer and help us deliver our fantastic 'Woodland Wild Things' sessions.
Help us spread the word
Assist Chase & Chalke by supporting our communication efforts
We're looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help support our communications and engagement team at the Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme.
The Scheme aims to better connect people with the Chase & Chalke landscape, its heritage, nature and wildlife and our communications volunteers will play an integral role in helping us achieve that goal.
Volunteers will work with the Chase and Chalke Team (part of Cranborne Chase AONB) to help with a variety of communications and engagement activities including assisting with creating content for various methods of communication (emails, website, blogs, social media, newsletters), collating photos or video content for use in different media and to help develop media stories.
Learn to plan and lead walks
Help others to connect with the landscape through safely guided walks
Are you a keen walker who enjoys sharing your local knowledge, or your interest in the area’s rich archaeology, flora or fauna?
Become a Walk Leader with Chase & Chalke and learn to establish and deliver safe walking events as part of the ChalkEscape Walking Festival and at other ad hoc walking events.
Help to provide people with a welcoming, enjoyable experience which introduces or reconnects them with the area’s landscapes and heritage.
We are looking for Volunteer Walk Leaders to work with us to identify and design interesting walking route, help us test and check the routes and potentially provide an interesting talk on a particular subject such as the archaeology, flora or fauna encountered along the walk. Walk Leaders can also work alongside our Walk Marshals who primarily act as the sweeper to ensure all walkers are accounted for and finish the walk safely.
| Activity | Shifts | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulberry Farmhouse Meadow | 1 | |||
| Activity | Shifts | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audit of Rights of Way Furniture | 1 | |||
| Berwick Parish Walk | 1 | |||
| Broadchalke (Vernditch) Parish Walk | 1 | |||
| Route Checkers on Ancient Ways | 1 | |||
A project designed to ensure more woodland across the Chase & Chalke area is being positively managed for their natural, cultural and landscape value. That we increase the enthusiasm to improve condition, knowledge, skills and capacity to support this within the area.
| Activity | Shifts | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charcoal Earth Burn | 0 | |||
The Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership
The Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership is a group of organisations and enthusiastic volunteers who are working together to restore, preserve, and improve the landscape of this area of Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
With the Cranborne Chase AONB as lead partner and with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund this partnership is working with local communities to build stronger connections with the landscape and with each other.
With the leadership and dedication of its volunteers, local communities and partner organisations the Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership is using a £1.68 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, along with additional funding, to deliver a total of 20 individual projects with the aim of enhancing, celebrating and protecting the natural, cultural and historic assets of this part of the Cranborne Chase AONB.
In 2019 The Cranborne Chase & Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership was awarded a £1.68 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. With match funding from partners, the five-year Cranborne Chase & Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme (Chase & Chalke LPS) totals £2.7 million.
Across our Natural Landscape, Historic Landscape and Cultural Landscape themes, the projects aim to:
• Conserve, enhance & restore key features of natural, historic and cultural heritage.
• Offer opportunities to develop awareness, understanding and enjoyment together with knowledge, skills and volunteering to provide a lasting legacy for the future.
• Provide opportunities for individuals and communities, near and far, young and old, to care for local heritage.
• Foster pride in the unique and rich heritage of this landscape.
Our Vision:
“A Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley which is a healthier and better functioning landscape for people and wildlife, nationally recognised for its beauty, its extraordinary historic links to the past, a place where everyone can make a true connection with their environment, a living landscape where opportunities exist for present and future generations to appreciate and enjoy nature and heritage”.
You can find out lots more about our project by visiting our website: Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership - Cranborne Chase AONB
Our Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/cranborne-chase-aonbchase-amp-chalke-30958334931
Check out the other fantastic work the National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting at: Welcome | The National Lottery Heritage Fund
