Volunteer of the Year awards

The North Wales Wildlife Trust Gold Badge is an award made at the Annual General Meeting to a member who has, in the opinion of the Council, made an outstanding contribution to the success and progress of the Wildlife Trust. It is the highest recognition we can bestow!

Bryn Jones

Bryn has been volunteering with the NWWT for over a decade and is a very worthy recipient of the Gold Badge. He is one of our mainstay volunteers at Gwaith Powdwr and our other nature reserves in the Porthmadog area. He is a very popular and well- respected member of the group and come rain or shine, is always willing to get stuck in with any work asked of him. Since 2014, Bryn has volunteered an incredible 3,000 hours of his time.

Bryn is a very skilled individual and as well as attending work days, he constructs bird and bat boxes of varying designs which are then installed across many of the Trust’s nature reserves and used on community projects. In addition to this, Bryn continues to manage the nest box monitoring scheme at Gwaith Powdwr – installing, repairing and surveying bird boxes across the nature reserve. For many years, with the help of his wife Sue, he also ran the nest box monitoring scheme at our Coed Crafnant Nature Reserve, doing really valuable work to help protect and monitor the population of migratory pied flycatchers which nest there each year.

This award recognises and celebrates Bryn’s huge contribution to our conservation work in Gwynedd and we are truly grateful for all of his hard work. Long may it continue!

Graham Platt

Graham has been an incredibly important volunteer on our nature reserves in north-east Wales for several years. Graham first volunteered with Graham Berry and Mike Klymko and has more recently supported Paul Furnborough and Jordan Vigus-Hurst as they grew into their new reserve officer roles. He has a wealth of knowledge, skill and above all else, a willingness to work hard. Graham’s engineering background has made him invaluable in areas of our work which neither Paul nor Jordan have experience in.

As a key volunteer, Graham often leads small groups of volunteers and he has worked one-on-one with both Paul and Jordan on specific jobs. These include repairing the bird hide at our Gors Maen Llwyd Nature Reserve and making bespoke fixings for benches and other infrastructure. Graham has volunteered more than 1,000 hours of his time and he continues to volunteer regularly – usually twice a week. He is always on hand to share his knowledge with other volunteers and is always willing to learn new skills.

This award recognises and celebrates Graham’s huge contribution to our conservation work in north-east Wales.

North Wales Wildlife Trust Volunteer of the Year is an award made at the Annual General Meeting to a volunteer who has, in the opinion of the Council, made an outstanding contribution to the success and progress of the Wildlife Trust in 2022-23.

Max first started volunteering with NWWT in February 2020. Almost every Wednesday and Thursday since then, come rain or shine, you’ll find him out working on one of our nature reserves in Conwy and Anglesey. In 2022-23 he volunteered an incredible 500 hours of his time to help us manage these very special nature reserves.

Max is an enthusiastic and skilled worker, qualified to use a brushcutter and chainsaw, and this enables the Trust to carry out more valuable habitat management and restoration work. As well as working in north-west Wales, Max is always keen to get involved in other volunteering opportunities, including heathland restoration work at our Gors Maen Llwyd Nature Reserve and our Cotoneaster Control Project.

We are truly grateful for the significant contribution that Max makes to our work and he is a very deserving winner of our 2022-23 Volunteer of the Year award

North Wales Wildlife Trust Young Volunteer of the Year is an award made at the Annual General Meeting to a young volunteer who has, in the opinion of the Council, made an outstanding contribution to the success and progress of the Wildlife Trust in 2022-23.

In 2019, Zak aged 13, participated in NWWT’s ‘Our Wild Coast’ project. Back then he was asked what he thought young people needed to do if they are to help nature to recover. He said at that time that he would like to see more young people doing something practical to help the environment and now, 4 years on, he is certainly leading by example! Zak, now 17, attends Wednesday and Thursday conservation work parties on our nature reserves in north-west Wales. In 2022-23 he volunteered over 200 hours of his time and he has become a highly valued and respected volunteer.

Zak is a budding naturalist with incredible knowledge which he is always keen to share. With his keen eyes, he enjoys the excitement of spotting interesting species and has taught staff and volunteers alike, the need to look and listen more closely. He has re-started the butterfly surveys on our Gogarth Nature Reserve and contributes to important survey and monitoring on other sites. He is also joining staff on some of our guided walks and events – once again sharing his knowledge and encouraging other people to protect wildlife and the natural environment.

Zak is a truly inspiring individual and a real role model for our younger volunteers. He is a very deserving winner of NWWT Young Volunteer of the Year Award for 2022-23.

North Wales Wildlife Trust Volunteer Group of the Year is an award made at the Annual General Meeting to a group of volunteers who have, in the opinion of the Council, made an outstanding contribution to the success and progress of the Wildlife Trust in 2022-23.

The Ocean Rescue Champion Mentors are Amber Jepson, Anna Williams, Catrin Cahill and Isobel Lomax. These four young people have been volunteering their time to help NWWT staff to lead on sessions for our Ocean Rescue Champions group of 11-15 year olds. Progressing from Ocean Rescue Champions themselves the previous year, they have been learning how to become mentors and role models for this group of young people. They have attended monthly sessions with the group, as well as additional training sessions, to ensure that they have the knowledge and confidence to take on their mentoring roles. At such a young age, they have gone above and beyond to volunteer their time, sharing their knowledge and passion of the marine world with others - showing their kindness, patience and maturity in so many ways. They have helped us during residentials and at the NWWT Eisteddfod stand over the summer, all whilst achieving some outstanding results in their academic careers (GCSEs for three of them and an Undergraduate Degree for one of them).

Well done & a huge thank you to Amber, Anna, Catrin and Isobel.