I'm Rob and I spend a lot of time throwing myself into things, trying to make the world a nicer place. 🌳
One of my biggest volunteering efforts has been to mastermind the Social Orchards project where people can eat fruit off the trees for free, read an article here! Essentially just a hobby of mine where I raise money and give away free fruit trees for publicly accessible areas throughout South London. This includes parks and sports grounds, schools and colleges, churches and hospitals, city farms and community gardens. I enable various voluntary and charitable organisations to enhance the public realm.
At the moment, the total number of trees is somewhere over 1250 fruit trees on 97 locations, something I'm quite proud of (but seeing all the blossom everywhere is the best bit to be honest!!). Around the borough there are a couple of hundred fruit trees planted (e.g. eight trees at Manor Park in Sutton, twenty at Rose Hill Park West, sixty at Sutton Community Farm, eighteen at Culvers Retreat in Hackbridge, we're hoping to add to the forty-seven at Wrythe Green etc). We've also planted approximately 2000 native trees on land outside London and I'm putting orchards on new sites in Sussex and Oxfordshire in 2025.
Currently I 'sit' on four committees for community gardens and give my help in myriad tiny ways, e.g. bits of advice, useful contacts etc and generally nudging things in the right direction.
I used to sit on the Management Committee for Sutton Community Farm in its formative days, and joined the Wandle Valley Regional Park Forum Executive during the creation of the Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust.
I am Fundraising Director for the National Forest Gardening Scheme (now merging into the Permaculture Association), I am a 'Volunteer Ranger' for London National Park City and I sit on the committee for Carshalton Water Tower and Historic Gardens.
Shown above with John who was a volunteer story of the month in February with his wife, and on the right with Kevin from YourSpace Sutton.
What other volunteering have you done?
Since 2009, I have raised over £385k for good causes, with a focus on environmental sustainability, community development, neighbourhood regeneration and health and wellbeing through community food-growing.
As a teenager, I spent six years doing alternate Saturdays at the Diamond Centre (Riding for the Disabled Association) in Carshalton Beeches, plus several Sundays when there were events happening.
I spent a lot of time with Sutton Nature Conservation Volunteers too, planting trees and hedges, building steps and animal habitats - I have memories of digging holes and hours of energetic bramble-bashing.
I got massive levels of satisfaction and pride for a job well done.
For many years, I was into Scouting and gave up one evening a week as a Scout leader (or Cub Scouts, or Explorer Scouts), plus at least one weekend a month away with the young people or completing a training course somewhere.
Volunteering can lead to lots of fun things! In 2004, I spent three months at the World Scout Centre in Switzerland as a "Programme" member of staff, leading groups of young people on trips into the mountains, plenty of ice-climbing, glacier walking and skiing. In 2016, I sailed on a tall ship for almost six weeks across the Atlantic with the Jubilee Sailing Trust from Nova Scotia to London, arriving to a fanfare of trumpets from the Royal Marines - on that trip we broke the voyage in the Azores too, a wonderful bonus!
Also, twenty years of volunteering with Adventure Plus (a bit like Scouting, but only the adventurous trips!), writing business plans for Emmaus (now got a 33-bed homeless hostel in Oxford), or the "Bring Back Boleyn" project in Carshalton. Oh and Dr George Rice Community Garden.
In recent years, I've done everything from standing around in the bitter cold marshalling traffic for days on end (at Nonsuch Park for the over-60s' Covid jabs) to project-managing strawbale constructions for charitable organisations, or getting roped into packing up for the Frost Fair, EcoLocal for several hours into the night.
Loved every minute of it all!
I have spent several sessions in the Victorian Walled Garden at EcoLocal in Carshalton and at Carshalton Community Allotment too, such a lovely way to relax amidst like-minded individuals.
What got you interested in volunteering?
Initially I saw people on workdays and thought it looked like fun. I like being active, I enjoy being out in the open air.
It usually the means for some good exercise by stealth (i.e. you don't always realise you're getting a workout as you're getting carried away having too much fun)!
I love the sense of doing things as a joint effort to make the world a better place, to improve the community, help society.
I appreciate the feeling of camaraderie, the sharing of skills, the occasional free tea, coffee and biscuits (plus cake, doughnuts).
You'll almost always be amongst nice people too.
Any examples that come to mind when you really enjoyed volunteering?
It's been great fun to get out and meet lots of happy volunteers on tree-planting days, seeing groups of enthusiastic appreciative smiling people is so uplifting - every Spring I get to see the blossom popping out in public spaces as I travel through London, through the years I get to see the plants grow and spread.
I've been really pleased when BBC Radio London asked me to do an interview with them about Social Orchards, the Royal Horticultural Society did an article on the project in their magazine "Grass Roots" and Facebook called me to ask about participating with their "community social" garden feature at Chelsea Flower Show. See the article here.
Anything you’d say to anyone interested in volunteering?
You might just change someone's life, to inspire them to get out there, to grow themselves and develop, gain confidence - and all the same comes back to yourself.
I would say that it's usually true that you get more out than you put in, but definitely correct to say that the more you put in, the more you get out. I'd have never been able to do so much in my life without the chance circumstances that would only have happened through volunteering my time - you really never know who you'll get to talk with, who you might meet.
There are so many opportunities out there, to help yourself, to help others, to gain skills and qualifications, to develop friendships and create networks (both socially and professionally) - volunteering broadens your outlook and widens your imagination, it opens so many doors and makes so many connections - just put yourself out there!!
Thank you to Rob for his time and amazing efforts helping make our borough a nicer place to live.
