Setting up a group

Once you've found some volunteers (willing or otherwise!), you'll need to think about forming a group.  If you're just getting going, and only have a handful of people, you may want to look for a gentle start.  One option is to talk to your local access officer and start off with some simple maintenance work such as clearing back an overgrown path.  Once you've had a few early successes, it becomes easier to move onto bigger things.

If you're planning to do much work with paths, you'll probably need to look for funding and it's much easier to persuade organisations to part with their cash if they know you are a formal group, complete with a constitution. This helps potential funding bodies know that you are serious, and can make things easier for you by giving different people clearly defined roles.  When you form a group you need to think about who is going to take responsibility for the different aspects of work you might want to do

The important things to consider at the start are:

• How the group will be organised (if you are a formally constituted group, you will need a chairperson, secretary and treasurer)

• What will be in your constitution – you can download example constitutions here, which you can change to fit your group

• What your aims and objectives will be – in other words, what sort of things do you want to do?

Some websites, like the Skye and Lochalsh Community Toolkit offer advice on how to set up a group, and the types of management structures and constitutions that might be appropriate.

You can also find out more about setting up volunteer groups and sourcing suitable insurance from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.