Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are so grateful to all of our wonderful volunteers; they offer approximately 40,000 hours a year, as well as share expertise, skills, enthusiasm and many laughs!
We have been expanding our rewards and recognition offer, and in 2024 we signed up to be a part of Room to Reward, a charity who take unsold hotel rooms (or similar) to offer breaks for volunteers. It doesn't cost us anything, but gives the volunteer an amazing experience!
Nominated volunteers to Room to Reward will receive a 1-2 night stay with a partnering hotel, holiday park or B&B for two people, including breakfast. They have partners based throughout the UK, and even on the Channel Islands! Our nominated volunteers could be enjoying a peaceful break in a cosy cottage along beautiful Welsh river banks, admire the beautiful architecture of 18th century country manors in Scotland, relax at a spa hotel after hours of walking in the Yorkshire Dales, or take advantage of one of London's most elegant hotels in the heart of Mayfair.
Here some of our volunteer's share their experience with the scheme, a year after we signed up.
Paul's get away
"As a GWT volunteer, I put my name forward for the Room to Reward scheme and was delighted when my name was chosen. You can choose from stays all over the country and even beyond, and I settled upon a lovely hotel in York (Fairfield Manor). After staying in York many years ago my wife and I have always longed to go back at Daffodil time to see the wonderful display around the banks of the city walls.
I booked for two nights using the Room to Reward website. I found the process really easy, and after requesting my reservation, my preferred dates were confirmed within a couple of days. The hotel was great, especially as the two night stay was free and included breakfast; yes, it really was all free! I am grateful to GWT for participating in this brilliant scheme which provided us with a great holiday."
Liz's get away
"I'm just getting in touch to let you know we have just got back from our Room to Reward (R2R) trip and to let you know we really enjoyed it. We went for a two night stay in the Leonardo Royal Hotel in Oxford. It was a lovely modern, smart hotel and the staff were very nice. They knew about R2R and we didn't have any problems at all with arrangements. We only had to pay for the parking but we knew about that and they gave us a voucher for a complimentary drink in the bar which was nice and unexpected.
While we were in Oxford we visited the Botanic Gardens, Magdalen College and the Ashmolean, National History and Pitt Rivers Museums. We also went up the Sheldonian theatre and saw wonderful views of the beautiful Oxford architecture from its roof. We spent quite a bit of time walking around just looking at everything and the Covered Market and the Food and Drink Festival. We went to a super Indian Restaurant. Then for a bit of fun, on our second night, we went on a Ghost Walk which actually turned out to be very historically interesting and a good laugh. It was also lovely seeing the colleges, chapels and other old buildings lit up at night - so beautiful.
Everything about the organisation went smoothly thanks to you and also the R2R team.
Thank you so much for the trip. We are really grateful 🙂"
Doug's get away
"I just wanted to let you know that my wife and I had a two night stay last week at the Masons Arms in a coastal village called Branscombe, near to Seaton in Devon.
The accommodation was great and the weather was good as well. In addition to some coastal walks we went on the Seaton tramway from where we explored the Seaton wetlands nature reserve and the interesting village of Colyton.
Many thanks to you and all at GWT for enabling this very pleasant break."
Below: Daffodil banks in York (c) Paul Masters
