youth volunteer groups

this is the place for all of those who are under 18 and heritage railway volunteers to converse and share experiences, or for any one who wants to ask questions or make suggestions about youth groups, teams and schemes across the country! I myself am a volunteer on the tanfieldrailway , and have been a regular there for approaching two years.

 

I'll kick things off with a suggestion then. no matter how old you are, it is always worth enquiring whether you can join a normal department under the supervision of a parent/guardian or another relation, before going to the obligatory youth group. I just sent in a normal enquiry to the GWSR telling them that I was 14, and wished to volunteer in C+W for my DofE, and if necessary, my DAD will happily accompany me, and I was away! I got put through all the normal induction etc, and now I'm a fully fledged C+W painter.

something else; some young people I know that volunteer on preserved railways go for what's called the operational side of things. this includes anything to guards, ticket inspectors, loco drivers (although unlikely for youths!) OTC and manning shops. the advantage of joining in in the restoration side of things, is that it is better if you can't commit to every single week. for instance, I go to C+W most Saturdays, but sometimes I can't manage it due to other commitments. It's no swat, just tell someone the week before that I won't be there next week and all is fine, there is no need to worry about "who will cover for me next week?" as it is just a "turn up and help out" sort of thing. If there are other youth volunteers on the forum here, it would be great to know, maybe put something in your sig. so we can all recognize each other, it's nice to know there's more than one of us

Good luck, Happy volunteering,
Alex