A Project to Help People Grow
An article about volunteering on the Sydney Gardens Project, written by our social media volunteer Amelia Hunt
In my time volunteering from September 2020 until December 2020, I learnt more about Georgian Pleasure Gardens than I ever thought possible! Bearing in mind, during my three year university course living in Bath, I never once visited the Holburne Museum or even knew about Sydney Gardens, this experience really opened my eyes.
I was a social media volunteer for the Bath Sydney Gardens Project, scheduling posts for their Facebook page, which gave me amazing flexibility and I learned a lot about what worked using analytics, which I hadn’t had access to prior to this.
Sue Palmer, the Community Ranger on the National Lottery Heritage Funded project, was my mentor and she was brilliant, sending me the book, ‘The Last Promenade’ by Brenda Snaddon to give me some background information. She also kindly directed me to various training opportunities including a social media strategy Zoom session and a Covid-safe Podcast training session in the gardens. As a graduate, opportunities like this are priceless for someone looking to level up their skills for their CV, so I really appreciated her generosity in sending these my way.
The ‘How to Make a Podcast’ training in particular was great as this is a growing area in the publishing industry that I’d been curious about for a while but had no idea where to begin or how they were made. In the session we went through equipment use, structuring interviews, practical recording, software use and editing all in one day! This was hosted in the Gardener’s Lodge in the park in a small group using social distancing measures. We also got to pair up and walk around the park interviewing one another. My partner and I decided to use the sound of crunching leaves and birdsong as atmospheric features for our recordings, since our interviews were about the natural world. It was great to be able to use features like this and be able to move them around for intervals or transitions during the editing process afterwards.
Meeting other volunteers face to face for the first time was also fantastic during the pandemic. Seeing other friendly faces and working in pairs is so much better than Zoom calls and what you learn feels much more tangible. It was also my first time seeing Sydney Gardens in person and it was amazing to see the variety of plants, and also to have Sue point out where The Ride used to be around the edge of the park, explaining how popular it was in the 19th century.
Working on the Sydney Gardens Project has given me so many new skills and experiences, I am truly grateful to Sue, especially for her flexibility and endless kindness. I’ve enjoyed every minute.
I would encourage anyone needing some experience under their belt to get involved with the project, as you’ll never meet a more welcoming bunch!
