Youth Just Us, our steering group for people with care and justice experience, based in Glasgow, had the opportunity to get involved in some sessions with Venture Trust Scotland, as part of their Cashback Green Futures programme.

Youth Just Us were 'buzzing' to be involved, and reflected on how important it is that young adults are provided the means and resources to get outdoors and try different activities in a safe environment.

Venture Trust Scotland took the time to visit a Youth Just Us session to get to know the members, spending 2 hours playing games, providing information, planning logistics and soothing any worries about the planned activities – canoeing and tree planting.

 

It not only provided a new experience for some of our members, but also gave us a chance to get out of our participation space (as lovely as it is), and into the great outdoors. In amongst all the amazing work that our Youth Just Us members do, it is important to have fun together and strengthen bonds.

We started our first full day with Venture Trust Scotland by travelling to Balloch via train, with the goal of canoeing Loch Lomond. We met Dave, our fantastic instructor and gaffer for the day, who took us through a safety briefing and helped sort out our buoyancy aids.

Canoes were rafted together so we canoed in groups of 4 – which soothed some nerves about falling in! And we were away. We were very lucky to have the weather on our side for a day in February.

We canoed to a little beach, where we ate our lunch together while watching the birds, and enjoying the peace and quiet – until a seagull showed up to claim his own sort of piece. He had no luck, and we finished lunch off with some teas and coffees.

After lunch, we headed back out to the water, with one member brave enough to try a solo canoe. They didn’t want to stop! We had discussed how long we would be on the water before the session. “An hour or so, that’s it, I’m not doing more than that,” said one member, with most agreeing an hour or so would suffice. We spent over 3 hours in total canoeing Loch Lomond. “It’s the furthest we have gone with any group,” exclaimed Dave, to the delight and pride of everyone! We went a lot further than we thought we would; a good reminder of the determination and grit our young people have.

After 3 hours, we started feeling it! We headed back to shore with a sense of achievement and hunger for some chips.

“It was amazing,” said one member. We all agreed! “Can we do it again?” asked another member, before our feet were dry and the arms had stopped hurting! We said our thanks and goodbyes to the wonderful Dave, and headed back to get some chips for everyone before catching our train.

The train back was the quietest this group has ever been! A well deserved rest and some chips later, we started to look forward to another full day with Venture Trust Scotland – tree planting.

Another early start saw us travel to Venture Trust Scotland’s offices to grab waterproofs and hot drinks, and sort out the day's lunches. The conservation volunteers had arranged a minibus to take us to a park to plant all kinds of trees, including Hazel, Oak and Birch and. Thankfully, it was dry, and after a demonstration and explanation of different trees, we got our gloves and spades and started digging!

After an hour or so, we stopped for some lunch and black tea - as someone forgot the milk. After a wee rest, we were back at it. Time flew by, everyone lost in the quietness and effort. We planted tress next to a playpark that was quite sparse. We reflected on how good it felt to plant something, the effect it will have on the landscape and the locals' enjoyment of it, and the benefits for wildlife.

You will need to take our word for it, as it is difficult to see in photos, but we planted 400 trees - four hundred! Although it will take a while to see the results, we made a change, a difference that will last a lifetime – not unlike the work of Youth Justice Voices.

“That was great,” said one member.

“I think I’ve found my calling; this is my thing,” said another member. “I felt in the zone, we should plant tress more often!” he continued.

We did not anticipate one of our members contemplating leaving the group to explore his calling in life – planting trees. If we never see him again, we know where to find him!  

We planted roots that day, something for current and future generations to benefit from. The irony is not lost on us – that’s why we do what we do at Youth Justice Voices – we may not see every bit of our impact or instant changes, it can be tough and get muddy at times, but we do it because it really matters.

We would like to thank Venture Trust Scotland for providing these sessions for Youth Just Us, with a special mention to Owen, Charlotte and Dave.

Fancy getting involved or finding out more about Youth Justice Voices and what we do? Contact [email protected] for more info.