Chairman of The Birmingham University Conservation Volunteers speaks to Birmingham Recycled

• Jul. 15 by Natalie Adcock (2)

When he set off for University and all the fun that was sure to follow, I am sure that he didn’t imagine helping the environment would be part of it. But Andrew Limm, 20, a soon to be third year student at the University of Birmingham is now Chairman of The Birmingham University Conservation Volunteers (BUCV).

So how does a student come to get involved in conservation? Andrew says:

“I first joined the BUCV in the early autumn of 2007, quite by chance during the haze that was fresher’s week. At the time I remember being bombarded by flyers and as a result, it took me several days to read the BUCV information. Despite this however, I managed to turn up for my first Sunday conservation at the University Botanical gardens at Winterbourne sometime in November 2007. It would be wrong though to say I was a die-hard member from November 2007, it was only after early January 2008 that I really threw myself into conservation.”

But Andrew says that while the initial convincing people to put their names down for the society is easy, further steps are hard because the meetings require members to pay a small fee and they are struggling without University funding.

“Freshers is a fun time for all students, but last year in desperation for members my dressing up as Conservation Man was an essential ploy for getting new members and funds!”

These difficulties aside, is it hard to get students to think and act environmentally friendly in their daily routine? Andrew says:

“In essence it’s down to the individual as more often than not the average student house is not an eco-friendly place. People in general do care about the current global issues, especially global warming, so although we don’t claim to save the world there are at least 10 people who turn up every week to help these areas of Birmingham and that’s got to be a good thing in the end.”

So, lastly, I asked Andrew to tell me about the good work that BUCTV does:

“My individual role is to maintain clear communications with the sites that we work at, such as, Sandwell nature reserve near Dudley, Sutton Park in Sutton coalfield and Winterbourne Botanical gardens at the University. Our society works on a Sunday at one of these places. On most Sundays we are doing anything from cutting back troublesome trees, removing dead wood, attacking weeds and generally trying to create a balance in wherever we are working. The work is fairly physical but with cups of tea and biscuits it is never that bad!

As for aims a society is never guaranteed to be in existence, its only means of survival is through dedicated members. It is hoped that new areas will be trialled as places to conserve in the coming year and finding new members to keep the society going are a top priority. However as long as trips to the pub and club nights remain alongside the work that is done on Sundays then BUCV will be a fun and eco-friendly society to be part of.”

Check back to Birmingham Recycled for guest posts by Andrew Limm.