VOLUNTEERING for Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has been given a boost following the award of a new national volunteering qualification to a woman from Broadway.

Sarah Mason, aged 29, volunteers manager for the trust, collected the Advanced Certificate in Volunteer Management at a ceremony at the NCVO offices in London from Lantra Awards, which specialises in training and qualifications for people working in the land-based sector and related industries.

The nationally recognised Advanced Certificate in Volunteer Management has been created to encourage consistently high standards of volunteer management within organisations and to provide a framework for candidates to develop their skills and knowledge in the workplace.

The qualification is aimed at anyone who manages, supervises or leads volunteers on a day-to-day basis, including people who are volunteers themselves.

Sarah put herself forward to pilot the qualification as one of several voluntary sector organisations who helped develop and thoroughly road test the award to ensure that it will be a very useful qualification for those in direct day-to-day management of volunteers.

Commenting on her new accreditation, Sarah said: "I have gained a better understanding of the work I do and an overview of volunteering.

"This has inspired me to carry out a review of volunteering at the trust which had not been done before and which has helped develop better systems and support for volunteers workers who are an enormous asset to the trust."

Gordon McGlone, director of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and chairman of Lantra, said: "Volunteers contribute a huge amount to environmental and social well-being. The trust, like many environmental organisations, benefits enormously from their time and energy."

He added: "I am delighted that Sarah has been able to contribute to this important new qualification. "

4 Sarah Mason, volunteers manager with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, is pictured collecting the Advanced Certificate in Volunteer Management from Dr Gordon McGlone, director of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and chairman of Lantra.