Testimonials
Paul Mitchell
He/Him
"Volunteering with Envirolution was fab. I got to fully dive into projects with lots of autonomy that were not only fun and rewarding but also an outlet for my creativity. As a bonus, I met some fantastic friends for life along the way. Many a time it brought a warm feeling to my belly seeing the positive impact we had—hard work, & rewarding."
Dawn Kendall
She/Her
"I joined the organisation as the volunteer coordinator. I saw an advert online for the volunteer job role and it sounded really really exciting. It involved working with volunteers but also working with events, which ticked some major boxes for me. I went along to an amazing meeting and met Bob, Paul and Matt and and just instantly hit it off and became a volunteer coordinator. I did that role for a number of years and then moved onto running decor with volunteers, to doing all the event planning and all the other paperwork, everything! Just pitching in on every little bit, right to the point of litter picking at the end of festivals. No role too big or too small for any of the directors of Envirolution, that's for sure. I feel like I was at a point in Manchester where I was looking for something more and I gained an amazing community from Envirolution, some lifelong friendships and a fresh outlook on life. It really helped me to see so much more was possible and broadened my horizons, making me aware of all the amazing people and the amazing things that were happening in Manchester. Definitely a total game changer for me. I took away a lot of experience from it and positivity, which has helped me go forward in other parts of life and other job roles. It gave me confidence in public speaking, bid writing and event planning, volunteer organising... You name it really! The range of experience from Envirolution are endless and that's why I really do think it's important. I think it offers amazing connections and possibilities and it gives people hope. You bring so many incredible organisations together and let the surrounding communities know that all this is going on and how they can get involved. And how things aren't just all doom and gloom and how many amazing positive things there are going on out there. Yeah, it really gives you hope. I would like to see Envirolution definitely continuing in the future. I'd love to see more commitment from the council and the universities, so that it could be more accessible to a wider audience. That's something that we always wanted for it and you know, we tried to move it forward, doing different projects around other areas in Manchester. But we didn't always have the budget and the scope to be able to get out to as many people as we would have liked. I feel like we had a big impact in South Manchester and around the Fallowfield areas, but I feel like we always wanted to do more. So I would like to see it become something bigger... More of an institution in Manchester. More people to know about it, more people to know that they can get involved, and more people to realise that just by giving a couple of hours to this organisation that they could help put together something incredible."
Matt Rowe – Envirolution founder
He/Him
"I returned from my post-university travels into a global recession and wanted to do something useful - creating a community-led socially conscious eco festival seemed like a good idea. I was surrounded with creative artists and awesome community activists. My role was to help steer all the wonderful ideas into a cohesive event. I took on the role of event manager, which involved liaising with the park team, city council and event participants. It meant writing the event manual, dotting all the i’s and crossing the t’s to get the permission. Then having an overview on the day to ensure it all went smoothly. The most important lesson I learnt was to stay true to your beliefs and to find awesome people to do awesome things with. Through my time with Envirolution I have made lifelong friends. The act of taking on a difficult challenge around an issue that is important to you allows beautiful bonds of friendship to blossom. Practically, I have seen people use their involvement with Envirolution to gain the experience they need to pursue the careers they want - from event management to public relations to social media marketing. The world needs more Envirolution. It needs more space where people come together to share their concerns, meet great people and dream about creating a better world"
Dan Gibbon Walsh
He/Him
"With Envirolution I got to test out and hone a lot of different skills and interests - marketing, social media, event promo - and then the planning of the event and community building - also allowing us to reach out wide and far and feel some unity among so many different community interests. Being a kind of hub felt like a unique position - having speakers and visitors from MPs to activists and various community leaders at a family-friendly event was something special and I feel very grateful being part of this ethos. I feel happy to have met so many lovely people I call friends even though I since moved to Amsterdam, and seeing it continue is something I enjoy from further away. It's important that spaces like these - where the space is not leading but encouraging togetherness and group thinking away from echo chambers but with several different overlapping bubbles - brings a different spirit and ideas that can be worked on with support from so many additional networks. I would love to see Envirolution have the chance to continue - with enough funding to support a new generation of volunteers who have the encouragement and safety net to try new things, to not be afraid to test things out, and to feel the excitement that happens when you create bridges between communities and networks not just in a village or city, but hopefully even further along. "