BW fails volunteering target

BRITISH Waterways failed to meet its target on volunteering last year, achieving just over 24,000 'volunteer days' against a target set for two of its directors of 25,000.

However, British Waterways' 'volunteer days' figure is described in its June Boaters Update as 'fantastic news' with an added exclamation mark for emphasis. How can failing to meet a target be fantastic news? Sadly, as has been shown in the past with visitor numbers, it seems that we have conflicting figures, writes Allan Richards.

Conflicts

Lets have a look at what British Waterway stated in the past. The first record we can find is a report on the appointment of Ed Moss as National Volunteering Manager in April 2008. British Waterways is quoted as stating that it wanted double the number of days volunteers spend working on its network from the existing 5,000 volunteer days per year.

A year later in its 2008/9 annual report we are told they have done just that. However, instead of telling us that the figure has doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 we are told that the appointment of a National Volunteering Manager 'helped us to double the number of volunteer days on our waterways to 16,000, valued at over £1m'.

So which is it? Is it 5,000 to 10,000 or 8,000 to 16,000?

British Waterway volunteers?

Whilst we ponder how we seem to have two sets of numbers perhaps we should consider if these volunteers really are British Waterways volunteers? For that we look at the November 2009 document Setting a New Course which states 'British Waterways already uses volunteers. The number of people already volunteering with British Waterways is estimated at around 350 volunteer groups with perhaps 2-3,000 active members. Many of these groups operate without any British Waterways involvement. Recent tracking of those groups where British Waterways has had direct contact indicates that their volunteering totalled 16,000 volunteering days valued at £1 million in 2008/9.'

So there you have it. Included in its 16,000 figure are people that volunteer for other organisations. British Waterways, it would appear, is including volunteers for organisations such as the Waterways Recovery Group, Kennet & Avon Canal Trust and Shropshire Union Canal Society as its own.

Disappointing

What British Waterways does not make clear is that 'volunteer days' actually fell in 2009/10. It was narrowboatworld that correctly identified some 18 months ago that British Waterways was having trouble matching its previous results with the Board reporting in the second half of the year 'The lower number of volunteer days at the half year point compared to 2008 was considered to be disappointing and efforts to improve this were considered to be a priority.'

By year end British Waterways had still failed to match its claimed 2008/9 figure of 16,000 volunteer hours. However, this did not prevent its 2009/10 annual report claiming 'Volunteering is on the increase. Our canals and rivers offer a wide range of opportunities, far beyond litter picking and restoring locks. They give volunteers the opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people, use existing skills, develop their sense of ownership of the waterways and help us achieve more. This form of participation will become increasingly important to our future and we are now attracting around 15,000 volunteering days each year.'

In the crazy world of British Waterways, 16,000 in 2008/9 falling to 15,000 in 2009/10 is an increase!

Honesty

Was it honest a year ago to claim that volunteering was on the increase when British Waterways' own figures show the opposite was true? Is it honest now to claim that the latest volunteer figures are 'good news' when they are below target? Most of all, is it honest to claim volunteer days from other organisations as British Waterways' own?

It's a big No to all three questions.