Our Keeping it Wild Programme is run in partnership with the London Wildlife Trust, London Youth and the John Muir Trust. The aim of the project is to open up opportunities for underrepresented groups of young people to explore the many wildlife spaces that London holds.

Robert was a Keeping It Wild trainee and we worked with him over a 12-week period doing media training sessions for the Level 2 OCN, between July – September 2020. When Robert joined our sessions, he said that he had been “working as a gardener, looking for a way into the conservation sector. I was not sure what to expect, as media is a very broad topic, but I did think we would have to learn to write articles as part of it” 

Robert worked through all of the different activities that we did during the media training and was open to having a go at everything. At the end, we asked him what he really enjoyed during our sessions - “[I really enjoyed] creating a video to spread awareness of an important issue” 

As part of his media and journalism training, Robert created a short video addressing the issues facing young Londoners in nature and the environmental sector. Robert chose to focus on how much access young people have to nature, and how that impacts their health. Robert’s video was filmed and edited entirely on his phone, with amazing results! After finishing his video edit, Robert reflected that “it feels really good to know that we are actually doing something towards tackling these issues by making videos and podcasts about them.”

Robert’s confidence in speaking and sharing his ides grew hugely during the 12 weeks, which he put to practice during the many podcasts, interviews and video projects we worked on. He always gave valuable contributions to our sessions, especially during the podcasts - “I liked being able to talk about important issues and hear other people’s opinions on them. Being able to do that first podcast with minimal planning, made me think that I don’t need to be super prepared for every little thing” 

Towards the end of our sessions together, we asked Robert if he had experienced any unexpected outcomes from the media training -

“I did not expect to be sharing such personal stuff, but I am glad that I did and think it improved my work. Doing the reflections at the end of our stories of the week made me think about what lessons I could learn from even the smallest of things. I was not too sure what media training would be like or if I would enjoy it, but it turned out to be great, so I am very glad it was a part of the traineeship”

To see some of the media content that Robert and his fellow trainees created click here

The traineeship is one strand of the Keeping It Wild Project. This project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and this particular activity strand was supported by Tallow Chandlers.