THANK YOU BMC Get Stuck In volunteers!
Volunteers are the beating heart of the BMC so it's tremendous to celebrate almost 200 of our fantastic members coming together to repair paths, restore the landscape and carry out conservation work in 2025. Here are the latest stats.
Get Stuck In is the volunteering arm of the BMC Access & Conservation Trust and works across both charity campaigns: Mend our Mountains and The Climate Project. Created in 2022 by BMC Hill Walking Rep and BMC Access & Conservation Trust trustee Steve Charles. The initiative has gone from strength to strength with the 50th event held this December, and even the BMC’s Official Outdoor Retailer Cotswold Outdoor sending their staff to join us.
THANK YOU so much if you have volunteered for or donated to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust this year or at any time - your support is much needed, especially as government-funded operations are being cut and the climate crisis looms ever closer. With your help we can create a better future for ourselves, the next generation, the mountains and the wildlife that lives on them. All donations welcome, click here.
- £10 buys gloves or tools
- £25 fully restores 1m squared of moorland
- £150 buys protective clothing/boots for path repairers
- £250 fixes approximately 1m of path
- £1,000 flies ten bags of stone to an inaccessible mountainside
Below, Get Stuck In founder Steve Charles, shares the incredible impact our fantastic Get Stuck In volunteers have had this year.
What are the 2025 Get Stuck In stats?
There were 19 events over all, involving 191 volunteers who together dedicated 1,847 hours of their time over 276 days of work in the Peak District, North Wales and the Lake District. In total we worked with the National Trust to build or improve 280-metres of footpath in Eryri (Snowdonia) and the Lakes, as well as a 22-metre megabund earth barrier on Scafell Pike to protect paths from rainflow. In Eryri volunteers planted 500 trees and 3,240 acorns, and in the Peak District 13,100 sphagnum moss plugs have been planted to restore the eroded peatland.
What are your highlights?
Get Stuck In volunteering events have now become well-established and we can see incredible improvements in the mountain landscape. A few highlights - in Eryri, the Watkin Path up to the south ridge of Yr Wyddfa is almost complete, with several stretches of sheep fleece path; there are now stepping stones below the Bochlwyd Buttress in the Ogwen Valley and the boggy, eroded area around the old path has recovered with new vegetation. In the Lake District we have continued to improve the path up The Band in Langdale, and helped reduce erosion on the main path up Scafell Pike in Wasdale by building a water-deflecting bund.
What has pleased you most?
We have a steadily increasing number of returning volunteers, some of whom are now hosting Get Stuck In events themselves, which allows us to grow the project further, and there are new recruits on every event, usually with a waiting list. Therefore, within the BMC we now have a community of volunteers experienced and passionate about mending our mountains.
What gave you the idea to start Get Stuck In?
I had the idea of BMC volunteers doing upland restoration work in 2019, inspired by the BMC Access and Conservation Trust's Mend our Mountains original fundraising campaign. If volunteers could do some of the easier work in the hills, instead of contractors, then the money raised would go further. Unfortunately the COVID pandemic meant events planned in 2020 were cancelled, and then I tried again in 2022 and that’s when Get Stuck In really started.
Why are these events so important?
Our hills and mountains are under pressure as never before with increased weather events, heavier rainfall, and more people wanting to get onto the mountains. The combination produces erosion which scars the landscape, damages flora and fauna, reduces water quality and increases flood risk downstream. There is less funding for organisations like the National Trust and National Parks, so work by volunteers has become of increasing importance.
Who can join in?
As long as you are over 18, hill-fit and don't mind getting stuck in, in rain or shine, you can join in. For the 3-day events in the Lakes and Eryri the bunkhouse accommodation is free of charge and there's one free communal meal provided. You can borrow steel toe-capped boots and heavy duty waterproofs free of charge too, and all the tools are provided. We welcome people from all walks of life, and from underrepresented groups and communities - whoever you are, there will be an important job for you to do.
Last words?
The time has passed when we can use the hills and mountains and not give something back. The mountains provide experiences we will never forget, but in order for us to enjoy them tomorrow, we must look after them today!
Find out more
Click here to read about each Get Stuck In event in more depth. If you appreciate well-maintained, sustainable and sensitively-made mountain paths, want to help protect peatlands and native British wildlife, sign yourself up for a Get Stuck In event now, or donate to Mend Our Mountains or The Climate Project campaigns.
Donate for FREE!
Did you know that you can donate to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust entirely FREE simply by shopping online as you usually would, at any time of the year with Easyfundraising? It only takes two minutes to set up, here's how.
Donate (not for free!)
If you want to contribute to upland and mountain access and conservation causes like Get Stuck In, then simply click here to donate to The BMC Access & Conservation Trust via The Climate Project or Mend Our Mountains campaigns at any time. Donations of any amount are always most welcome. Please contact us for bank details to set up regular donations or to avoid us incurring PayPal fees. Email: act@thebmc.co.uk
Volunteer
Fancy fixing footpaths in the Lake District, placing stepping stones in Eryri or planting sphagnum in the Peak District? Sign up to one of our Get Stuck In events here. If you can't volunteer, why not gift us the amount you would have spent in fuel or on a train fare getting to a volunteer event?
Leave a legacy
A wise person once said, the most noble thing you can do is to "plant trees under whose shade you will never sit" and, likewise, fund path repair projects on which you will never walk. If you'd like to make a lasting impact on the landscape long after you've left this world, please consider leaving a legacy to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust.
Coming soon...
We are pleased to tease that we'll be funding a new and incredibly valuable conservation project in 2026 with more information to come soon...
Access News
Volunteers are the beating heart of the BMC so it's tremendous to celebrate almost 200 of our fantastic members coming together to repair paths, restore the landscape and carry out conservation work in 2025. Here are the latest stats.
Access News
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