Give And Take: I Went On A Volunteering Holiday In Dorset – And Learned Stone Masonry In Return

A stay near Bridport with a community group offers friendship and the chance to learn new, useful skills
Plus: how to find a volunteering break

I climb the ladder leading to the scaffold tower and haul myself on to the platform, followed by the bucket of cement I have mixed myself. I am about to “lay a bed” for a stone window seal and “point up the wall”. If you had asked me this morning, as I sat nursing my coffee in the dining room of the Othona Community near Bridport, Dorset, what either of these things meant, I wouldn’t have had a clue. But somehow, in the course of the morning, I have become a stonemason. That’s the thing about volunteering: in giving your time to a good cause, it allows you to also grow in confidence, stretch yourself and learn something new.

The Othona Communities in Essex and Dorset are dedicated to simple living and a down-to-earth spirituality centred around Christianity, but are open to all, particularly those who feel uncertain of their faith or are on the margins of traditional church going. They offer retreats on everything from writing and singing to astronomy. I am here for one of their regular residential working holidays.