We're all in this together

Normally for World Ranger Day we'd be posting about our connections to the countryside management sector and pointing out that our main email address is and always will be ranger@ because that's what we were and at heart still are.

However, as I'm sure everyone is very much aware, these are not normal times.

So today we stand in solidarity not only with the rangers around the globe fighting to protect our natural world but with everyone working in and for our countryside from the ticket seller on the gate to the volunteer litter pickers climbing mountains, from rangers working in all weathers to keep the countryside working and healthy to the education officers teaching the next generation why nature is important.

Many of the organisations responsible for doing all this are struggling and as the announcement from the National Trust on Wednesday evening shows no one is immune from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, a comment on one of our facebook posts sums it up: " No getting into a debate about corona but honestly the devastation this is causing is unreal it really is, the lives being ruined..."

It sometimes gets lost in the middle of everything else but CJS is an ethical business, not out to make lots of money but to pay ourselves a living wage and put as much as we possibly can back into the countryside, conservation and environment sectors. Our latest effort towards that aim is another round of free subscriptions to CJS Weekly for National Trust staff (yes, including National Trust for Scotland) who have or may be losing their jobs. The loss of the skills and experience staff have gained during their careers, whether that's one year or twenty, will have a far reaching impact across the whole of our sector and will affect the countryside for many years to come and if by keeping people in touch with current developments and maybe (hopefully) pointing them in the direction of a new job CJS can help even a little then we'll be doing what Niall and Anthea set out to do over 25 years ago.

Two comments from people who have taken up that offer illustrate CJS's ethics far better than I ever could:

• "Thank you so much for such a supportive post and offer during such a stressful time. Nice to see people wanting to help and not just cash in."
• "I was told as of yesterday that my job no longer exists. This has given me a glimmer of hope that there may be jobs out there that suit my passion."

Find out more about this offer here and also the one for this year's graduates here.

We are the Countryside Jobs Service and we stand with the world's rangers.