Nominate someone for a Community Award to get them the recognition they deserve for their life-changing work. The awards, including the City for All Volunteer of the Year award, recognise people and organisations who have made life better for others by donating their time and skills.
The deadline for nominations is midnight Monday 13 March 2017.
The awards are organised by Westminster City Council in partnership with Groundwork London and One Westminster. For further details click here.
There are a number of charities in H&F looking for trustees. Please see here a copy of our latest trustee prospectus with a range of vacancies – click here.
Hammersmith and Fulham Carers Forum is a formal group, supported by Carers Network. This group aims to help local carers:
The Forum is currently recruiting a Chair and Vice Chair.
To see roles and person specifications click here. H&F Forum members who would like to apply need to send a brief description of themselves and why they wish to apply, and send this to Forum facilitator Alix Richards by Friday 7 April 2017: alix.richards@carers-network.org.uk
Please mark email ‘H&F Carers Forum Chair application’ or ‘H&F Carers Forum Vice Chair application’ depending on role you would like to apply for. Alternatively, please post a letter by way of application to Carers Network, Bishop Creighton House, 374-380 Lillie Road, SW6 7PH.
The next H&F Carers Forum will be on, Fri 28 April 2017, 1.30pm-3.30pm at Bishop Creighton House, 374-380 Lillie Rd, SW6 7PH.
Eye Heroes is a child-led campaign to fight avoidable blindness. Children are trained through volunteer-led interactive workshops in schools to become eye health champions, and inform adults in their communities about eye health and the benefits of regular eye tests. The workshops are run for free by local volunteers, marrying the science of eye health with the pressing need to raise awareness in children aged 8-12, using ways such as games and videos. They are looking for Local Leads in the UK who would recruit volunteers and run workshops in local schools. If interested please contact coordinator@eyeheroes.org.uk.
For further information, please click here
The European Commission Representation in the UK has commissioned Access Europe to deliver advice and support to promote the Erasmus+ programme.
We will help organisations across England to develop applications for European Voluntary Service and Youth Exchanges. These provide opportunities for young people to learn, develop their skills and volunteer in Europe and beyond through:
We are launching this project with two application workshops on the 9th and 10th January at Europe House in London. Further events will be organised in February for the 26th April deadline (Call 2) and in June/July for the 4th October deadline (Call 3) across England.
The workshops will provide practical information on how to develop a successful Youth Exchange and EVS project application. We will give all participants a good understanding of:
The workshops are aimed at organisations who have a project idea and need practical advice on how to fill the application form. See the agenda and briefing note for more information.
The workshops are free to attend and are open to all organisations active in the field of youth.
If you would like to attend, fill in the form by Thursday 5th January 2017 and return to info@accesseurope.org.uk.
Are you looking for an opportunity to make a difference in the community? Do you have the passion and perhaps a personal story that can make a difference in the lives of ex-offenders? Are you a good communicator with the ability to inspire determination in others, and do you have excellent inter-personal skills? We are looking for suitable volunteers to provide mentoring to the ex-offenders on our UR4Driving Project. For more information on this project, please visit www.theupperroom.org.uk/ur4driving. Any interested candidate may apply, but we are particularly interested in hearing from people who have been personally affected by crime, such as a family member of an ex-offender or people who are themselves ex-offenders.
Purpose of the Role:
To develop supportive and confidential relationship with ex-offenders, helping them to:
This is an opportunity to gain key skills in offender management and case work principles. Successful candidates would be provided with Mentor Training. If you are interested and can spare a minimum of 2 straight hours a week in a working day please send a one page statement by email to applications@theupperroom.org.uk, giving your contact details and your suitability for the role.
Having a past criminal conviction will NOT exclude you form this opportunity.
For more information, please go to www.theupperroom.org.uk or contact us on 020 8740 5688 or by email to uradmin@theupperroom.org.uk.
Dawes Road Hub
The Dawes road Hub managed by Sobus and located in Fulham offers office space, hot desking, meeting and training rooms for hire. It is currently being used by the voluntary and community sector organisations and others.
Reception
The Hub has a team of four part time Receptionist/Administrators working shifts to cover reception as well as providing administrative support for Sobus.
The reception rota was organised so that only one team member would be on reception duty during any shift. This presented a problem in providing cover when the receptionist needed to leave the front desk eg to complete other tasks or take a break. This was initially dealt with by using other members of staff to temporarily cover reception, but this wasn’t ideal and was also subject to staff availability. On the other hand, having two receptionists on shift at reception simultaneously would have been a waste of resources. A solution was needed.
Volunteering Proposal
Volunteering was proposed as possible solution. We decided we should look at how we could reorganise the work to allow us to fully understand what work should be done by staff, and tasks that could be done by a volunteer that would create an interesting volunteer opportunity. After some thought we set up a Receptionist/Administrator Volunteering program. A part time volunteer would volunteer alongside the receptionist on shift and in return they would receive full training, work experience and reasonable reimbursement of expenses for travel and lunch.
Implementing Proposal
A member of the Reception/Administrator team, was asked to create a series of Volunteer handbooks across three levels of learning, which would provide information and instructions on all tasks included in the role. The handbooks were designed to assist training and give feedback on training progression both to volunteers and to the team. It was also necessary to amend existing documents used for paid staff to make them appropriate for voluntary staff including Voluntary role advertisement, role description, person specification and other policy documents. Once everything was completed and approved, we were to advertise the role through Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre who put details on ‘Do-it’ through their website. We were fortunate however in receiving direct offers of voluntary help from two interested individuals before the advert was put out. A meeting took place with the potential volunteers to discuss the role and their own expectations and skillset.
Outcome
Both individuals were taken on as volunteers. Each volunteer completed the agreed three month voluntary period. The experience has helped one volunteer to develop their own business, the other has moved from a retail job to an office job. The reception team and Sobus found it really useful to have extra help ensuring a high level of service to people using the Hub, additional tasks being completed and having a pool of people to recruit from when required. We are now recruiting volunteer receptionists on an ongoing basis and looking to develop a similar model in other areas of Sobus’s work. We have had no shortage of interest or applicants.
As a result of this experience we would highly recommend taking on volunteers to other organisations, where a similar program could be tailored to suit any particular organisational need.
If you want to learn more, contact Sobus at support@sobus.org.uk or get help with volunteers in your organisation please contact Catherine Perez-Phillips – Volunteer Services Manager at H&F Volunteer Centre on 020 8741 9876 or Catherine@hfvc.org.uk
The Bugman’s Great Escape is our very own children’s story, created especially for Doorstep Library by writer Scott Perry, illustrator Peter Reynolds and designer Michael Smith of Clout Branding. Through the story of Alex it sums up perfectly why we do what we do. At the moment, the book is complete – written, illustrated, formatted, ready for print – it simply needs publishing.
By printing it we aim to:
All donations of over £15 will receive a copy of the book signed by both author and illustrator!
A young boy of eight, Alex, is in more danger than he knows. Obsessed by insects, but in trouble almost everywhere else, he hurls his most cherished possession out of the window. It lands in a puddle. He bursts into tears. His whole future rests on what happens next.
What makes a boy do such a thing? This story is about the power of words to take us places we never imagined we could go.
Would you or a service user from your organisation like to challenge negative perceptions, prejudice, discrimination, stigma and stereotyping? Then why not become a Talking Book with HFVC’s ‘Human Library’.
This exciting project aims to break down barriers and create a better understanding through interaction and dialogue between people. Just like in a real library, a visitor to the Human Library can choose a Book from a range of titles, however, the difference is the Books are people and reading is a conversation.
The Human Library is a place where real people are on loan to readers. A place where difficult questions are expected, appreciated and answered.
The launch of the HFVC’s Human Library will take place at Lyric Square, Hammersmith, W6 0DA on the 28th September 2016 11:00 – 14:00 and will continue over a 9 month period in 9 other locations across Hammersmith and Fulham
Get involved: We are looking to recruit individuals to be Books. This can be for a 2-3 hour Library event or several. Training will be provided and travel expenses paid
If you would like to get involved or want more information, contact Ann-Marie
T: 020 8741 9876
E: ann-marie@hfvc.org.uk
For more information on the Human Library concept, visit www.humanlibraryuk.org
Now’s the time to nominate your volunteers for an award from the Mayor of London as part of the Team London 2016 Achievement Awards. Volunteers can be nominated in a number of categories, with awards for volunteers under 25, volunteers over 25, and people who volunteer in a team.
Nominations close on 31 July 2016.
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