Out & About July 2017

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GARRY POULSON is director of the 43 year-old
Newbury-based charity Volunteer Centre West
Berkshire. For 19 years Garry has been involved
in the local community since becoming a ‘helper’
with the RAC Auto Cycle Union motorcycle training
scheme when he was 15. Garry also volunteers with
the Round Table, The Newbury Society and The
Newbury and ThatchamWelfare Trust.
The Volunteer Centre is a registered
charity 1156302 and is based at 1 Bolton
Place, Newbury RG14 1AJ. The offices are
located between Temptation Gifts and Pret
A Manger, off Northbrook Street.
01635 49004 or
21
Here are a couple of comments that the
volunteer centre received from happy
volunteers…
(We have changed their names to protect
confidentiality)
“Hello, just messaging to thank you for all
your help. You put me in contact with
Mencap and I’ve just given in my
application.
Thank you so much for your time and
guidance, it was so appreciated! All the
best and many many thanks again!”
Sarah
“I have just heard that I have been
accepted as an assistant at the museum,
which is great news, and exactly what I
wanted.
Thank you so much for all your help.”
John
January, like September, is one of the two
‘renewal’ months in the year.
At these times we decide to turn over a
new leaf, seek a new job, get fit, make plans
and have a desire to make changes to our lives
in some way.
For many, that change can be wanting to
become involved in their community, make a
contribution, learn a new skill, add some
knowledge and gain some experience in order
to add value to a CV.
Volunteering is one pathway to making a
difference in your own life and, importantly
perhaps, making a difference to someone
else’s life or our locality.
People often say “I want to put something
back” .
But the advice that Volunteer Centre West
Berkshire offers to potential volunteers is to
‘take something away’ by being involved.
The volunteer centre says ‘enjoy your
volunteering, enjoy making a difference,
enjoy learning about new organisations,
enjoy meeting new people and, by default,
you will be putting something back’.
The very essence of volunteering means
having a stake in your local community or in
an issue that you care about.
But where do you start if you want to
become involved?
My advice is to make an appointment to visit
the volunteer centre in the first instance.
Visitors are astonished to discover the depth
and breadth of volunteering opportunities on
offer.
People interested to find out more will be
offered an interview with our expert adviser
Chris Read.
The informal interview lasts around 50 minutes,
during which time Chris will ask about your
interests, hobbies, passions, experiences and
the type of areas that you feel you would like to
support and not support.
Based on your responses, the volunteer
centre database matching system will provide
detailed information about roles best suited
to you from more than 400 volunteering
opportunities that extend right across West
Berkshire.
For example, a potential volunteer may
suggest that they would like to work in the
environment to assist with local conservation
tasks, they may be considering a change of
career and want to discover what it might be
like working within an education setting, they
may suggest that they would like to support
older people in some way and become a
befriender or perhaps volunteer with people
with learning difficulties.
The local arts scene is heavily supported
by volunteers. Local history and heritage
organisations rely on volunteers to celebrate,
preserve and record our environment.
Community transport services across West
Berkshire enable thousands of people to get
to appointments of all kinds and cheerful
volunteers from all backgrounds drive
minibuses or their own cars.
Village Agents volunteer in parishes,
Samaritans listen, CAB advisors help people
in all manner of difficulties, charity shops
raise money to support a myriad of causes
here at home or in parts of the world in crisis.
People listen to children read, others offer
expertise in finance, planning IT, HR, PR.
One of the first questions people ask is
“How much time am I expected to give?” .
The answer is, it depends entirely on the
opportunity that you choose to undertake
and what you would like to do and when
and where you would like to help.
There really isn’t a minimum amount of time.
Naturally, if a volunteer was to choose an op-
portunity that required extensive training
and support, then there can be ‘expectations’
of volunteering time, but this would be ex-
plained from the outset and accordingly
you wouldn’t be expected to enter into
something that you couldn’t reasonably
fulfil.
There really is something available for
everyone from the age of about 15.
Going online is another way to research how
you want to be involved.
The Volunteer Centre has a helpful and,
importantly, impartial online support system.
Fill in the let’s do it form, click four or five
preferences and our trained interviewer can
send you some opportunities to consider.