I want to become a volunteer

LydiaSophia

I have alot of spare time on my hands and would love to do some volunteer work.

Evenings and weekends as I work full time.

I have contacted my local bureau and they were not very helpful.

It is driving me mad not having anything to do when I get home in the evenings.

Can anyone suggest anything for me please?

Thank you

Rachie_B

I am a volunteer for the family charity Homestart

I had to do a course over about 8 weeks ( 2 hours once a week) and have a CRB check

Have a look here http://www.home-start.org.uk/

have a look on the charity forum too ,maybe some ideas there

BungleGirl

You could contact your local hospital or perhaps a local church group, they may have set up their own community projects.

If the volunteer centre weren't that helpful you will probably needto go direct to a charity or group.

Have a think about the kinds of things you would like to do. Work with animals, children, elderly or perhaps conservation work?

You may also find that there are little requests for volunteers in your local paper - in ours they are just a couple of lines in with the rest of the news.

Alternatively a few volunteer organisations I have worked for actually advertise in the local job centre of have posters on a notice board in there.

It is a shame that your local volunteer centre weren't very helpful - I hope that you find something that you want to do - I volunteer at a couple of places and love it. It's a great way to make new friends too!

sunflowers1

You could try the do-it website, you just type in your postcode and it tells you what volunteering opportunities are available locally
http://www.do-it.org

apoorstudent

^^I was about to suggest do-it.org - it's really great.

However, there's not a lot of animal-based work, at least not in my area, which is really disappointing as I'd love to do some!

Murtle

Look up local charities in your area - if you are stuck try yell.com and contact them or look up their websites for guidance.

My local paper has opportunities each week for volunteers.

Good luck and hope you find something!

x x

apoorstudent - where are you looking for animal-based work to volunteer with or what animals (if particular)

Nile

LydiaSophia wrote:

I have alot of spare time on my hands and would love to do some volunteer work.

Evenings and weekends as I work full time.

I have contacted my local bureau and they were not very helpful.

It is driving me mad not having anything to do when I get home in the evenings.

Can anyone suggest anything for me please?

Thank you

Hello LydiaSophia

You could contact The Samaritans. They need volunteers around the clock to provide their 24hours/all year round service. I'm sure they'd be delighted that you'd be available on evenings and weekends.

Regards

Nile

Smashing

What kind of things are you interested in? Any particular age group you want to work with? (kids, elderly etc.)
Samaritans, as mentioned above, is a great one and they provide the training you need. Hospitals are always in need of helpers (Women's Royal Voluntary service - tearooms, ward helpers) befriending the elderly or housebound.

For animals - look into your nearest Riding for the Disabled, or rescue centre.

dumpy

Guides/brownie/scout groups are crying out for helpers as well. You'll need a CRB check to work for them but they organise this for you. I'm not sure of te web site address but I'm sure it'll come up on google and they will point you in the direction of local groups.

LydiaSophia

Thank you all so much for the ideas.

I am looking really to work on environmental issues. I have been contacting Greenpeace for about 2 years but I do not have any skills they require.

I want to make some new friends as I am very lonely at the moment and want to meet people with the same sort of passions as myself.

I can't work with animals as I am allergic to anything with fur/ feathers etc.

Our local police station also have an 8 month backlog on CRB checks and I want to start sooner than that.

Thank you all again so so much!

I have just contacted the National Trust - hope they come u trumps. xx

djtonyb

Lydia

Girlguiding UK are crying out for volunteers. We have 50,000 girls on our waiting lists.

The CRB check will be done locally and you will not have to involve your local police station.

Amanda (Brownie Guider and Asst Guide Guider and proud of it)