Volunteers' Week 2010

Inspiring and Celebrating

Volunteers' Week - hot off the press

Volunteers’ Week is an annual event which celebrates the fantastic contribution that millions of volunteers make across the UK. The Week plays a huge part in raising the profile of the millions of volunteers who regularly contribute to society, while inspiring others to get involved too.

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It's here. Volunteers' Week has arrived

It’s here!  Volunteers’ Week has begun and is off to a great start!  The national campaign has a well established place in the calendar and attracts significant attention from the media, both national and local.

http://www.volunteersweek.org.uk

What's on?

Hundreds of events are taking place during Volunteers’ Week across the length and breadth of the country. An incredible array of activities are included in the What’s on section of the website – from quizzes and canal boat trips to bridge painting – celebrations of all types.

Grabbing the headlines!

Last week Boris Johnson hosted an event for business people at City Hall to explain the value of volunteering, especially employee volunteering schemes. Boris is passionate about the value of volunteering and explained: “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to promote volunteering”.

Suggestions on a postcard, please.

The Ministry of Defence will host it’s event in Volunteers’ Week to promote the need for thousands more adult volunteers to meet the demand for cadet leaders.

GMTV kicked off the Week with a feature about Volunteers’ Week.

The BBC has a great online feature showcasing volunteers who hope to take part in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’ volunteer programme.

MPs will have a chance to meet some volunteers in person and pass on their own messages of thanks alongside our giant Volunteers’ Week “Thank you” card.

Please share your Volunteers' Week photos with us

We would love to include your Volunteers’ Week event pictures on the website, and in the press activity and information to partners for next year. Please let us have your photos and we will try to use as many as we can.

You can send your pictures (in jpeg format please) to Katy Chason at katy.chason@volunteeringengland.org

Call for more adult volunteers for young people's activities

Organisations including the Scouts, Girlguiding UK, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Rugby Football Union have today backed Volunteering England’s calls for more adult volunteers to help run children’s and young people’s activities.
This year the Volunteers’ Week campaign is not only celebrating the millions of volunteers across the UK, but also calling for more volunteers to get involved.
Across the UK, hundreds of thousands of children and young people want to take part in organised activities but are currently unable to due to a lack of adult volunteers.
Without the help of adult volunteers many organisations such as the Scouts and Girlguiding UK simply could not function. Nor could grassroots football, rugby and cricket, which are almost entirely supported by volunteers.
The figures below show just how big the problem is across the UK.
• Scouts needs 6,000 volunteers and Girlguiding UK needs 7,000 volunteers to involve the girls and boys waiting to join on their waiting lists
• England and Wales Cricket Board needs 10,000 more volunteers across 1,379 clubs
• The Rugby Football Union need 2,000 more volunteers
• Football Association needs 8,000 more referees by 2012

Volunteers' Week 2011

When the Week draws to a close, we will have already begun to plan for next year. Don’t forget to mark the dates in your 2011 diary, and we will continue to keep you updated throughout this year with news about the campaign.

An initiative of Volunteering England, Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Volunteer Development Agency (Northern Ireland) and Volunteer Development Scotland, the week will focus on rewarding, recognising and recruiting volunteers.