Volunteers' Week 2007

Put a smile on your volunteers' faces this
Volunteers' Week

Volunteers' Week Newsletter

Volunteers' Week is a national celebration of volunteers and volunteering which takes place from 1 – 7 June of each year

Click here to view the online version of the newsletter

Welcome to Volunteers’ Week!

It’s coming to the end of Volunteers’ Week! We wish all those who are organising, attending and celebrating Volunteers’ week events all the best with their celebrations.

Winners of the photography competition

Three winners have been selected in the Volunteers’ Week photography competition from over 110 entries.

We received fantastic images of volunteer fundraisers, hospice hairdressers, conservation volunteers and more. The wide range of volunteering activities represented in the images were very inspiring and thanks to all who entered.

This is the photo which won 1st prize. It shows volunteers from Magpas, the Emergency Medical Charity. To read the story behind the photo and view the photos that came in 2nd and 3rd place, go to the What’s New section of the website.

The winners will be sent Dixons.co.uk vouchers worth between £50 and £200.

VIP Challenge

There has been a great response to the VIP challenge that we set some months ago with the aim of raising the profile of volunteering and Volunteers’ Week as well as building links between opinion leaders and the local community.

Three representatives from The Cabinet Office, including Third Sector Minister Ed Miliband, are marking Volunteers’ Week by visiting voluntary groups and meeting volunteers during the Week. To read more about this, go to the Volunteers’ Week homepage. 

Who has won M&S vouchers?

The winners of the Volunteers' Week free prize draw have been selected. Congratulations go to Volunteer Centre Wokingham who organised a drop-in event at Wokingham Town Hall during Volunteers' Week 2007 to recruit volunteers.

Thanks to all those who submitted information about your Volunteers’ Week events this year.

Would you like to make the most of thanking your volunteers?

If you would like to enhance your thank you message to your volunteers, why not nominate them for an award? Volunteering England, the co-ordinators of Volunteers’ Week in England are sponsoring Awards schemes which seek to recognise volunteers.

The Guardian Public Services Awards 2008 has a Good Citizenship category which recognises the contribution made by people volunteering in public services. Nominations are open for schemes which are employer supported and which can provide evidence of a clear policy that has been taken up by a number of staff. The closing date for entries is Friday 20 July 2007.

The Justice Awards are designed to celebrate the most remarkable achievements by individuals and teams within the Criminal Justice System.

The new “Volunteer of the Year” category is for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment and dedication to their organisation. If you know of a project or a team which merits a nomination, all other Award categories are open to nominations of volunteers or voluntary groups from organisations that work with victims, witnesses, defendants or offenders.

The deadline for nominations is Friday 3 August 2007.

To find out more about these and other award schemes read here.

Your Volunteers' Week

All of the team at Volunteering England have enjoyed preparing and planning for the Week. However, we would like to know what your experiences of the week have been. What have you been involved in and how has the Week helped your organisation?

Please take a few minutes to complete a short questionnaire which will inform us and help with planning for the 24th year of Volunteers’ Week in 2008!

If you have taken some great photos of your Volunteers’ Week events and would like to show them off, why not send them into us.

Have you enjoyed receiving these e-mails?

Volunteering England is an independent voluntary agency committed to supporting, enabling and celebrating volunteering in all its diversity. Our work links research, policy innovation, good practice and grant making in the involvement of volunteers.
We send regular members’ e-mails full of up-to-date information on voluntary sector news, events and consultations.

If you would like to receive these e-mails contact us about membership quoting VW07 to membership@volunteeringengland.org or go to www.volunteering.org.uk/WhoWeAre/joinus/.