1st - 7th June 2010

The first week of June was a very special time for everybody involved in volunteering. The National Volunteers’ Week is an awareness raising event which takes place annually throughout the UK. From 1st to 4th June HFVC was very proud to host a large range of activities which recognised and celebrated the efforts of our volunteers.

The Volunteers’ Week started at the Kings Mall when Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, the leader of the Council and Marion Schumann, HFVC Director, launched the event. During the four days we had a stall in the King’s Mall and over 70 people registered their interest in becoming a volunteer.

During the week we also conducted the first part of our survey to find out from the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham whether they are interested in volunteering, what they hope to achieve through volunteering, what the main barriers to volunteering were and what did they think were the most interesting volunteering opportunities for them. We will let you know the conclusions of the survey in our next newsletter.

The 1st June was a very busy day for HFVC staff and volunteers. In addition to the stall, the Generations Together Project organised a creative fundraising day in Lyric Square, the aim being to raise funds for children at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital. Despite terrible weather, over 40 residents of Hammersmith and Fulham joined this fundraising event. Children had their faces painted and played with balloons while parents made gorgeous flower arrangements. By the end of the day we raised £198.37 for this great cause.

The second day of Volunteers’ Week featured an information session for 10 voluntary organisations from Hammersmith and Fulham. HFVC, in partnership with Greater London Volunteering, organised an information session on Experts in Volunteering, aiming to offer good practice support in volunteer management to the voluntary sector in Hammersmith and Fulham. Greater London Volunteering deliver a project called Experts in Volunteering, and are working in partnership with Greater London volunteer centres to provide an increased level of support and guidance around volunteer management. At the end of the session, the ten participant organisations were invited to sign up to a London Charter that declares their commitment to good practice in volunteer management, and will give them the opportunity to access free one to one support from a regional development worker, training and resources, and action learning sets.

During the third day of Volunteers’ Week six volunteers came along with some old pieces of jewellery, and through a brilliant free jewellery making workshop learned how to make great items.

The celebration ended with the Volunteers’ Award Ceremony on Friday 4th June, which was held at the Town Hall. Over 120 volunteers and representatives of the voluntary organisations participated in the awards. It offered HFVC the opportunity to publicly recognize the efforts of Hammersmith and Fulham wonderful volunteers.

The event also launched Volunteer Champions- Generations Together, a project that aims to bring together 400 young and older volunteers from our borough over the next 12 months.

Throughout the week over 150 people expressed their interest in volunteering, 40 actually volunteered on 1st June, and over 120 people joined our Award Ceremony.

This success inspired us to plan wonderful celebrations for 2011 and prove once more that residents of Hammersmith and Fulham are committed to making a big difference in their communities by volunteering. A special thank you goes to Hammersmith & Fulham Council as well as Hammersmith London who lent us gazebos, tables and chairs to help accommodate the large number of people who joined us in the rain in Lyric Square.

For more information contact Irina Jarrett-Thorpe at 020 8741 9876 or email:irina@hfvc.org.uk