Dave Thomas, NCVS Volunteering Development Officer looks back on a busy Volunteers' Week last week.
2024 marked the 40th annual Volunteers' Week, and NCVS has proudly celebrated each one. This year was no exception. Alongside our social media festivities and events hosted by volunteer-involving organisations, I took some time last week to step away from my computer and join in the celebrations.
Monday 3 June
The week started when I joined the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Maternity Voices Partnership to support their efforts to recruit their first Leader of Volunteers. I had previously helped them create the supporting documents for this post, and I was very happy to be invited to continue supporting their process.
Tuesday 4 June
An invitation to an event with cake and coffee is always hard to resist, so I had my first visit to Base 51’s new space on Peachey Street. Although it wasn’t a very busy session, I really enjoyed talking with Amy, Base 51’s Leader of Volunteers, and having a tour around their youth centre, training room, and studio.
Wednesday 5 June
The highlight of my week was undoubtedly the Leaders of Volunteers Network (LoVN), where we were joined by Lincolnshire-based international volunteering consultant and trainer, Rob Jackson. Members of LoVN can expect to get a full report of the session in the next few days.
Thursday 6 June
I attended an excellent webinar about 'Thanking Volunteers' hosted by NCVO with excellent contributions from large and small volunteer-involving charities as well as from Vision for Volunteering.
Friday 7 June
Friday is not normally a working day for me, so in my voluntary capacity, I did some micro-volunteering for the United Nations.
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June
I didn’t get involved in the Big Help Out, but I took the time off to recover from a great Volunteers' Week.
Now we’ll all have to wait and see what’s coming up in 2025.
If you’re out and about and spot one of the NCVS team members, come over and say hi; we’d love to see you!
