Volunteers Week takes place every year from 1 – 7 June to celebrate the contribution of the country’s 20 million volunteer.  During the week, events are held around the country with the theme of “recognise, reward and recruit”.

Telford & Wrekin Volunteer Week event took place in Telford Town Park on Friday 6 June.  The two main focuses were: to provide a fun and social event to thank volunteers for their hard work, and to celebrate their achievements.  The event included two led walks, picnic, free raffle and fun quiz.

Volunteers on the 30mins walk around Telford Town Park lead by Walkabout Wrekin Volunteers

The idea for the event originated from the January Volunteers Organisers Forum.  A small planning group was then formed to organise the event. 

 Members included: -

Telford & Wrekin Volunteer Centre

Walkabout Wrekin

Friends of Telford Town Park

Telford & Wrekin Citizens Advice Bureau

NACRO

V-Involved Team

The planning group meet regularly to organise the event and decided on the following itinerary: -

11.30    Registration for Walkabout

12.00  Bring your own picnic – Fun Quiz

13.00  Official opening and Free Raffle Draw

13.10  Guided Walk       A – 30 minutes

                                      B – 45 minutes

During the planning stage Walkabout Wrekin agreed to lead two walks; one of 30 minutes and one of 45 minutes, to cover all levels of fitness.

Volunteers on the 30 min walk take a break

It was agreed to hold the event and picnic in the area of Spout Farm House. All organisations were invited from the Volunteer Centre Database. A media campaign included mail outs, press releases, posters and flyers in community

venues.

It was agreed to invite Percy Simmonds to open the event as Town Crier and to invite Council members and the two local MP’s.

 A risk assessment of the event was carried out with the support of the Borough of Telford & Wrekin.

 A fun quiz was produced with £10 gift voucher prizes donated by Marks & Spencer’s and Sainsbury’s.  The quiz was linked to an evaluation form, which will be used as a guide in organising future events.  It was agreed that the volunteers would be given a bottle of water and some healthy snacks to be paid for by the PCT and CVS. It was decided to hold a free raffle with donated items.

On the day the event was well attended with approximately 50 volunteers and Volunteer / Managers. 22 volunteers did walk A - 30 minutes and 11 volunteers did walk B – 45 minutes

This included representation from: -

CHUMS

Telford & Wrekin Citizens Advice Bureau

NACRO

V-Involved Team

Young Carers

Telford Race & Equality Partnership

Wellington Cottage Care

Walkabout Wrekin

Hospital Chaplaincy Volunteers

WEA

S.H.A.R.P.

British Red Cross

Telford Christian Council

Telford & Wrekin Council for Voluntary Service

Telford & Wrekin PCT

Shropshire Peer Counselling and Advocacy Service

Starlight People 

The event was opened by proclamation by Percy Simmonds Town Crier and Cllr Jacqui Seymour and David Wright MP made opening remarks.

13   Volunteers returned evaluation forms -

                            Very satisfied  <======>Dissatisfied

Overall, the volunteers were very satisfied with the event, particularly the walk and venue.  However, some felt that the registration process was difficult and the time lapse between registration and the walk too long.