What is a volunteer?
Volunteers may be described as individuals who put their experience, knowledge and skills at the disposal of an organisation, free of charge, with the primary aim of helping the organisation to achieve its service objectives and, or with the primary aim of bringing some benefit to the local community. In this sense, volunteers are to be distinguished from students, other work placements and secondees, where the primary aim is usually for the student or secondee to obtain certain work experience or to carry out work or research in certain areas. Volunteering is increasingly recognised as valid experience by employers, so it can help you get back into paid work or make you stand out from other applicants at your next job interview.
There is a wide range of volunteering opportunities, with varying levels of commitment that the Council can offer, such as:
Why not take a look at our Volunteer's Handbook pdf for more details about Volunteering for Brentwood Borough Council?
Fancy giving it a go?
or email to volunteer@brentwood.gov.uk and we'll be in touch when we have an opportunity we think you may be interested in.
Community events
Duties include directing members of the public, escorting street performers, helping back stage, helping with set up and pack down. Ages 16+ only. Shifts over 4 hours includes a free lunch!
Countryside volunteers
Litter picking
The Council is committed to ensuring that the local community is fully involved in influencing decision-making regarding its services, and prioritises engaging local volunteers.
Volunteers have an integral role to play in promoting and contributing to community cohesion. Brentwood Borough Council recognises that there can be occasions whereby a volunteer's help can make a significant contribution to the service delivery of the Council.
If you take up a volunteering role at the Council, you will be working alongside the skills of paid staff and you will not be used to replace staff paid staff. The Council's Volunteer Recruitment Policy and Procedures (downloadable from this page) ensures that any volunteer is treated fairly and that your rights and responsibilities as a volunteer, and those of the Council, are made clear to you.
Brentwood Council for Voluntary Service has launched the new Brentwood Volunteer Centre. The Centre is designed to be a one stop shop for information and advice about how to engage volunteers or how to start volunteering. Working together with other Volunteer Centres in Essex, Brentwood is part of the Volunteer Essex website. The site hosts a range of information on volunteering and advertises many volunteering opportunities across the County.
For information, please contact enquiries@brentwoodcvs.org.uk
Visit www.volunteeressex.org
Tea and companionship for the elderly in Brentwood.
Contact the Elderly tackles and alleviates acute loneliness and social isolation among older people over the age of 75, who live alone without family or friends nearby, by organising free monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups of elderly people in their local communities. The charity recruits volunteer hosts and drivers to help arrange tea parties. Once a month, normally on a Sunday, each elderly member is collected from their home by a volunteer driver, and is taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group for tea, talk and companionship.
The charity has almost 400 groups across the UK, including one in Brentwood. Contact the Elderly is looking for volunteer drivers to spare one Sunday afternoon a month by collecting one or two elderly people from their homes and accompanying them to a tea party.
Any Brentwood residents interesting in driving for Contact the Elderly and making a difference to the lives of local elderly people, should contact Katy Szita, the Development Officer for the area, on 0208 530 0494 or email katy.szita@contact-the-elderly.org.uk
Further information can also be found on the Contact the elderly website.
Are you involved in running a local charity or self help group? Maybe you are trying to start one?
If so, Brentwood Council for Voluntary Services may be able to help you.
Brentwood CVS is a local independent voluntary organisation formed and run by local voluntary groups to promote, support and develop effectiveness of voluntary action.
For more details please call 01277 222299 or email enquiries@brentwoodcvs.org.uk
Brentwood Borough Council for Voluntary Service is working in partnership with Voluntary Sector Training (VST), an independent charity, to provide high quality, affordable and local training to the voluntary and community sector across Essex.
VST runs an open programme of training covering key topics relevant to the sector and tailored training specifically arranged to meet particular needs of organisations. For a current training programme or more information, call 01371 876747 or visit the Voluntary sector training website
