Sheffield Volunteering Strategy: We Have Lift Off

Over one hundred people from Sheffield and further afield attended yesterday's Volunteering Strategy Launch event, held at The Circle, which gave the whole thing a great feeling of enthusiasm and support.  There was a real buzz in the air, even before the speakers appeared, and afterwards the response was fantastic - thank you to everyone who came up to me afterwards wanting to get more involved! 

Speaking at the event were Nick Warren (Chief Executive of Voluntary Action Sheffield), Cllr Paul Scriven (Leader of the Council, and Chair of Sheffield First Partnership), Kirstie Haines (Interim Director of Sheffield First Partnership), Volunteers and Volunteer Coordinators from Sheffield Alcohol Advisory Service and the Sheffield Health Champions Network, and then finally me.  Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, had been due to speak about how the Sheffield Volunteering Strategy fits into the national picture of volunteering, but unfortunately was ice-bound in his home village somewhere in the deepest darkest (and apparently slippiest) depths of countryside outside of London.  The speakers present were passionate in their support of volunteering in general and about this strategy in particular, and highlighted the difference it already makes to the city and how important it is that we develop it further.  To my mind though the stars of the show were the volunteers (Martin from SAAS, and Health Champions John and Waqas).  Their accounts of how volunteering had changed their lives were very open, moving and inspirational, as they spoke of how it had helped them to recover from mental health problems and find jobs, not to mention the simple sense of satisfaction that they gained.  A fantastic endorsement of the value of volunteering if ever there was one!

The reaction to the unveiling of the strategy was incredibly positive.  Many people expressed a welcome sense of clarity around the whole plan, and a feeling that it was a very practical set of actions that would really make a difference.  You can now download the presentation (shown below) and the Sheffield Volunteering Strategy itself - find links on the right-hand side of this page.  As implementation gets underway with delivery partners that have already signed up, more collaboration will continue to be built up with new partners who have come forward as a result of the launch event.

Thank you to everybody who came along to the event.  Thank you also to everyone who helped make the event happen: all the speakers (especially the volunteers), Carron and Hannah from the VAS events team, John Bates the photographer (pictures will appear here soon!), the VAS reception team, all the delivery partners who exhibited at the event (Business in the Community, http://www.safeatlast.org.uk/, Sheffield Samaritans, and Volunteer Centre Sheffield), and student photographers Matt Hastings and Sabine Dundure (who produced the photographs used in the Volunteer Centre's rolling presentation that was used during the event).

Presentation Volunteering Strategy Launch

View more presentations from Claire Walsh.

The Snow... no Show... Must Go On!

There may be snowy-chaos all around, but the number of people who seem to have managed to ride, walk, cycle or sledge to work has been impressive over the last week!  Despite the chill factor and obvious temptation of staying in a lovely warm bed in the mornings, work has largely gone on as usual at VAS this week.  As have preparations for the Volunteering Strategy Launch event and its impending implementation.

Bookings have continued to come in for the Volunteering Strategy Launch  - that event is now full, but anybody who is interested can still however put their name down on a waiting list just in case.  At the time of writing there were still just a few places left for the Social Media Surgery following the Strategy Launch, so book your place quickly if you want one (see previous post).  Elsewhere, feedback on the Compact Code of Practice for Volunteering will hopefully be winging its way over from both steering groups (Local Authority and Health Compact) to me soon.  A meeting to plan implementation of the Volunteering Buddy Scheme did unfortunately have to be cancelled today however, so plans for that will have to wait until all the necessary parties can come together. 

More meetings are coming up soon to firm up arrangements for other parts of the strategy... all to be revealed next week.  So in the meantime, Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing many of you on the 14th!