Tea And Cake Anyone?

What We're Doing For National Volunteers' Week

National Volunteers Week is an annual occasion where people who give up their time for free to organisations all over the UK are recognised for their efforts and the richness they add to their local communities.

Many organisations simply wouldn’t be able to run if it weren’t for the generosity of time and labour that the volunteering minded give. When we think of the voluntary sector we immediately think of people who work in charity shops and animal shelters, but there are a staggering number of ongoing projects which would be impossible to maintain without volunteers. From reading to people who have sight problems to the WRVS who help elderly people enjoy a productive and valuable social life.

Learning Handy Rhyming Slang

Another sector that relies heavily on volunteers for its survival is the heritage sector. Many museums and galleries are independently run on incredibly narrow margins and wouldn’t be able to operate at all if it weren’t for the contribution that volunteers make. And Brighton Toy and Model Museum is no exception. Each year we take on volunteers and work experience candidates from the local area, and all over Europe. Our international volunteers work here as part of their tertiary education, getting real life experience working in a tourist venue, speaking English (and helping out immeasurably when our visitors share the same first language), making friends and making a valuable contribution to the running of the museum.

Give Your Time, Gain Valuable Skills

Our British volunteers add their many skills to the mix too, selling tickets, offering free tourist information, assisting in the archiving and cataloguing of the museum’s many thousands of exhibits, and getting involved with events such as Museums at Night, Brighton Festival Fringe, The Brighton Science Festival and the Sussex Rail Community Partnership. Even if it were possible to stay open without the help of our volunteers, it would be impossible for it to engage with the community and offer a fraction as much as it does. And National Volunteers’ Week is an opportunity to show our appreciation to the people whose work makes our work possible.

During National Volunteers’ Week every day will be tea and cake day for all of our helpers. Because most volunteers only come in on the same day every week, it’s quite possible for people who have been working here for ages to never meet other volunteers because they always work different days.  So we’re offering tea and cake to all of our volunteers every day. Drop in, enjoy some of Brighton’s finest pastry confections and finally get to meet a few of the other people who do so much to keep the heritage of play and childhood memories alive. How cool is that?

National Volunteers’ Week Goes from June 1st to June 7th. If you’ve got free time and you’d like to become a hero of the local community, why not see what volunteering can do for you?

Blog by Dan Cash, all opinions author's own.