Volunteering
VNews July 2022, Regional Roundup
Quick Links - You may now click the region below to read the news in your area
- Scotland
- Midlands
- North East &Yorkshire
- Wales
- Eastern
- London
- Northwest
- South/South East
- South West Region
Scotland
Aberdeen Area is looking forward to kicking off its annual Sports Festival which will run until November and culminates with the closely contested quiz.
Central and Forth Valley have a couple of new Corporate Cards to look out for -Bo’Ness and Kinneil railway and Linlithgow Canals.
Fife & Rosyth Area are already thinking about Christmas panto offers. “Oh no, they’re not…” Tickets will be available to buy via the CSSC website shortly.
Midlands
In the Midlands watch out for the next Regional Newsletter due out in mid-August with exciting news about how you can get involved with your CSSC Midlands Regional team by helping to offer events, and offers of activities to our members. We have the funding and support, you have the ideas, knowledge and passion, together with a little time we can build our community!
Our sunflower competition has now closed but it’s received double the number of entries this year so let's hope they’re all reaching for the sky too! Winners will be announced in early Autumn.
Also for anyone who is musically minded the Big Band will be arranging a welcome session in September so if you play an instrument, or did at school, and would like to take up the hobby again and be part of a really supportive group watch out for details or get in touch.
Around the region things are busy, we have CSSC volunteers volunteering at the Commonwealth Games, and some great offers and activities. From cheese and drinks tasting in Malvern, visit Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur world in Telford, jousting at Kenilworth, a trip to London from Nottingham, track and field championships in Nuneaton, golf, sailing, and country fairs it all to do! Check out the website.
On the volunteer side we still have a vacancy for a Regional Diversity Champion so if inclusion and diversity is your thing or you’re interested and would like to build up experience and skills in this field please get in touch.
North East &Yorkshire
We are full steam ahead and enjoying the summer here in the North East and Yorkshire…
- TWN are planning a walk in Rothbury and point-blank shooting alongside theatre shows and football tickets.
- Durham has a treasure hunt and BBQ planned as well as vouchers for local restaurants and golf tuition
- Darlington is planning another Ales and Dales trip, set to be a sell-out one again as well as a trip to the seaside and golfing section events
- Teesport is running a trip to Thirsk races and is looking at setting up a new walking group
- North Yorkshire are now back up and running with a brand-new committee and is already running a prize draw for tickets to local rugby matches
- West Yorkshire have several theatre trips upcoming as well as tickets to Leeds Rhinos and plans to offer race days at Ripon
- East Yorkshire are offering two trips to the races, football ticket prize draws and a comedy event
- South Yorkshire have organised theatre tickets and a summer trip to the seaside
- Regionally, the committee are still offering a region-wide annual memberships subsidy and trips to Harry Potter World
Wales
Wales has made great steps in coordinating the Area associations in the region to form the Regional Blueprint Group. The work conducted by the group has culminated in lots of regional events being advertised for its members. Activities and events that are accessible for members in all four corners of the Principality. Details of the events are getting mixed reactions and we can only assume that the current climate is making members really think about what they do and where they go.
The Blueprint group would happily take some ideas from the members and volunteers around Wales in terms of what activities and events they think would be popular.
- Please contact Regional Chair Rebecca Tinsley who would be happy to take ideas and / or discuss.
- Adventure Cinemas (Various locations and dates across Wales over a period of a few months
Eastern
This month we are looking forward to our Centenary Celebrations in Southend on 28th July! We have a few coaches coming from around the Region and members will be enjoying the various attractions on offer at a great discount!
We have had five Area meetings this month, and it was great to get back out on the road and speak to lots of different volunteers from the Region. There have been a variety of great events taking place this month, including Anglia Areas trip to Floriade, Peterborough Area went to Battle of the Proms and Hunts, Cambs and Beds Area visited Whipsnade Zoo.
Coming up next month Luton, Dustable and Milton Keynes Area are off to see Sister Act the Musical, Suffolk and North Essex Area have their infamous Walking Treasure Hunt booked and Peterborough are going to see Romeo and Juliet.
In sports news, Rutland Sailing club have sold out on all their sailing taster days this year-great to see so many interested in getting involved on the water! We will soon have some rescheduled dates for the softball cricket taster sessions, which will be tied into Get Active September-so please watch this space for more details 😊
London
This month our newest volunteer (Manish) has been busy organising his first event tickets for England V India Women's Cricket ODI at Lord's which is taking place in September. The tickets are sold out but the waiting list is open if anyone else is interested in booking-we may be able to get some more tickets!
If you are interested in finding out more about volunteering in London, we have got lots of opportunities-no with previous experience required, just a willingness to learn and get involved! We are looking to widen our variety of offers, so if there is an event you are interested in running for CSSC please do let us know 😊 free training and support are provided, a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and make new friends, out of pocket expenses covered. To find out more about our current opportunities, please click here: https://www.cssc.co.uk/volunteering/vacancies?region=11 (I’ve just noticed my events role has been taken down so just asked for it to be uploaded again)
Northwest
We’ve had some fantastic events in the NW over the past month, and some really popular ones coming up.
Merseyside once again hosted Paddleboarding which sold out almost immediately for the second time. In light of this, the organiser, John Curwen is looking at a more advanced class alongside another beginners session in September.
Manchester’s ever-popular Llandudno Weekend Break is taking place (as I write this!) this weekend, with nearly 100 members joining in what will hopefully be another corker. Thanks to Dave Clark for organising that one!
In Central and East Lancs, Naomi Hickey’s Tapas canal Trip also sold out very quickly, and so a second date has been planned for September- which is also looking like a sell-out!
Something which has been really popular amongst members region-wide has been Lancashire County Cricket tickets. I won’t name the all as a lot of volunteers have helped with these! With this in mind, it’s become clear that a lot of areas are offering this, and as it is so popular next year we will be looking for a more joined-up approach in line with the blueprint- this should mean less work for each volunteer organiser and more availability for members- great! Thanks to all those who have helped.
We have found that theatre shows are less quick to sell, and in some cases, we have been struggling to get group booking discounts because we’ve not sold enough tickets. This does seem to be easing with the introduction of a regional theatre-specific newsletter which is monthly- but members do seem to still be a bit reluctant to plan too far in advance. We have some great shows on offer in the NW, and we’re so grateful to all our volunteers, whatever they do for us in the NW for all your help and support 😊.
South/South East
The South and South East Regional Board met in July with 2 main focus points for discussion.
- South and South East Regional Conference
- The Regional Conference will be held on the 20th-21st of November, at Old Thorns Hotel in Liphook. There are 41 spaces available for volunteers to attend and each Area will have an initial 2 spaces. We would like to encourage Regional Sports Organisers and CSSC volunteers also volunteering or working within a Departmental Association to attend.
- Regional National Trust Cashback Offer.
- The Region has decided to trial a Regional National Trust Cashback for 2023, which will supersede a local Area offer. This is an effort to bring consistency across the Region for an offer as part of the Blueprint 'working as one ethos. Areas are encouraged to engage with Chris Edge on this and subsidy levels will be agreed upon at the September meeting - with a launch and confirmation hoped for the November conference.
Also coming online for members to enjoy within the Region is the Farnborough Area Centrifuge Tour.
Opened in 1955, the Farnborough Centrifuge (or the Farnborough Man-Carrying Centrifuge to give it its full, official name) was the first machine in Britain that was able to test human subjects and their equipment under the effects of high-G flight, without exposing them to the potentially fatal risk of actual test flights. CSSC Farnborough and the South East Region are offering £7.50 cash back on the Centrifuge Tour.
https://www.cssc.co.uk/benefits/view/farnborough-centrifuge-tour-cashback
Finally, from November the Region will be looking for a new Volunteer Committee representative. Get in touch with Chris Edge if you may be interested.
South West Region
The South West is looking forward to a delicious weekend on 13/14 August when members from all around the Region will be raising their cups and saucers to wish CSSC a happy 100th birthday. With Cream Tea celebrations happening across the Region we are looking forward to engaging members with a bit of fun to find out what’s best on a scone ‘Jam First or Cream First’?’ in our summer competition. Our competitions can be entered by email or on the CSSC South West Facebook Page and we’ve reached in excess of 23k people with these types of posts previously.
