Does anyone do any volunteering? Any recommendations?

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OP
OP
simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
I am not retiring till at least 60 but one thing I'd like to do is mentor those with learning disabilities, help them make friends, get out walk & cycle, cook well, ride a bike, get employment etc. I nearly did it when I sold my business 5 years ago but I think the wage was MW and the NHS offered me £20k+ to push things about. I still think about it, if money is not an issue then you'd most likely get a pile of pleasure from that.

Did you find any specific charities / organisations that you would like to work with?
 

Landsurfer

Veteran
We're Carers to 4 young children ... 15, 10, 8 and 2 .... though retiring early and caring for children can be an oxymoron ..... :laugh:
 

PaulSB

Squire
@simon.r like you I'm retired though I'm ten years older. I should confess I have no desire to volunteer but do have some suggestions.

A great friend of mine is working with hospital radio and finds it great fun. He's learned to "broadcast," indulges his passion for music and interacts with people as he visits wards taking requests.

The same friend also reads newspapers for Galloways Society for the Blind for distribution to those with sight issues.

My third suggestion is from personal experience. My middle son has Downs syndrome. He is 31. He loves cycling but cannot balance and would have no road awareness if he could! He has a tandem and is taken for rides on this very occasionally. Until two years ago he had a volunteer cyclist who took him out once a week for three hours. Unfortunately this person stopped volunteering.

May I suggest there will be organisations and clients in your local area who would probably be delighted to meet an experienced cyclist prepared to take a client cycling for a few hours - either as an escort on separate bikes or on a tandem or similar. Most organisations have access to suitably adapted bikes.

The benefits to individual's health are significant.
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
A little while ago, on my Facebook feed, a message popped up from my local fire station asking for volunteers to help with their cadet scheme. No prior fire fighting knowledge needed and I think it was one evening a week. Could be worth an enquiry as other areas (in Cheshire) seemed to run a similar scheme.
Volunteering in general is well worthwhile.
 
OP
OP
simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
@simon.r like you I'm retired though I'm ten years older. I should confess I have no desire to volunteer but do have some suggestions.

A great friend of mine is working with hospital radio and finds it great fun. He's learned to "broadcast," indulges his passion for music and interacts with people as he visits wards taking requests.

The same friend also reads newspapers for Galloways Society for the Blind for distribution to those with sight issues.

My third suggestion is from personal experience. My middle son has Downs syndrome. He is 31. He loves cycling but cannot balance and would have no road awareness if he could! He has a tandem and is taken for rides on this very occasionally. Until two years ago he had a volunteer cyclist who took him out once a week for three hours. Unfortunately this person stopped volunteering.

May I suggest there will be organisations and clients in your local area who would probably be delighted to meet an experienced cyclist prepared to take a client cycling for a few hours - either as an escort on separate bikes or on a tandem or similar. Most organisations have access to suitably adapted bikes.

The benefits to individual's health are significant.

Thanks for that. I live very close to a large hospital (City Hospital in Nottingham for anyone local), so may well be worth looking into opportunities there.
 
OP
OP
simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
We're Carers to 4 young children ... 15, 10, 8 and 2 .... though retiring early and caring for children can be an oxymoron ..... :laugh:

Fair play to you, but that’s definitely far too much for me!:laugh: I’m thinking a few hours a week, not going back to full time work!
 

MarkF

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Did you find any specific charities / organisations that you would like to work with?

Nope. They were all the same, managers on good money, wanting people like me (work/life experience + qualifications) to put heart & soul into helping another, for the MW. That's why these folk usually end up with young kids who have an eye on the next £10ph opening at Aldi..
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Volunteering is great when you really find something that works for you. Be warned though it’s additive :smile:
You meet some great people and learn so much you get lot more out than you put in.

Helping YP is great Idea, one to try a bit different is see what your local youth offending service have.
They always need Youth referral order panel members. I‘ve do it for years and love it. They often have mentorship volunteers too again I’ve done it and so rewarding.

Redcross have plenty of roles more than you may think a nice one with not too much training is befriender mostly calling round for a hour and chatting over a cuppa.

Having volunteered for years and managed them both as a volunteer and paid. You do need to carful some will take the pee. But most will welcome anyone and make you feel really valued. Find out early what they will offer you, what the support they offer and not paying expenses is a no go for me. It’s a the least anyone can do.

Your local volunteer service is good place to start they should help you find something.

http://www.nottinghamcvs.co.uk/volunteer.html

Gold luck

post an update let’s see how you do.
 
OP
OP
simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
Volunteering is great when you really find something that works for you. Be warned though it’s additive :smile:
You meet some great people and learn so much you get lot more out than you put in.

Helping YP is great Idea, one to try a bit different is see what your local youth offending service have.
They always need Youth referral order panel members. I‘ve do it for years and love it. They often have mentorship volunteers too again I’ve done it and so rewarding.

Redcross have plenty of roles more than you may think a nice one with not too much training is befriender mostly calling round for a hour and chatting over a cuppa.

Having volunteered for years and managed them both as a volunteer and paid. You do need to carful some will take the pee. But most will welcome anyone and make you feel really valued. Find out early what they will offer you, what the support they offer and not paying expenses is a no go for me. It’s a the least anyone can do.

Your local volunteer service is good place to start they should help you find something.

http://www.nottinghamcvs.co.uk/volunteer.html

Gold luck

post an update let’s see how you do.

Youth Offending sounds interesting, thanks.

I’ve had a look at the Nottingham CVS website as part of my initial researching.
 

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
My mum volunteers with the national trust 2 days a week, as well as a local driving service to get old people to hospital. She’s 72 so the people she drives aren’t much older than her.
 

lane

Veteran
Still working myself. However I don't know if you are familiar with bikeworks in Nottingham. They do work with various groups young people but it tends to be bike maintenance related.
 
For a while I volunteered at a local museum helping out with IT stuff

stopped recently as they seem to have run out of things for me to do but I am going to look around for something similar
thing to look out for is people looking to use you instead of actually employing someone - i.e. doing some young person out of a job
 
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