Volunteering

Why volunteer?

Volunteers are vital in making Nottinghamshire a great place to live. Volunteering has a lot going for it including:

a chance to gain new skills and knowledge
an opportunity to get a new outlook on life
making a difference to your local community
add work experience to your CV.

If you have some spare time, volunteering to help other people can be very rewarding.

Opportunities available

Whatever your age and how much time you are able to give, there is bound to be a volunteering opportunity that's right for you.

Libraries

Volunteers at our libraries help people to:

select books
support events
learn basic IT skills.

If you are interested in volunteering at one of our libraries visit Community Makers or email volunteer@inspireculture.org.uk.

If you are interested in volunteering for Nottingham City Libraries visit Nottingham Together Volunteering

School Governors

Becoming a school governor is one of the most important ways in which you can help your local school. Together with the head teacher, who is responsible for day-to-day management, school governors set the school's vision, ethos and strategic direction as well as carrying out a number of other important duties including:

ensuring the school's budget is well managed
setting the staffing structure and appointing staff
approving school policies
monitoring school standards and performance

How to apply

apply online
email: governors@nottscc.gov.uk

Conservation

As a conservation volunteer you may be helping with maintaining woodland, laying new footpaths, cutting back foliage, litter picking and more at a variety of green spaces, nature reserves, country parks and woodlands across the county.

Apply online to become a countryside volunteer or contact Sue McDonald:

telephone: 0115 9273674
email sue.mcdonald@nottscc.gov.uk.

Notts Outdoors Awards Team

Volunteers for the Notts Outdoors Awards Team support young people to:

Complete awards that have a positive effect on their life long learning
Fulfil their potential
Learn new skills
Give back to their communities

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering for Notts Outdoors please visit their webpage.

Mill Waters

Volunteer and make a difference at Mill Waters. Where you'll join the team, learn new skills, try new things, enjoy the great outdoors and make new friends. Our volunteer opportunities include:

Volunteer Ranger
Event Volunteer
Heritage and Conservation Volunteer
Communications, Information and Design Volunteer
Survey Volunteer
Volunteer Walk Leader

To get involved, please contact us by completing our volunteer enquiry form and then we'll be in touch.

Volunteer enquiry form

Children's Centre Service

Children's Centres bring together childcare, early education, health and family support services for families with children under five-years-old. To get involved please go to our volunteering page.

Sports

Find out about volunteering in sport on the Sport Nottinghamshire website.

Working with young people and our youth service

There are opportunities for volunteer youth leaders and you can contact 07870 3961 56 for more information.

Independent Visitor

The role of a Change, Grow, Live Independent Visitor is to build a healthy and child focused relationship with a young person who is in the care of the local authority, aiming to support them to grow in confidence, feel valued and thrive in their lives. The County Council offer this additional support to the children in their care.

Independent Visitors are usually matched to a young person according to a variety of considerations such as interests and hobbies. You will be fully trained for the role and supported throughout. You would meet with the child once a month and be able to claim a small allowance to cover the cost of any activity. The training involves two days, usually held over a weekend, there are two interviews, two references required and a full DBS check. You would be fully supported and get the opportunity to meet up with all the other independent visitors regularly too – if you wish

For further information and an application form visit the Change, Grow, Live website or read more about the role [PDF].

Flood volunteer schemes

The Environment Agency (EA) are seeking volunteers within flood risk communities to act as Flood Wardens. The role of a Flood Warden includes:

helping to prepare those within the local community at risk from flooding
monitoring water levels and reporting any unusual levels to the EA
alerting local residents of any flood warnings in place
providing on the ground updates to councils and the EA during a flood
setting up road closure signs (where communities are signed up to our Community Flood Signage Scheme).

Communities that are signed up to the Flood Warden scheme can also volunteer for the Council's Community Flood Signage Scheme. The aim is for trained volunteers to close flooded roads quickly to help stop vehicles from driving through and creating bow waves which can cause property flooding.

If you are interested in becoming a Flood Warden and joining the signage scheme contact:

telephone: 0300 500 8080
email emergency.planning@nottscc.gov.uk.

Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Service

Community Panel Volunteers

Nottinghamshire Youth Justice Service is a statutory organisation working with young people in the criminal justice system. It is our responsibility to work to repair the harm caused by offending and reduce the risk of reoffending.

We have opportunities for volunteers to get involved with community panels as Community Panel Members working with young people in the criminal justice system.

Community Panel Members sit on community panels where they help the young person makes a real difference to their community whilst addressing their personal problems which may have led to their offending.

This process also gives victims the chance to have a say in what happens to the young person who offended against them.

Opportunities to volunteer are available across the county.

Contact John Wright for more information:

email: john.wright@nottscc.gov.uk.

Helping during an emergency

Community Reserve Volunteer

A Community Reserve Volunteer is a person who has registered with the British Red Cross to help in the event of a local emergency.

Community Reserve Volunteers can assist regular Red Cross volunteers with practical tasks such as preparing equipment, sorting supplies and making refreshments.

Anyone aged 18 or over can become a Community Reserve Volunteer.

This role is ideal for people who would like to help during an emergency but don't have the time to commit to volunteering all year round.

For more information, and to sign-up, please visit the Red Cross community reserve volunteers webpage.

Community Transport

Nottinghamshire is supported by many community transport schemes which aid members of the community who are unable to use public transport to get to health, retail and social inclusion activities. There are many roles in which you could help these charities achieve this goal. This could be volunteer driving, administration, project work and more. Training is provided where needed and volunteering for a charity provides amazing satisfaction weather you just have some time spare or trying to add to your CV and develop yourself for your future career.

If you are interested in this please contact: Community.Transport@nottscc.gov.uk

Telling us a bit about yourself and why you are volunteering and your location so we can contact your closest schemes