Volunteering Update
For the next few months, we will not be taking on any new volunteers at the community centre, except for:
ESOL Teachers – looking for people with teaching experiences or qualifications
Blue Bird Riders – morning delivery rider
If you want to get volunteering feel free to come to the Thursday Work and Wellbeing Drop In 2-4pm at the community centre where you can use a laptop and get help searching and applying for volunteer roles in Exeter and Devon.
Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community, to meet new people, to gain useful work experience, to learn new skills or to share your own skills and knowledge with others.
All volunteers and work-placements at St Sidwell’s have the opportunity to have regular one-to-one meetings with one of our paid staff to talk about your role and to discuss any changes that you would like to see..
Volunteering at St. Sid’s is a two way process. You’ll be supporting us and the wider community by contributing to the day to day running of the Centre and at the same time we’ll be supporting you to fully realise your unique potential.
Volunteers at St Sidwell’s can get involved in any (or all!) of the following areas. If you have already got skills and experience, fantastic! If not, don’t worry, we’ll teach you.
Community café and food-related projects
- Show off your cooking skills (or learn to cook), help with food preparation, serve, operate the till, wash up, bake cakes, develop your barista skills making lattes, cappuccinos and expressos.
- Join other volunteers in our fight against local Food waste, making jams, chutneys, soups, etc out of surplus produce. Some of the produce is just-out-of-date fruit and veg from local supermarkets. Some is surplus produce from local gardeners, allotment holders and farms.
Garden & grounds
- Come and help us achieve our ambition of turning St Sid’s grounds into a beautiful, green oasis – for the benefit of everybody. We always need more green fingered volunteers to help with grass cutting, planting, weeding and lots more
- Not everybody knows that, hidden away, St Sidwell’s has an award-winning vegetable and herb garden, complete with greenhouse. South-facing and peaceful – despite being in the centre of the city – it’s an ideal spot for keen gardeners.
Caretaking and building maintenance
- Last year, St Sid’s rented out rooms to over 300 groups and organisations. There are always rooms to be set up, tables and chairs to me moved around, things to get ready. It’s an ideal role for anyone who likes to be busy and likes to meet new people
- As in any busy community centre there are always walls that need repainting, light bulbs that need changing, things that need repairing. An ideal role for anyone with good DIY skills.
Reception and office
- Are you good at greeting people and helping them with their requests? If so, you might want to sign up for one of our reception shifts.
- If you already have experience in an office – or you want to acquire some experience – there are plenty of jobs to be done in our office: answering the phone and taking messages, making bookings, filing, updating our databases, book-keeping, helping St Sid’s with marketing.
Heritage
- We were delighted to have received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for our project, Reviving lost history and building community at St Sidwell’s and, under the guidance of our job-share heritage officers Marie and Kevin, this project was a great success. If you have an interest in heritage and would like to help with research, organizing and taking part in events, putting up displays, etc. – please get in touch.